How does fashion influence the lives of students?
This is a fashionable era and fashion is very influential in our lives. In fact, it adds diversity to our lives by offering an aspect of enthusiasm to live for something new and different, otherwise it would be a monotonous life if we had to dress up and act the same.
Fashion is an expression of a distinctive style, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, or makeup. It belongs to the style of doing something, looking different and dealing with others. It covers a wide range of categorizations such as behavior, speech, actions, manners, and lifestyle. There is a lot of intellectual discussion about fashion and clothing and its importance within today’s society. Fashion and clothing can be defined as many things that hold our society together. Fashion can be defined as an existing norm or style of dress, manners and form of socializing, while clothing is defined as garments collectively. If fashion and clothing were eliminated from our lives, there would be no place for individuality and the world’s population would be the same. There would also be a loss of distinctions between social classes, which was very well defined in the 18th century but is still present today. The eradication of fashion and clothing would also change the dynamics of the social world and social relations.
Mod, short for ‘modern’, refers to a youthful lifestyle that emerged from London during the 1960s and quickly spread to other parts of the world. Being fashionable is not only desirable but also satisfying. It is very common for young students to feel more attracted to fashion and begin to follow trends instantly, so fashion strongly influences our youth. Fashion continually has an impact on society. It affects our views and attitude towards social culture. We introduce new ways of life through fashion and create awareness within ourselves to reestablish a new line of customs. It is an important social statement for students to make an outward appearance in their social circle. Malcolm Barnard says in his book Fashion as Communication, “Fashion and clothing have always been explained as forms of communication” (39). Students use fashion to exchange their feelings and beliefs. They use fashion as a form of social contact with reference to the scrutiny of all kinds of people. Fashion is a form of communication to convey to the world what your personality really says.
The 1920s is called the Age of Flaming Youth because of its wild, jazzy expression. In this period, the energy of youth was released in a new way and no style seemed too ridiculous to become high fashion. Our world has gone global. Celebrities play a very important role in the lives of young people. Students search for their favorite icons to keep up to date. While watching television or using the Internet, they can easily be drawn to a variety of fashion concepts. Also, students idealize their favorite celebrities and always have the desire to look like them, so they do their best to imitate the looks and lifestyle of their idols. They are trying to capture all the existing fashion in their society to enhance their personality. Whenever they socialize, they talk about new things that could be adapted. They use unnatural forms of expression, speech and mannerism in their routine lives, which is relatively artificial.
In my point of view, there are two categories, namely the positive and negative impact of fashion on students.
Fashion in our society has a great negative impact on students. They only think about the new fad and this results in spending a great deal of money. Therefore, they cannot become aware of other important necessities in life. It always distracts them from studies. Once a style or fashion is in vogue, it is instantly chased by the student community, regardless of how much hassle it creates. On the other hand they are caught in the confusion of fashion due to the impact of society. To follow a certain fashion, some actions must be taken and for this some students go beyond their limits just to attract their environment. Eventually they get desperate instead of being resourceful and suffer from trendy depression. On the other hand, it is also thought that the money spent on Fashion could be used for other purposes, such as charity and helping the poor.
Fashion creates an inaccessible standard for students. Everyone wants to be attractive and glamorous like celebrities on TV or in magazines, so they spend a lot of time and money just to make a good impression on the people around them. However, most of the time they fail to make a statement that leads to low self-esteem. It also creates a clash of thoughts between them and their friends which can lead to the jealousy factor and as a result ruin their relationship with friends. Students begin to judge people on their outward appearance and those who cannot spend enough on their outward appearance eventually become persecuted, which lowered their confidence level to some extent.
Students who focus more on fashion are generally less aware of their studies. They think that by adopting certain fashion trends, they will achieve a certain distinction between peers so they begin to give less importance to their academic careers.
There are also some positive points of being fashionable. For example, when teens feel good about their appearance, it gives them a high sense of worth and confidence in their personalities. Also, they feel more independent and acceptable in a social context. If students follow a certain trend, it makes it easier for them to recognize their own personalities by meeting different people in society with the same interests and sense of style. Wearing fashionable clothes shows the status of a person. People assume that a person is more progressive if he wears fashionable clothes. Malcolm Barnard says in his book Fashion as Communication, “Fashion and clothing have always been explained as forms of communication.”
Students eventually come to know that it is not good for them to follow or imitate others all the time. Instead, they must learn to be innovative and create their own sense of style. That helps them to be stronger, more independent, and more imaginative. Fashion is the name of expressing themselves, it proves that people have the freedom to feel comfortable with themselves and that results in a more prosperous and successful society.
Fashion is an art form and because art is beneficial to society, the same is true of fashion as well. Fashion is a big reason for companies to invest more in expanding the latest apparel, trends, and a better life. We cannot disagree with the fact that fashion has an important place in the life of every student. Sometimes it can be the source of things that make life more enjoyable. On the other hand, it can be destructive to the lives of certain people. So it is better to keep up with fashion, but if it is hurting your academic performance in any way, you should steer clear of it. Generally, fashion can be entertaining, exciting, and harmless. Fashion is a method of making money that can provide employment for thousands of people.
There must be stability in the life of the students as they pursue fashion. They should be aware that fashion within the limits is admirable, but when the limits are crossed, they have to face many problems. Your main responsibility is to fill yourself with the asset of knowledge instead of running after the madness of the deceptive world of fashion. There must be a fair balance between being fashionable and moving away from our roots. Students should know the fact that they have maximum time to enjoy the world of luxury after completing their studies.
Being fashionable and fashionable is only our desire, nobody can force us to do it and it is our own decision how much and what type of fashion we prefer according to the place and the requirement. Although in this time of the 21st century in Pakistan most of the people are affected by the glamorous world and style of fashion, they have not yet forgotten our traditions and culture, which is the priority and symbol of our country.