Oct
2014
Adornment {Discussion}
Honestly, people watching is my thing. I love to look at people and analyze who they are (this doesn’t mean judging them by the way). Sitting in the rec center or on 13th right in front of Columbia are my favorite places to people watch. Right now I’m sitting in front of Columbia and a couple people stood out to me because of how they were not standing out. For example, one girl that I see is wearing black leggings, converse high tops, a sweatshirt, and a puffy vest. I noticed her because she was wearing what the typical University of Oregon college student wears. I think that her values are showing in her dressing: she values nice things but doesn’t want to show it. She wants to look trendy and conform to how the Pacific Northwesterners dress. Her dressing tells me that she wants to fit in with the crowd, but be able to get attention too. This tells me that I value people who have confidence and can stand out in a crowd. The second person I noticed was a young man probably in his mid twenties. He was wearing tight jeans, boots, a sweater, and a jacket. He had big earrings, probably gauges. It tells me that he probably wants to stand out and wants people to notice him. I think I jump to these conclusions because of what I have associated with these earrings. If he didn’t have the earrings I would have automatically assumed he didn’t care if people noticed him, but with the earrings I think he’s a rebel. It’s interesting to see later in life how we look at people depending on what we have associated certain things with when we were young. The third person I noticed was a young lady dressed in workout gear, but her hair and makeup were done. This tells me that she either is going to work out and doesn’t work out that hard, or she isn’t going to work out but wants people to think she is. This tells me she values people’s opinions and wants people to see her as athletic and healthy. A lot of people first judge people by what they are wearing and how they look. I believe that’s just human nature. So with that knowledge, I think people dress a certain way to portray the way they want to be seen by other people. This assignment has made me try and connect the way I look at people to my values. For example, with the guy and the gauges, I assumed he wasn’t very professional and didn’t take himself seriously. That is what I have learned to associate with “rebel” clothing, which reflects my values on what is appropriate dressing for portraying yourself as professional versus not.
Devan
October 31, 2014 at 10:51 am (10 years ago)After reading your post, I believe I have similar assumptions on the people you described. For example, with the guy with the earrings, I too think those specifically set him apart from the norm, and my first description and assumption of him is he is rebellious. I agree with you when you say that the earrings make him rebellious. You bring up a point when saying “It’s interesting to see later in life how we look at people depending on what we have associated certain things with when we were young.” I think because of this uncertainty of how we will feel about body art choices we make when we are young when we get older is why I personally am so hesitant on personalizing my body through body art through the use of earrings and tattoos. Maybe it’s just me, but this is a main reason why I am hesitant to go along with most of my friends and get tattoos. One other thing about your post that I found very interesting was the girl with a full face of makeup, wearing athletic clothing. Your assumption is similar to what I would assume: I believe that she could be going to or coming from the gym. Obviously since she has a full face of makeup still intact, I would assume she did not work too hard, or does not plan to work hard, at the gym. I think bringing this point up in your post was very interesting because on multiple occasions I have gone to the gym and see girls with full faces of makeup who seem to be trying to make it seem like they are working hard, when in reality I think they are just going to try to seem athletic when they really are not. What external forces do you think have influenced her to believe that she has to wear a full face of makeup to a workout?
yutingw@uoregon.edu
October 31, 2014 at 10:06 pm (10 years ago)Hi, your post is very interesting. I will make very similar assumptions with you if I saw people you described. The second guy you mentioned, you said his earrings “tells me that he probably wants to stand out and wants people to notice him.” I will think a guy wearing earrings are kind like to be noticed as well. It makes me think of a guy I saw lately who paints his nails into red. I am not judging him, but I just assume that he wants to be different than others, and he wants to be noticed by other people at the same time. In addition, you mentioned a girl who goes to work out with makeup on. I will assume that she cares about how people look at her very much. In my opinion, most of people who goes to work out will not do makeup because the face could be messed up is she worked really hard. At last, I also agree with you that the judge how people look like is a nature thing, and it is happening every day, at least it happens on me everyday.
Courteney
November 2, 2014 at 10:13 pm (10 years ago)After reading your post I noticed that the comments that we made about the individuals that we watched are very similar. For example, the first girl you noticed was dressed like a typical college girl, showing she keeps up with the current fall university fashion, yet isn’t making any statements about it. It shows she is a typical low-key college student. Another thing I wanted to discuss was regarding the male with the gauges. After this assignment I have a better understanding for how and why labels are used as well as how they can affect individuals. What do you think of labels and how they can define a person?