To Wear or Not to Wear

Are we dressing appropriately? 

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Using the information from the New York Post article, You will be judged, on how reality TV shows have given us a guideline on how to dress more apprpriately so we can be perceived as acceptable. I will be answering the question, is there a way to dress appropriately, everyday? Is there a such thing as appropriate?

There are many TV shows that almost serve as guidelines to what we should be westing and how we should be dressing right. TLC’s TV show, What Not to Wear, allows twop people to walk into somebody’s life and dictate what is right and wrong. I find this show entertaining, and watch it, occasionally, in my fashion merchandising class. The two leaders, Clinton Kelly, and Stacy London, do apply, what I like to call them, “patients,” with fashion knowledge. They go through someones entite wardrobe and rip it apart, throwing vast majority and most likely all of the clothing away. They then provide their clients with $5,000 gift cards to spend their money on more tasteful clothes, after being advised on what to wear.

Sometimes when I watch this shows, I view them as being too harsh, but after seeing what some of the people are actually wearing on an everyday basis, I see what they are constantly being yelled at, and referred to the show in the first place. While going through each person wardrobe thoroughly, “the hosts show each womean alternative clothing that would look better on her. And in doing so, here’s where the lessons start, they emohasize over and over the importance of dressing approriately: appropriately for your age, for the occasion and for the impression you are trying to make on others” (Riley).

While we mainly see the views of the Stacy and Clinton, the producers clearly take a case on what the show really is. Some may watch the shows and just think that the main point is to humiliate people. The executive producer, Steohanie Eno claims “ ‘What Not To Wear” is more than clothes. “ ‘The clothes represent who you are and how you feel. They should help you bring out the best in yourself.’” The article then notes that we are al raised with intention of not judging one another by how we look, but the truth is we do, conciously or unconsciously.

There was a study in the article mentioned. The study was done by Howard University medical students. One picture of them, they were dressed in hoodies and the other labcoats, they then asked the question, “do we looke suspicious?” They were putting the claim that you might lump them in with being s suspicious person just because they choose to walk around in a hoodies instead of a lab coat. Applying the show point of view, they are syaing how they should be dressing apprpriately, so if a H oward student is put in the position to work, he or she is not going to be wearinga hoodie, but professionaly attire so they are not perceived as anything less.

The article then claims that Stacy and Clinton are trying to explain reality to their clients, meaning that “women who wear sweat pants every day look like they have given up. People who do not know them may treat them with less respect as a result. Middle-aged women who dress like they are in high school will not be taken seriously” (Riley).

Next question to research: Can we manipulate/tailor a market to perceive what is stylish/instyle? Do markets do this automatically?

I want to take a look at the slightly more economic factors in my next post for the Passion Project.