Category Archives: Unit 05

In all honesty, I tend to take my appearance pretty seriously. This doesn’t mean that I’ll spend an hour every morning trying to think of what shirt looks good with these shoes, but I want my dress wear to represent my own personality. I tend to treat every person I meet or spend time with in a polite and mature manner. I tend to dress in one of two ways: gym clothes or casual clothes. When I wear gym clothes out in public, it is almost always because I’m coming from the gym or going to the gym immediately following what I am doing. As comfy as they are, I don’t prefer to wear gym clothes out in public. When I wear casual clothes, I’m wearing a collared shirt, jeans or khaki shorts, and a suitable pair of shoes. I wear this because I personally hold a lot of value in first impressions. Because of this, I want to always be presentable in case I meet someone. I don’t want that person to walk away and think that my mother still dresses me. I make this choice because its how I was raised and I believe it’s nice to be dressed well. Quite frankly, my attire and body style has changed so dramatically throughout my life that whenever I look back on some of it I can’t help but laugh. I have always been athletic and involved in sports, so up until I got into college, I would often wear athletic outfits; I’d wear gym shorts, high socks, Nikes, etc. I even went through a skinny jeans phase my freshman year of high school. One thing that stands out, though, is a Dodgers cap that I wore every single day. I wore that hat for about five years straight until my mom was forced to throw it out. I always wore what was considered in and never really exercised individuality until I got into college.

My family has a wide variety of beliefs; some of my family are extremely hard working and value professionalism and hard work, while others are more lax in the way they dress. Some of my family don’t really care how they dress and believe that the only person they need to satisfy is themselves, which I think is admirable in it’s own right. As for the hard-working side of my family, the attire is pretty much the same; my grandfather, who has worked in a welding shop for longer than I have been alive, wears the same outfit just about every day: steel-toe boots, jeans, a t-shirt, a flanel jacket, and a hat. When someone sees him, they know that he probably spends a lot of his time doing some form of manual labor. As for both of my uncles, they are both their own business owners, so they present themselves in a professional way just about everywhere they go, this is probably where I get my own values from. As for my mother and my aunt, they both came from very little, worked hard, and now are quite well-off. I think they show this in their apparel because a lot of it is quality clothing. I believe they value what they accomplished and try to show that through the way they present themselves. As for the rest of my family, they do not concern themselves as much with their appearance. They don’t value the idea of satisfying other people, they believe that the only people they need to satisfy is their family and they don’t do that through the way they dress.

The core values of my peer community are widely ranged. Some of my friends dress very professionally because of jobs or a desire to dress well, while some of my friends dress to have fun and be similar to the way their friends dress. I think both value systems have their ups and downs; the friends who dress professionally are always dressed well, while the other friends are showing off their interests more in the way they dress. I believe that the peers who dress professionally do so because they are at a different point in their life; a point where it is less important to adhere to what is socially desirable and more important to look professional to the people you work with. As for the others, I think they just want to have fun and show that they want to have fun. It is not a bad thing to be young and want to do similar things that are similar to what others around are doing. I think that the values just differ based on where each individual is in their life and what they each hold most valuable.

I was able to spend some time at the Nike Employee Store this week, and in doing so I was able to spend a lot of my time watching people do their business in a Nike store. I spent a few hours in the store and so I was able to watch a number of people come and go, but I was able to watch several people spend a similar amount of time in there that I did.

The first person I was keeping an eye on was a lady who was pushing her child around in a stroller. Her child couldn’t have been more than a few months old, so I felt a little bad for her having a young child in such a crowded place. Her attire really reminded me of someone who lives in Eugene. She was wearing a long sun dress, a head band, and a plain t shirt. The key for me was the Chocos. In my opinion, it demonstrated that she has a kind of a free spirited nature. Seeming like she was from Eugene, she looked like someone who is an organics person. I would say that my assumptions say that I believe that some people in Eugene have a distinct style that I can recognize.

The second person I was able to observe for a while was an older man who spent at least two hours looking for a pair of shoes. He was wearing pretty basic clothing, khaki shorts, a collared shirt, and tennis shoes. His hair was well-kept and looked like a clean person. I believe that by dressing the way he does, he’s trying to show that he is comfortably successful, but at the same time he isn’t trying to make a show of it. Nothing that he was wearing was really flashy, but by the way he carried himself, it made me think that he was pretty well off. I think that for my own beliefs, it shows that I take notice of the way someone handles themselves. The man walked around looking confident, just enjoying his time at the store. The combination of his demeanor and dress made me associate him with comfort and success.

The third person I encountered was certainly the most well-dressed and presentable of the three. She was an older woman, probably in her 50’s, wearing a professional suit and pearl necklace and her hair well done. In my opinion she is clearly doing well for herself, and she values looking professional and presenting herself as such. I think that she has a high value in showing her success. I assume she comes from a successful family and her background is in business or financing. I think that my beliefs from the second person are supported by what I took from observing the third woman. She was wearing a business suit so I associated her with success and money.