The Dress Code

According to Albert Mehrabian, professor of psychology at the University of California the appearance determines the feelings towards someone:

7% of communication through words

38% by intonation and tone of voice

55% by the face, body language and dress code.

The dress code has an important social meaning. It is mostly a non-written, non-verbal communication and tacit social standard, but all the human societies contain it which is included and adopted by his members. The adopted code can give an indication of the social rank , the class to which the person belongs, of its occupation(so of the blouse white with doctors, the black dress of lawyers or school uniform for the pupils), of its religion, its marital status (bearing of the ring in West).

Clothing as signifier

Gender: Men and women have according to the current codes in their societies, to wear or not clothes which differentiate them sharply.

Age: Until the 1950s, in France, the shorts were worn by boys until adolescence and trousers for men almost adults. At Edwardian era, the skirt length increased with age of the girl from the below the knee to the calf and then to cover the ankle of an adult woman.

Social Status: Examples of social distinctions exhibited by the garment are many, starting with the purple robes that adorned the Roman senators. In China, only the emperor was entitled to wear the yellow color.

Occupation: Military or school uniforms in Britain are the most striking examples. Sometimes a single item of clothing or a single accessory can declare one's occupation or rank within a profession.

Religion: The Sikh turban, the Jewish kippa, the Muslim hijab, again examples abound of distinctive clothing. This distinctive sign may also be imposed, as the yellow star during World War II.

Marital Status: The wedding ring is an evident sign for the Westerners. The antique Greeks chose the wearing of the veil as the wives and of the beard for the husbands. In India, a married woman carries wears a sindoor, a red mark on the forehead.

Political beliefs: The jeans was until seventies the symbol of youth in revolt against a "stifling bourgeois order", before becoming commonplace. The clothing, besides its function of protection against the bad weather and comfort, thus contains a message with strong social impact, a claim to be what we are not necessarily, and - a contrario - he can also challenge the current "code", as for the punks, be made the reflection of a political message. In France, the beard is connoted socialist and three-piece suit will be perceived as traditionalist.

Wealth: The fashion designers, as Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and the property men as Louis Vuitton know that their brands appear not only the taste of their customers but also and doubtless especially their wealth. In more traditional societies, it is the number of jewelry that serves as a marker of opulence.

We notice since the beginning of the 70s, an evolution in the clothing dress, a bigger looseness, a bigger variety of dresses, choice of fabrics tissues and colors. This evolution is connected to the evolution of the standards and the social codes, to the development of the consumer society, to the exacerbation of the narcissistic desires.

By the choice of our dress, we want to give a certain image of ourselves. We can distinguish three types of images :

- the trown image : image of itself

- The wished image : the one we would like to give

- The received image : the one who is perceived by the others.

The way a person gets dressed sends back consciously or unconsciously desire of membership to a group or distinction of a group. The clothing is today inseparable of a style: traditional, skateboarder, Gothic, punks, hippies, biker,Rastafarians,