Objectives
- Evaluate personal values and paradigms around body decoration and physical beauty.
- Analyze values and belief systems of physical appearance across cultures, sub-cultures and generations.
- Investigate how physical appearance affects definitions of identity and belonging.
Original Post
I will divide my life into three different periods. The first one is before I went to school. At that time, I had lots of beautiful clothes but none of those clothes were chosen by me. My parents bought all the things for me. They helped to decided what I should wear and how to wear those clothes. I have no choices. At that time, I believe my parents were god. They wound not make any mistakes. All I had to do is to be a machine, followed to rules my parents gave it to me and finish it. The second one is when I was in middle school. At that time, I started to have my own opinions about different things. Although during the school day we had to wear the uniform, I started to get some clothes by myself. I tried to break the rules. Not wearing the uniform and not wearing the shoes that I had to wear. At that time, I like some bright colors like pink, red, green or some other colors like that. I was taught to look presentable no matter where I went. Whether that was a quick stop to a grocery store, to the library, or to downtown, I always parted my hair to the side and wore clean, freshly ironed clothes. I started to care about the brand about the clothes. I cared about the price and who endorsement for the clothes. That was a really ridiculous time. Then last period was when I made the decision to go abroad to study. At that time, I was preparing for the TOFL and SAT test. At that time, I did not have enough time to care about whether clothe is fashion or not. My dressing style changed a lot. The sports pans took place the jeans, I wore sweatshirt instead of t-shirt. The only thing I cared about the clothes was whether it is comfortable. During these three periods, my personal value changes a lot. At first, parents were god; I did not have any opinion about anything. Then I started to say no, I tried to show I am the special one, I am the chosen one. I cared a lot about others opinion. Those bright colors are one of the ways that tells others I am different from you. Then my style became simple and comfortable.
In my family, my parents have two different thinking about the clothes. My father believes people wear clothes because we need to do like that. He is a person who really don’t care about what others talking about. He does not care about what the shirt looks like and what the style is the shirt. If the shirt is not very comfortable, no matter how handsome he looks like, he will not wear it. He only wears the clothes that he feels comfortable. This shows the personal values of my father, he is confidence, perseverance but stubborn person. However, my mom does not agree with my father’s idea. She always says if you are not beautiful you need to wear some beautiful clothes so that you will look more beautiful. She cares a lot about what she wears. She always tries a lot of clothes before she finally decided what she is going to wear. This shows my mom does not like to make a decision, she more likely to let others telling her what she needs to do.
My father influences me a lot of what I dress today. “Simple”, “comfortable” are the main ideas of what I am wearing today. I think the way I dress today reflects the type of person that I want to be in the future. I am math major and I want to be an actuary in the future. So when I analysis something I care about what it the basic part of the question and what is the way to solve the basic part. I do not like to communicate with the people who are hypocritical. Because of this, most of my friends around me are also this kind of style. They do not care a lot about fashion; they prefer the simple and the comfortable clothes. We express our belief in building relationships by often dressing similar, on purpose or on accident, and also documenting our appearances with each other.
In conclusion, I think my personal beliefs and values are easily changed by environment and your community will be the person who is similar with you. When you want make a new friend, watching their dressing is a good way to know them first. If someone is wearing clothes that are old and dirty, they will be perceived as ignorant or unconcerned about their personal well-being. From people’s dress you can know their values and make a decision if he or she is the friend you want.
Reflection
Different people have different personal value and the wearing style will show different personal value. The piercings and tattoos are also some ways to show the personal value. When I was in China, tattoos often a kind of sing of bad person. But after reading the Sanders’s article I find out that the tattoos is not what I think but a way to show their personal value.
When I think the difference between the American and Chinese is about the culture. In China, we were taught to be conservative but in American, children are more likely to show themselves.
Future
In the future, I would like to try different kinds of wearing style and find out which style can more likely to show the personal value of myself. However, we cannot easily judge people from their style.