In this post on the Comms Women platform, Peyton Abbott, a student at the University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences, analyses an article by Monica Titton on fashion and identity, published in Fashion Theory (Taylor & Francis).
In Monica Titton’s article on fashionable personae, she explores just that. In her piece “Fashionable Personae: Self-Identity and Enactments of Fashion Narratives in Fashion Blogs,” Titton unpacks how fashion can produce an identity. In Titton’s article, she discusses the “fashionable persona”. Your fashionable persona is more than just clothes. It can be a way of identifying yourself. She describes it that the “fashionable persona” is understood as a situated, narrative, and performative character developed by bloggers specifically for their blogs that is anchored simultaneously in the blogger’s self-identity and in the enactment of collective cultural narratives.” Her key points of the “fashionable persona” were discursive construction, the bodily enactment, and the self-actualization of fashion bloggers as economic subjects. This stood out to me because I have always thought that fashion can be a way to express yourself outwardly to communicate with others. When you are dressing for an occasion, that can convey a multitude of possible stories for your night. You could be attending a gala, preparing for an interview, or heading to a brunch with your girlfriends. All outfits declare a different adventure to the eye.
Today Titton’s beliefs stay true. Personal style becomes a form of self-expression and can even be a way to communicate. Fashion is an extension of self. For example, we tend to present ourselves online differently than we do in different situations. Just like she explained in her article, people can manipulate how their image can be perceived through blogs or other social media outlets. Today, influencers create ready with me videos, a popular form of video content where they get ready for the day. The content creator shows the steps of doing their makeup and picking out an outfit. Maybe they want to be edgy and stand out, so they show their creativity through unique wardrobe choices. This is a great example of showing just how fashion relates to identity.
Bloggers can create an identity through their style choices, aesthetics, and words. Just like you can pick and tell a story with words in a video or write a story in a blog, you can choose your narrative with your attire. Telling a story through fashion happens more often than you may even intend. For example, if you simply want to be trendy, you can communicate that what you really want is to fit in without even meaning to in the first place. Our need to fit in inherently leads to making fashion choices that express this need. What other emotions can dictate our attire or how we describe our sense of fashion? What does our “fashion persona” really say about us?
After reading Titton’s article, I am further impressed by fashion and its communication abilities. The way we can tell a story through what we write and wear is remarkable. I specifically enjoyed reading the sample blog posts and how she went into detail about how it relate to the “fashionable persona” idea. How does your fashion define your identity?
Full Article Reference: Titton, M. (2015). Fashionable Personae: Self-identity and Enactments of Fashion Narratives in Fashion Blogs. Fashion Theory, 19(2), 201–220. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174115X14168357992391