FASHION AS A FORM OF SELF-EXPRESSION

Did you know on average a person makes 35,000 decisions per day? And you may not realise deciding what to wear is one of the most important daily decisions you make that helps you to express your self-identity.

Through our clothing, we are able to non-verbally communicate a part of our personality. Whether that be expressing your sensitive side by wearing floral print or indicating you’re an extravert by wearing an eye-catching statement piece.

Here at brighterkind, we encourage our residents to continue expressing themselves through their personal  choices including their sense of fashion. Getting older does not mean you  stop caring about how you present yourself. The smell of a favourite scent or aftershave, the feeling of fabric, the sparkle of jewellery or completion of an accessory all has a huge impact on individualism and feeling like ‘you’.

Clothing is not only a great way to express yourself, but researchers suggests the types of clothing we wear can affect our behaviours as well as our confidence. By wearing clothes we love, we feel confident in ourselves and this is particularly important to wellbeing of the elderly.   

The positive impact that fashion has on the elderly doesn’t stop there! Items in our wardrobes can hold many memories, whether it’s a vintage piece that transports the owner to an era from their youth or an item that reminds them of a particular time in their life. Fashion is a great way to get the elderly to reminisce, which has a positive impact on their wellbeing. Creativity is an even more abstract concept to define! There are countless definitions to what creativity is and multiple theories as to how it’s formed. In its most basic definition, creativity is a person’s ability to create something novel. Or, one’s ability to create connections between seemingly unrelated things. Creativity expands beyond the arts; there is creativity in science, too. Whether it’s creating a new recipe with your leftover ingredients, redesigning your room space, or choosing what to wear, creativity is in our innate human nature.

One way in which our self-identity and creativity overlap is through our sense of style. In other words, fashion and self-identity are intrinsically inter-connected. It is no secret that we dress in alignment to how we define ourselves, whether it’s our gender, nationality, religion, economic status, social role, or who we aspire to be. Not only is our style and self-identity interconnected, but we also use style to creatively express our self-identity; it is the outward reflection of who we are (or who we think we are). In this case, style becomes this form of non-verbal, visual expression of ourselves. As Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner mentions in her book You Are What You Wear:

“Our clothing is the physical representation of our perceptions, our dissatisfactions, and our desires. When we look beyond the physical to our internal workings, we can create a change at the core. Unlike change that occurs in therapy, these difficult internal examinations are softened by the light of the wardrobe makeover . . . Taking care of yourself begins with self-discovery. The clothing you put on your back is an incredibly accurate indicator of what you think of yourself and your life. Cracking open the closet doors can lead to great insight. When you strive toward self-discovery, improvement often follows. Wearing clothing that makes you feel comfortable, happy, and good about yourself really does make life better”

To put it in another way, the fashion choices we make on a daily basis are a huge indicator of our identity. Additionally, when we dress authentically to our true self, we begin to feel happier, sexier, and more confident. This makes fashion not only a significant part in cultures but also an important aspect in self-actualization and life satisfaction: “The freedom that comes with self-expression is magnificent and sets you on a path to being a happier version of yourself.”Geriartic Starlet”, Iris Apfel. With vibrant colors, chunky beads, vivacious patterns, and signature rounded glasses, this 99 year-old fashion icon knows exactly how to creatively express herself. Apfel is the true embodiment of dressing authentically, as she once said in a Tatler Hong Kong interview:

“When I used to wear things that were a bit offbeat,” she recalls (“bit,” one imagines to be an understatement), “people used to always say, ‘Oh, my goodness! Don’t you worry about what people will think?’ and I would say, ‘No, I don’t care at all.’ That’s not my problem. I dress for myself and I hope other people will like it, but if they don’t, it’s their problem, not mine….Dressing can be a creative experience and I think people should take advantage of it”

With a tagline like “More is More and Less is a Bore”, it is clear that Apfel acknowledges and appreciates the power that fashion holds in expressing yourself authentically.