Clothing as a Form of Non-verbal Communication (2024)

What we wear says a lot about a person. You are communicating all the times without even opening your mouth. The way you dress communicates to other people when you pass along the sidewalks on a frosty winter day. What you wear can tell us who you are, what you represent, and what you want to convey. Dr. Baumgartner, a clinical psychologist who wrote the book “You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You.” Conveys “When you don’t have a specific system, people come up with their own,” she explains. It’s what “helps you figure out where you fit in. Especially now, with the economy, with people losing status, maintaining a sense of who we become even more important. Our clothes help place us where we think we want to be.”

Clothing is a language, a nonverbal system of communication. People often use clothing to signify their age, gender, political views, and economic status. Clothing and appearance send a message. It can communicate something about our socio-economic status. You can look at some people and think, “She looks like a wealthy woman.” Or you might look at other women and solely based on her clothing say, “She doesn’t look like she comes from a lot of money.” Clothing also communicates where someone might come from. Someone from the West Coast dresses entirely different than someone from the east coast. There is a cultural difference between the two coasts that sets them apart.

The West versus East Coast is the first way clothes speak to people in a form of delivery. On the West coast, people dress in more laidback styles. For example, casual more fitted clothing, tank tops, shorts, and bold print bright colors. In addition, on the West Coast, you see the more bohemian-inspired style. On the East Coast, you see a darker palette of neutrals, such as, basic tops to dress up and down, jean jackets, trench coats, and cute ankle boots that are not comfortable. Another difference between the two coasts is the seasonal differences. In the East Coast, New Yorkers, for instance, dress in layers because of the changes in weather throughout the day. In the West Coast, for example, Los Angeles it’s a lot warmer year-round, so you don’t have to worry about thunderstorms. Reading about the different cultures in the West and East Coast is an impact on how two different coasts perceive fashion in different mindsets.

Just like the West and East Coast, you have lower class versus higher class as another way clothes speak to people in a form of communication. Groups with higher status like to keep in fashion to display their position. The people also tend to have a more professional job which means they must dress in business professional attire. They also dress in more expensive clothing because there can afford it. According to the book titled “Fashion and It’s Social Agendas” by author Diana Crane, “the clothing of the working class would be practical, functional, and durable rather than aesthetically pleasing, and stylish.” These people are considered the lower-class people. They tend to dress in clothes that are slouchy and bigger, so they don’t grow out of them fast because they can’t afford anything else. Most of them also dressed in clothes that are provided by their employers. People from a lower class dress and act differently from people of the higher class as claimed by Diana Crane.

Just like the lower class and higher class, teens express their personality through clothes to show another way of communication. People can dress up, dress down, wear jeans, dresses, or any type of clothing that allows them to share their personality. Many questions are up in the air whether fashion defines who we are. Well, the question is yes, fashion does define who we are. Today’s society of teenagers is in love with how they feel when they are wearing expensive name brand clothes. They want people to notice there 290-dollar Patagonia coat or their 130-dollar small labeled Ugg boots nobody can read. People want the clothes they wear to be noticed.

A High School junior named Jordan Pinto put into words “I think fashion defines a person because it can mainly express an individual’s personality or attitude.” She is entirely right, people pick out a piece of clothing because it’s what makes their personality shine and makes them happy. Another freshman made clear she loves her four pairs of converses, but that shouldn’t define her as a person. There are some people who are just fortunate and wealthy enough to own many pairs of nice brand name shoes. People get defined for having countless pairs of shoes or too many clothes in their closet. I am included in this bunch and it’s not what I or the other freshman want to be defined as.

Fashion and clothing can speak to people in many different forms of communication. I have shown you West versus the East coast, lower versus higher class, and to sum up, how teens express their personalities. Fashion helps people fit in when they feel like an outcast, it’s the social norm. Clothing gives us a sense of who we want to become and help place us where we think we want to be.

Citations

Answers Ltd. “Role of Clothing in Communication.” UKEssays, UK Essays, 22 Nov. 2018, www.ukessays.com/essays/cultural-studies/role-of-clothing-in-communication-cultural-studies-essay.php.

Guilbeault, Sabrina. “Fashion: Does It Define Us?” The Spectrum, www.dhsspectrum.com/student-life/2014/03/12/fashion-does-it-define-us/.

Lee, Amy. “The Difference Between West Coast & East Coast Style.” The Zoe Report, The Zoe Report, 9 Nov. 2018, www.thezoereport.com/fashion/style-tips/difference-between-west-coast-east-coast-style.

Tijaodoms. “Class Differences in the Fashion World.” First-Year Seminar: Clothing, Textiles, and the Identity of Place, 23 Sept. 2017, classes.sewanee.edu/fyrp110/2017/09/22/class-differences-in-the-fashion-world/.