AAD 250 SUMMER

I prefer to wear long pants with polar shirts when I hang out with my friends. If I meet some people who are older than me, I used to wear black jeans and white shirts on top. I think I have dressed in a way which impressed people to judge me as a clean and tidy man. Moreover, I have tried to show off as if I am a professional. I used to wear watch and take a bag with me. I have never tried to wear bracelets, necklaces, tattoo and piercing. I believed that the first impression has lasting effects to judge a person. If I wear clothes that do not fit to my personality, people will not trust me or lean on me deeply. Moreover, another belief were that men should dress like a man and being tidy influences other people to think of me as an organized person. Over years, these beliefs and values have never been changed, but there was some moment to think of my appearances decorated with full of adorable items. When I was young, I envied my friends who wear trendy shoes and dresses. However, I remember that I never got trendy clothes or shoes. Throughout media, it is visible that some idols lead a trend and most people follow it. Such phenomenon was not related to me. I felt like I was isolated from the trends, but I never regret not to try the trendy clothes because the trend is always changing and my beliefs on dressings were strong enough. Those beliefs have been built through environmental influences.

I strongly agree with that a person builds values or beliefs mostly affected by parents or friends. While I am leading my life, my beliefs and values have been slowly constructed like a worker put a brick on building. By taking some time reflecting my appearance, I am a very conservative person and have decorated my appearance according to that. Actually, being conservative has become my personality and I believe the value has been influenced by my parents. My parents used to say that a person should behave in a manner which fit to a situation. I used to wear formal dressing during my childhood whenever I had a presentation in school. They also sent me to a middle and high school where requires school uniforms. My parents explained me that a student should be seemed as a student. I kept the saying in mind and tried to be decently dressed. Of course, piercing and tattoo is not allowed at all. By the influences from my parents, ‘be conservative’ unconsciously became my belief and values. The word ‘conservative’ includes that not only I have to be polite, respect others but also I should follow what elder people taught me. As stated above, I dressed in a way that most people can respect me. My parents treated me to follow the values and beliefs by coordinating my dresses. All dresses should be ironed every time. Their treatments were the communication for me to have the values and beliefs.

In peer community, there are numerous friends who have dressed differently. As they have different beliefs and personalities, their dressing codes are somewhat strange to me. I think their dressing codes are hugely influenced by trends. In the community, most of my friends consider dressing as a tool to show their feeling. Some are dying their hairs when they want to get healing. By showing unusual fashions, they try to avoid a situation which they have felt hard. Also some get tattoos and satisfy with them. They think changing usual dressing enables them to experience new life. Due to the fact, many friends these days show off their appearances in totally different ways from their personalities. They believe that following trends will get them to be involved in our community. They do not want to be recognized as a person who seems to be a way back of trend. Thus, their appearances are often changed. However, my friends know when they have to wear particular clothes. Even they have tattoos or piercing on their bodies, they try to hide them when they meet with elder people. In Korea, polite is really important so that they think showing tattoo or piercing is rude for elder people, because most elder people are very conservative. Korean has a stereotype that tattoo or piercing is a tool to show power.

Reflection

I haven’t noticed that my appearance expresses my personal values. I have tried to wear simple and clean clothes without any decoration. That is my favorite fashion and I think I want to make people think of me as a dandy man with matching colors. If I am with closed-friends or family, I used to wear comfortable clothes, but the reason why I am decently dressed is that unknown people can judge me in the first meeting. I believe the first impression is really important to make a network with other people.

I usually wear clothes like the above pictures. The casual style with pants and t-shirts definitely delivers my values. I am not very interesting people but pursue to be a professional in my career. This values are ostensibly expressed through my appearance. In my perspective, I have a strong paradigm on tattoo that only violent people imprint tattoo on their bodies, so I mind to approach people who have tattoos, but after doing this assignment, I noticed that personal appearance and decoration on body is a unique expression of one’s personality. Each one has different values in their lives and we have to respect them.

Generally, people express their identities through their body decoration and physical beauty. Physical appearance is an obvious way to recognize the person’s identity and belonging. I think the first impression on appearance gives other people a paradigm which judges a person’s identity. Due to the fact, it is really important to wear clothes that match with one’s identity. In the first meeting, decorating one’s body in a wrong way would give people a chance to misjudge the person. It absolutely costs a lot to show one’s real identity. Obviously, there are many people who loves to wear according to fashion trends which do not match with the people’s identity. From the reading, I think the behavior cause a wasting time. In order to get better judgement from other people, we should decorate our appearance according to our identities.

Future

In the future, I believe my physical appearance will not be changed. I will try to be consistent when I meet new or old people. I think that is the way to give other people a belief about me. However, I had a strong paradigm on other people’s appearance but I will respect them although their values are different from me.