Psychologists say that we form the impression of a stranger in the first 2-3 minutes of communication and in the future we hardly change our opinion. What allows you to get an idea of a person in such a short period? After all, it is clear: the personality will not appear in a few seconds. Gestures, facial expressions, manner of speaking - these are the main identification marks.
Not really. Unlike the patterns on the palm, our behavior is constantly changing - and primarily depending on how we are dressed. You yourself know this very well: putting on jeans and a sweater, you will behave quite differently than in a business suit. And if this is a suit from Armani, your behavior will change radically: you are no longer just you, but … you plus a suit from Armani! And it's not about the label, the reason is in the sense of self that clothes give us. It protects and humiliates, highlights and discolors, emphasizes social status and determines belonging to a certain group. So who is actually rated at the first moment of meeting? The image that you and your costume create.
Faces are erased, colors are dull …
"… Either people, or dolls …" Puppets live at the behest of an invisible puppeteer, they do not need faces, because the dolls themselves do not decide anything. By the way, pay attention to the recommendations of the makeup artists: "This dress does not combine bright makeup, since the accent of the image is the costume itself." As you can see, there are no fundamental differences with puppets: even if the eyes do not express anything, the costume will say everything for you. And now it is not individuals who communicate with each other - the costumes are in contact. Clothes create a special world in which you and I exist: a world where skirts, blouses, trousers and labels rule the ball … God forbid you to think that I urge everyone to turn into gray chlamys in order to communicate as a person with a person. So we will begin to communicate like a gray mouse with a gray mouse: clothes will determine our behavior in any case. This is the law.
Characters and performers
Yes, clothes dominate, and they also give amazing opportunities: by changing clothes, we get a chance to change. First, in the eyes of others, but gradually the "second skin" grows to the body, its energy changes our original essence.
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The simplest example is a carnival, where a costume allows the party to be in someone else's shoes, to test himself in a new role. Or: a boy putting on a jacket for the first time feels more grown up than a minute ago - he "crawls into the skin" of an adult man, gets an entrance ticket to the big life. It turns out that the costume plays one or another role - determined by society, history, fashion, social circle. He plays. We play along. Compliant.
The main thing is that the suit fits
Our entire history can be imagined as a theatrical performance with endless dressing up. Some go backstage, others are shown on stage, but the play goes on without intermissions. Dressers have no time to catch their breath. By offering new clothes, fashion designers change our tastes, lifestyle and even the proportions of the human body, optically increasing the volume with the help of crinoline and bustle, tightening the waist in corsets. Moreover, they create costumes for each of our roles. And just as in the theater the heroine does not appear on stage in the dress of a subret or in clown shoes, we cannot mix up the costumes of our life roles. Working in a bank, you will not show up to work in jeans, even if from the most prestigious company: this is already “from another performance” …
Clothing is a visiting card: it not only emphasizes, but denotes the position of the "costume bearer" in society. In the Middle Ages, this was achieved by resorting to incredibly long trains, because the amount of material spent on a dress was directly proportional to the respect for a given person. Now this role is played by the label on the tie.
The count is always right
It is not for nothing that the armies of the whole world have adopted a form from time immemorial. It is unlikely that it will be possible to establish now who that genius was, who first thought of the fact that it is easier to force people to follow orders if they dress them the same way. As Count Arakcheev used to say, "I love uniformity in everything." And he is right: it is the clothes that make the army, that is, the uniform. If all the soldiers were dressed differently, it would be just a crowd of armed people who have no idea about the honor of the uniform. Who just laughed at the era of chivalry and the bulky equipment of warriors! But those were the last manifestations of individualism in a military suit. It was the knights who invented the sleeves, to which long strips of fabric were attached, hanging down to the ground. Puffs complemented the experience. However, often these puffy sleeves fastened to the clothes were … female! The lady of the heart gave them to her knight as a sign of loyalty. True, the sleeves could fail on the battlefield: warriors often got entangled in these pledges of love, like in a spider's web.
Perhaps the first military uniform in the history of mankind was … a shawl. Yes, yes, today ladies wrap themselves in fringed shawls, but in fact, these clothes were once exclusively for men. And it was called sagum. This cape was worn by Celtic warriors. "Putting on the sagum" or "taking off the sagum" was tantamount to declaring war or making peace.
Vaudeville with disguise
What will be our tomorrow, how our children will think and feel,… fashion designers know best of all. Perhaps we do not always notice this, but it is the stylistic image created by the trendsetters that determines the image of the generation: not only the appearance, but also the ideology, attitude, and value system. For example, when Twiggy, a fragile, flat-chested lady, appeared on the catwalk, the world changed. A new type of woman has come into fashion - the eternal teenager. Twiggy cannot be portrayed as a wife and mother - and these values have receded into the background.
However, this has happened more than once in history. Once upon a time, in the 19th century, George Byron became the master of thought, amazed society not only with his creativity, but also with his demeanor and style of clothing. Men dressed in imitation of their idol. And - lo and behold! - Europe was filled with crowds of Byrons: disappointed, languid and pale. Beginning with imitation in clothes, contemporaries, without noticing it themselves, began to think and act "like Byron." A special lifestyle has been formed, a new system of priorities has emerged.
The place of courageous warriors who know how to enjoy life both in the family circle and in the "ashes of battle" was taken by bored dandies for whom nothing was of particular value: neither love, nor homeland, nor faith. Europe could not resist the aesthetics of weary irony …
The herd reflex says: "We must"
Here's a paradox: the fashion for certain clothes, starting as a search for individuality, becomes widespread. The instinct of imitation, peculiar to people, comes into play - it is on it that fashion keeps. Social psychology asserts: no matter what heights humanity reaches, at some deep level it remains the same herd. And we cannot escape from the grip of the imitation instinct, because this reflex is a natural form of self-defense. But there are times when social self-defense is not too much in demand, and individuality flourishes. And there are times in which only the herd feeling allows you to survive. And then we all put on "camouflage" - the same trousers, skirts, blouses … In the fashion of recent decades, the instinct of imitation is gradually gaining the upper hand over individuality. The era of artists ends: Pierre Cardin, Coco Chanel,Christian Dior. The era of unification is coming, towards which the consumer society always strives. If these clothes are suitable for all peoples of the world, then why won't they suit both men and women? …
Fashion wooden soldiers
Doesn't it turn out that today we are creating uniforms for all mankind, and in some 100 years the world will turn into a huge army - identically dressed, equally thinking, marching in a single formation? Fortunately, we have the opportunity to look into the future: try on a new world. Of course, it is not we who should try on, but our deputies. Mannequins.
Special dolls existed even among the tailors of Ancient Rome. But the victorious procession of mannequins began only at the end of the 19th century: thanks to the famous couturier Charles Frederick Worth, we acquired numerous inanimate doubles. The designer dresses and undresses the mannequin, wraps it in fabric, puts it in the center of the workshop, or pushes it into a dark corner. Agree, there is a similarity with voodoo witchcraft, in which a wax figure depicting a person is manipulated. It all depends on whether a good or an evil wizard casts a spell on our dummy.
Ornament of fate
But you can do without wooden substitutes. There is another way to establish a dialogue with your own dress, to feel like your own in the world created by jeans, jackets and skirts, to become the protagonist of the performance. To do this, you need to know how colors and ornaments, style and type of fabric affect a person. Pay attention to how you feel in a particular suit; remember how the day went, how others treated you, how you yourself looked at them … Gradually change the type of fabric and cut, carefully experiment with colors and patterns - until you feel that the clothes have really become your second skin.
Magazine: Tips of the Oracle # 02. Author: Georgy Feste
