IWA #5: MY FASHION "CRIME"

In today’s society Fashion has become one of the most important aspects of our lives. Fashion has evolved into something than is less about personal identity and more about representation of a specific social, cultural, or historical setting. Fashion has become a rule of our society and culture. It has become something that regulates and limits people from actively being included or excluded from a specific class of people.

There was a time in my fashion life were I committed a “crime” against my families set of values and beliefs about what looks and is appropriate. Coming from an all Persian family, my parents have grown up in a culture where fashion and image was highly valued. They always wanted me to dress high class, well put together, and clean cut everywhere I went. They wanted this because I somewhat represented them and how they brought me up. They wanted me to dress according to how they dressed. My parents seem to value more of the image they wanted to present than the image I want to portray. For example, whenever my parents and I were out to a get together, my dad would tell me to dress just like him; button up shirt with slacks even though there may have been people there dressed casually. They further restricted me by sending me to a private Christian school all throughout K-8^th grade. The school was named Los Gatos Christian and they had a dress code as well. So I was pretty much regulated by my parents and my school. I decided to commit my fashion “crime” when I graduated from middle school onto high school. I wanted to break away from my parents’ values and norms of fashion. I did not want to go to a private high school as they encouraged me to go. I badly wanted to go to a public school where I could be more independent and less confined to a specific stereotypical image. I chose to take this path in my life and education because I thought it would somewhat teach me more about the real world where there is a larger diversity of people and cultures than predominantly white Christians. My parents ended up agreeing with my going to public school because of this point I made. At the start of my freshman year I became more aware of how I wanted to present myself. I wanted to start wearing baggy street wear type clothing brands like the other kids were wearing instead of that high class image my parents always wanted me to portray. My new attire and wardrobe was rejected by my parents, particularly my dad. My experience was very similar to the Mexican kids in the Zoot Soot Riots since I was judged on my appearances and was thereby more pressured to influence people's judgments based on my appearance. Overall, I became a different person with a mind diseased by the tendency to coordinate my image with the latest "gangster" related fashion styles considered as "cool" by my peers. From the case of the Mexican Americans that were involved in violence, a negative connotation can be given to the dress code I was following. Although stereotypical, it can either be said that those wearing such clothing are associated with violence or that those associated with acts of violence and lack of control wear such clothing. If the popular perspective is that of the former, my wearing such clothing would surely not be beneficial to how I am commonly judged regardless of me attempting to be more accepted by my peers by ways of a fashion statement. In either case, given such newsworthy incidences of crime and violence by those wearing such clothing, the connection between those wearing such clothing and those involved in criminal activity comes to mind independent of whether the judge is discriminatory or not. Henceforth, once I became better aware of the true meaning and implications of the dress code and image I was following and since I certainly was not involved in crime, I decided to change my habits and follow an appearance that better represents my personal preferences and who I really am rather than what I believe will cause others to better accept me for whatever reason.