Vicky
What is fashion? According to the dictionary, a popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour. Fashion is not about clothing only. It is strongly related to formation of one’s identity especially juvenile. Juvenile being vulnerable to be influenced by fashion because they are still in the period of exploring who they want to be. They need a role model for helping them to form their own identity. However, what is shown in the fashion industry is always perfect and ideal. Unrealistic image of these role models in the industry may bring reverse effects to the adolescents.
The models or celebrities in the fashion industry are mostly skinny, wearing clothing with famous brands, wearing full makeup, having hair styling, etc. They show the most popular and latest trend of dressing or hairstyle. Being the role models of the teens, their dressing style and hairstyle set an invisible and unspoken standard for teens what is fashionable, trendy or beauty. Adolescents are easily affected by stress at school or family. Not everyone is born to be skinny, with no acnes on their faces or able to afford expensive clothing. These people may be treated as “less fashionable”. Peer opinion is a very important element for teens to identify who they are. How others identify them may gradually become how they identify themselves. It could be harmful to juvenile in two aspects.
First, this could be harmful to the labelled person psychologically and socially. According to the theory of self-fulfilling prophecy, an originally false social belief could lead people to act in ways that objectively confirm that belief. Some of them may not be able to handle the peer pressure to be fashionable all the time. They may have psychological problems such as depression. Also, once they think themselves as “less fashionable” or “outdated”, they might lose confident in how they dress themselves and eventually being not care about their appearance. They do not only lose confident in fashion, but also their self-esteem. They are afraid of others’ view of them so they become hesitated and unwilling to talk to others. Besides, being not fashionable means that they cannot have a common topic to chat or the person who is less sensitive to fashion may not be able to understand what others are saying. The negative effect eventually affects the person’s social life. He or she becomes socially isolated within her or his social circle.
Second, it could be the reason for teens to participate in crime-related behaviour. In contrast to the case above, the person tries to meet the “standard” for fashion but he lacks the resources such as money. All these fashionable items require money but they may not be able to work or they do not have allowance from their parents. The easiest way is trafficking or burglary. Trafficking allows them to make large amount of money in a short time and burglary allows them to have the fashionable items directly.
Fashion does really help form identity of adolescents, but the identity formed may not be always good. Fashion can be treated as a platform to explore different identities but not the only standard for identity.
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