dress and personal identity

In what sense is dress involved in the construction of personal identity? “It can be said that in very large part our identities - our sense of who and what we are – take shape in terms of how we balance and attempt to resolve the ambivalences to which our natures, our times, and our culture make us heir” (Strauss 1959, taken from Davis 1992:24) Dress and fashion is an underestimated social force. It functions effectively not only …

…is to a very large extent involved in the construction of personal identity but there are also many problems associated with this view. There are different areas to look at such as culture, age, gender, class and many social aspects. In Modern consumer culture, a new notion of culture has emerged; the self as a performer, to construct and change one’s image which places great importance on appearance, pose and the management of impressions.