Fashion trends and personalities – I mean, where does one even start?
It’s quite funny that a third-year psychology student is attempting to write on something that she herself has not yet grasped how it works. I guess from my end it has always been that feeling of being torn between following the trends and looking cool, or establish my own signature style and sticking with it.
So far, I haven’t really succeeded in doing either.
Before attempting to draw any links between personality traits and fashion trends, it is paramount that one understands the role of fashion in a post-modern society. Simply put, fashion is the ticket to transmit non-verbal communication signals about one’s social status, values and lifestyle.
Then again, one might question the high success fashion has managed to accomplish in today’s society. Usually, such success depends on the way the society interprets the trend and judges it.
Today’s consumer culture focuses on diminishing the gap between the rich and the working class. When you look at it, today’s fashion trends can be adopted by practically anyone. That is, by anyone who wants to be part of the ‘masses’.
Why do youths care more?
The primary reason why adolescents show more concern about fashion than any other age group is because they are during an identity creation stage.
While Erikson would be proud that his psychosocial development model is also applicable to post-modern society, there is something that attracts youngsters to new trends especially if they are promoted by influencers and YouTubers.
But that is not all there is to it, we do not want to be too predictable, do we?
What youngsters are into, especially generation Z is to have the ability to express their own style in an anonymous manner. As a fellow generation Z member, consumption feels gratifying but it is even more gratifying when the materials bought are reorganised in a style that is engaging for myself.
However, psychology has gone a step further to try and understand the relationship between human behaviour and fashion trends. It all boils down to 2 terms: prestige sensitivity and fashion consciousness. Sounds fancy enough?
Prestige Sensitivity
This refers to a positive attitude towards prices based on the feelings of prominence and status that higher prices signal better quality. The tendency for people to prefer higher-end brands suggests that consumers of certain personality traits use brands as a means of protecting their self-identity and express their self-concept. Usually, people who are high in conscientiousness (a desire to do a task well) tend to base more importance on prestige sensitivity.
Fashion Consciousness
Fashion consciousness refers to the level of involvement between the consumer and the fashion style, in other words: the ones who pay more attention to their portrayed image (especially through prestige brands).
Usually, people who are fashion conscious tend to be more extroverted and high in the conscientious personality trait. Conscientiousness is implied in both ‘fashion consciousness’ and ‘prestige sensitivity’ and seems to suggest an image of ‘success’ and ‘achievement’ to their peers.
However extroverted individuals who do not want to stand out among their peers might not necessarily work in line with prestige brands in order to be consistent with the socio-economic level of the group.
Now if Freud were around, he would say that all these attempts are simply unconscious schemes to attract a mate… and maybe it is, who knows! But personally, I would say to just learn more about yourself and your pursuits towards fashion.
Sometimes it is a very simple way of learning about personalities instead of overthinking about every word a person says. Uni is a fun place, but adolescent expression can be a nightmare for some. The key is to always keep everything in context.
