Seemingly superficial fashions fundamentally organize identity and social life

Evidence

For all the dismissal of cultural changes as superficial, they are central to our lived experience as humans. They define our identities and determine how others treat us. Every day we must make choices whether to follow social standards or “be ourselves.” We come to find certain things “cool” without knowing why. We use markers of cultural change as touchstones for our past; embarrassing haircuts help us date old photos. The Beatles weren’t just a band—they were the band who wore moptops. As we’ll see by the end of this book, fashions explain behavioral change more than we’ve been willing to admit. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 18

Categorization

• XREF: Raises an implicit status-vs-culture thesis that will likely echo Marx’s earlier work on cool and signaling. — connects to: Contemporary identity is self-fashioning rather than fixed essence; Fashion arose to reconcile individual identity with mass-produced industrial aesthetics — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2839; Dress reliably signals identity only in socially rigid locales — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 453 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Conforming to dress conventions creates a sense of belonging in social settings. #exemplifies (0.85) — Hamlin Garland Munseys, A Daughter of the Middle Border, 462
• Identity functions as a costume adaptable to context. #expands (0.82)
• Fashion substitutes for class and profession as a source of individual differentiation. #exemplifies (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 732
• Contemporary identity is self-fashioning rather than fixed essence #expands (0.78)
• Identity-signaling dress is unstable without coercive enforcement of appearance #complicates (0.78) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1033
• Rising demand for designer fashion expressed longing for formality in a rationalized world #exemplifies (0.78) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 403
• Democratized fashion access made dressing as if clothing doesn’t matter the ultimate status signal #exemplifies (0.77) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 407
• Modest dress and veiling function as practical defenses of community #exemplifies (0.76) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 781
• Modern dress no longer reliably signals a stranger’s social identity #complicates (0.76) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 457
• Fashion arose to reconcile individual identity with mass-produced industrial aesthetics #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2839
• Globalized dress styles erase reliable costume-based identity signals in cities #complicates (0.75) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 448
• Fashion diffusion works through upper-class innovation followed by lower-class imitation and upper-class retreat #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 717
• The weakening of permanent convictions drives modern consciousness toward fashion #expands (0.74) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 724
• Mass-produced and westernized clothing has blurred visible class and origin cues #complicates (0.74) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 446
• Mass production of clothing is reconciled through individualized fashion expression #expands (0.73)