I don’t think I explicitly wear any unique item that displays my personal beliefs or values daily. However, a lot can still be said about the way I dress. The style in which I dress has changed a lot over the years. When I was a little kid I wore shirts that displayed things I liked the most. I had so many shirts with different animals on them because I loved nature and animals. I almost solely watched Animal Planet and Discovery channel; my clothing reflected these choices. I remember my favorite shirt was a toss up between one that had a giant sea otter on it and another that had a tiger on it. You actually see shirts like these popularized because of their “vintage” feel, however when I wore them they weren’t ever really popular. Nevertheless this was predominately what I wore as a little kid and my parents were fine with; they let me dress as I chose. When I moved to San Diego my wardrobe took a drastic shift. I believe a lot of it had to do with the culture surrounding San Diego. The children there were a lot more pretentious and conceited. It was a much different culture than that of my small-town Mid-western origins. My outward appearance was critiqued and made fun of and so I adapted my appearance to match my peers. I wore a lot of brands such as Billabong, Vans, and DC. I used these as a type of cloak for a few years until I stopped being so self-conscious and started caring less about being judged by appearance. This brings us to how I dress present day. I don’t wear any makeup or jewelry (never have); I occasionally wear a watch but not all the time. I currently dress mainly for comfort and functionality. I hated those years I had to dress to keep up with trends (and I was normally always behind them anyway). My parents raised me not to worry about fashion; they’ve always been practical. I wear clothes that are comfortable for me and hopefully look good but I’m not worried about the brand I’m wearing. That might say that I’m not extremely worried about my social status. I used to always want to be in the “in” crowd but I’ve outgrown that desire. I think I’m pretty cool and if other people think that then great but otherwise I don’t mind. I’m really not drawn to social displays of wealth; in fact people who adorn themselves in very flashy attire and flaunt their wealth put me off. I see myself as having three types of dress: fraternity attire, duck attire, and casual attire.
I put fraternity attire in a category by itself because I wear it so much and I think it says something distinct about myself. When I choose to put on letters or anything with my organization on it I am choosing to not only represent myself that day but also my fraternity. My fraternity lives by the values of love, honor, and truth; I am especially attuned to these values while I am representing it with attire. Since I am wearing the clothes it makes me think more about it and I wouldn’t say it changes me at all but I do think it makes me act out my values a lot more than I normally do. I pay the most attention in class, and often sit closer to the front (or in the front) when I am in letters because when somebody sees me goofing off or daydreaming in casual attire their thought is “look at that guy” when it’s in fraternity attire it’s “look at that frat guy, they’re probably all like that”. So not only am I able to disprove beliefs of the stereotypical “frat” image that is perpetuated by the media and some of our peers in other fraternities but I am also able to be more productive and attentive personally. Fraternity attire brings out the best in me.
Duck attire is a shared category for my fellow University of Oregon peers and myself. Wearing clothes that portray our University demonstrates our affection for the campus, the school, and our duck sports teams. I do truly love my ducks and I think it’s a sentiment shared around campus. Even though we are all students and don’t need to define ourselves as “ducks” around school because it is obvious while taking classes my peers and I still wear this clothing to signal our passion for our school. I wear something that says Oregon on it basically everyday. Whether it happens to be a pair of shorts, workout clothes, a beanie, or sweatshirt duck attire is very integrated in whom I am.
Casual attire is everything else I wear. Normally I wear a simple pair of jeans, sweatpants, or shorts and a comfortable shirt. I don’t have too many preferences besides that. I like a little bit of a design and am often drawn to shirts that have horizontal stripes. I’m not sure what that says about it except that I’m not overly picky. I do prefer comfort over fashion. I feel like that makes me very practical and efficient.
