The fashion industry makes billions of dollars every year and it is still continuing to be in demand. Men and women switch out their outfits every day and go back to buy more. Why do they choose the clothing they choose? Crane (2000, pp. 16) says, “Fashionable clothes are used to make statements about social class and social identity, but their principal messages are about the ways in which women and men perceive their gender roles or are expected to perceive them.” Many people define fashion as an expression of identity, however, fashion designers are the ones that define how people should dress and look.
They present new clothing designs in advertisements which are displayed on billboards, magazines, and portrayed in commercials. Gender representation in the fashion industry has become a societal problem. Both genders experience body dissatisfaction and societal pressure to fit in to the fashion trends portrayed through the advertisements and clothing stereotypes.
Over the years fashion has been feminized and male identity has changed.
The designs in the industry continue to steer into gender stereotypes. Men’s clothing is becoming more simplified where as women’s clothing is being more controlled and sexualized at younger ages. Men’s fashion goal is to reinforce the idea of masculinity by incorporating dull colors, strict shapes, and sportswear at early ages. This type of clothing standard portrays men as being tough (the colors), strong (the athletic sportswear), more neutral about emotions (colors, lack of shapes), and manly (strict shapes). By contrast, women’s clothing have a variety of colors leaning towards softer tones, include floral or simple patterns, and a common material is lace.
The softer tones are used to make women appear more delicate, the lace more feminine, floral print gives an impression of naivete or frivolousness. The clothing presents a certain feminine role that they’ll be expected to adopt in adult life. In the past years, females have been objectified and sexualized at younger and younger ages with the motive for men to desire women. In my opinion, the majority of women clothing manufacturers centralize on exposing the body and showing them as an object for men’s attraction. In my own experience I had a difficult time buying a strict formal dress that wouldn’t have an open back or exposed legs or cleavage. If a female or a male doesn’t follow the stereotypical dress code and isn’t part of the group, they are judged, looked down upon, and even bullied. The clothing reveals a glimpse of a person’s world, the gender, status, sexuality, religion, and judgments (Friedman, 2018). In my opinion, fashion industry holds some sort of monopoly which standardizes what people wear around the world.
The majority of the market is controlled by the luxury brands and high street fashion. In order to match the seasonal trends, people switch out their wardrobes and spend lots of money. Fashion provides a clear visual cue to many people’s socioeconomic status and failure to adopt the latest fashions and expensive brands can serve a signal to exclude people for not belonging to the appropriate social class (Friedman, 2018). Both genders do not want to be judged because they don’t fit into the standard of beauty or the correct gender classification. Media constantly promotes gender assimilation and the image of what an ideal man or woman looks like. The pressure to fit into these new styles result in insecurities and produce poor image. Generally young women who are exposed to ideal models judge their bodies negatively and experience body dissatisfaction. Twigg (2007) wrote, “Fashion distorted the natural body through subordinating practices like high-heels, corsets and objectifying fashions that reduced women to objects of a sexualising gaze, rendering them unable to act effectively in the world.” They begin to compare their body image to ideal models in the websites and as a result, body dissatisfaction and perceived discrepancies arise (Kim, 2018). Men and women begin to experience low self-esteem and self-worth when they don’t look as good as a model does, wearing the same clothes. In my opinion fashion plays a big role in how people judge one another. People try seek out approval from the world.
Advertisements directed towards men and women have an unconscious effect of gender representation and stereotypes. With the intention to sell branded clothing, fashion advertisements directed towards men imply that men are supposed to be muscular, fit, and strong in order to look great in the clothing advertised. There was an advertisement where a man was wearing a nice branded shirt and he ripped it, showing his muscles. This implies that only strong, fitted men wear these kind of shirts. By seeing these kind of advertisements, men assume that this model is what an ideal man looks like, thus they push themselves harder to achieve this look. They spend lots of money and time to go to the gym or drink steroids to get the muscles faster. Some stop eating correctly to lose weight in order to look perfect in the clothes. Men shouldn’t feel this kind of pressure. Fashion advertisements directed towards women usually include a theme such as where a woman is supposed to impress or seduce a man. The clothing advertised may be a revealing or a formal piece, yet plot consists of the model trying to impress a man. An example of such advertisement; a woman wearing a suit and walking into an office, as she turns around and smiles, lots of men start following her with dreamy eyes. Women unconsciously start thinking that they dress and try to look good for men approval. They shouldn’t be focusing as much on seeking men’s approval but instead trying to look good for themselves.
From birth, people are categorized into groups and certain expectations are put upon them. Fashion is another grouping that dictates the way a girl or boy should look. Advertisements is a strong influencer that directs these views and one way it can improve, is by changing or removing gender stereotypes and adding model variation within the people of color or sizes. Clothing manufacturers and designers should explore more with colors, material, and variation instead of creating clothing within the gender stereotyped boundaries. This industry has definitely improved from the past decades. People should wear what they like and feel good in it, rather than wear what they think people want them to wear. Fashion has a power of making one feel good about themself and let it be an expression of individuality rather that a forced choice.
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