Weekly Assignment 3

My Textiles:

Q1：

I believe that social trends, personal freedom, economic level, and the consumer market all more or less motivate individuals to choose their particular styles of dress. First, from a social perspective, the opportunities that society provides for dressing greatly influence people’s choices. On one hand, it is easy to recognize the clothing styles of different eras, which shows that changes in time strongly affect people’s dress choices. For example, very few people today would wear clothing styles from the last century or even centuries ago, either because it is inconvenient for daily life or because it would make them ‘stand out’ or seem out of place. On the other hand, because consumers themselves do not have the ability to produce clothing, the opportunities for choosing clothing are limited. I have heard that the fashion industry sets certain styles as ‘supposed to be popular’ and invests heavily in production and marketing, allowing a particular fashion style to dominate the consumer market. I think this relates to what the reading says: “The best-known theory of fashion and clothing behavior is Simmel’s theory of fashion change as a process of imitation of social elites by their social inferiors (1957).” Consumers have no real choice and must accept a particular aesthetic.

However, I think the most important factor is a person’s self-identity.  Since dressing is an extremely subjective act, I believe personal agency plays an absolutely significant role. The diversity of contemporary clothing styles reflects the diversity of people’s self-perceptions. Individual aesthetic preferences, hobbies, and gender identities all influence clothing choices to some degree. Examples from niche fashion styles, such as cosplay, vintage fashion, or dopamine-inspired fashion, demonstrate the freedom of individual choice. As the reading also states, “clothing is an indication of how people in different eras have perceived their positions in social structures and negotiated status boundaries.” Overall, people’s clothing choices are determined both by the conditions that society provides and by their own self-identity.

Clothing provides non-binary and genderqueer individuals a way to signal aspects of their identity that may not conform to conventional gender categories, allowing them to explore, affirm, or resist societal labels. I believe that clothing is a very direct and effective way to convey personal gender identity, especially for those who use unconventional attire for self-expression. Bold expressions of personality and blurred gender boundaries are what make fashion so captivating, because everyone has the freedom to be themselves.

Q2:

I think the most appealing aspect of wearable technology is its ability to change perception and alter the way people interact with the world. With WT, it is possible to achieve actions through clothing that the human body alone cannot perform—for example, the use of light and sound mentioned in the reading. To me, WT functions more like a new sensory system for the human body: it can connect multiple senses and also transcend the ordinary to create entirely new experiences. In the future, if WT becomes more accessible, clothing might no longer merely signify identity externally but could actively shape and express it dynamically.

Another very important function of WT is that it encourages people to pay more attention to their own attitudes, feelings, and emotions. Based on most of the examples I have seen so far and the images in the reading, I have noticed that most WT does not focus on traditional clothing structures or gender features. It is not designed for different genders, but for each individual human being. The first reaction when encountering WT is to try to understand the attitudes and emotions it conveys, rather than to focus on whether the model is male or female. Perhaps this is the potential transformative effect of WT on people. WT provides a new and creative way for self-expression.