Identity Construction Using Both Fashion and Language Essay

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Like fashion, language is one of the most important ways individuals use to express their identities, their preferences, and their lifestyle. Language communicates far more than its semantics. With choice of language, a person aligns with a specific generation, a geographic location, or a cultural group. Language can also differentiate between an in-group and an out-group, as when native speakers revert to using their own language in the presence of foreigners. On the contrary, using English as a universal or international language is a symbol of globalization, interconnectedness, and interdependency. Like fashion, language can become trendy or go out of style. Language can convey wealth, status, and level of education. What one chooses to say, or not to say, has a strong bearing on how that person wishes to be perceived by others. Fashion, language, and identity construction are therefore closely connected with one another.

Given the importance of language to identity, it is easy to see why language is critical in branding for fashion or any other industry that relies heavily on identity markers. Fashion and language are both “sign systems,” (“Dress, Language, and Communication.” (n.d.). Whereas fashion is primarily a visual sign system, language is verbal. Fashion is a visual language. Language performance refers to the deliberate construction of personal identity using verbal symbols. Often, verbal symbols coincide with fashion markers of identity to create a cohesive image or brand identity. One example is the convergence of hip-hop language with hip-hop fashion. Language, like fashion, can also express gender identity or sexuality. The decision to use slang, slurs, or curse words communicates the person’s core identity and alignment with various subcultures.

Both language and fashion convey cultural, ethnic, and national identity. Traditional dress can denote one’s culture or role in the society, and a rejection of traditional dress also speaks volumes about the person’s politics or identity. Similarly, language is a direct expression of culture. The Basque people cling to their language because it symbolizes their culture; to preserve Basque culture and identity, the people of the Basque regions need to retain and speak their language.

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Similarly, Celtic/Gaelic languages and Native American languages are used to preserve ethnic and cultural heritages. “Language is the soul of a nation, the supreme manifestation of its cultural identity, the foundation of its true spiritual life,” (Brown 247). Language establishes one’s membership in a particular ethnic, cultural, or national group, while also excluding those who do not speak or value that language. In fact, speaking with an accent in spoken language can become a marker of personal identity. When a person speaks with an accent, she or he is marked as being a newcomer to that language or culture. Some accents mark someone with a specific social class status, which is especially noticeable in England or in the United States.

Personal identity does not emerge in a vacuum. On the contrary, personal identity is constructed in relation to externalities and environmental factors like culture. Culture informs issues like gender identity and gender performativity, and likewise, culture impacts language use. The term bricolage refers to the “composition or arrangement on the body of a collection of incongruous objects,” which together create a cohesive whole (“Dress, Language, and Communication,” 6). Just as marketing of fashion items depends on designing a cohesive brand identity, the “marketing” of the self, or self-presentation to the world, depends on the conscious construction of a personal brand. An individual can change his or her own “brand,” in a process of rebranding, or remain true to a specific “look.” Speaking certain words or phrases, or weaving in and out of different language systems can also be potent means of expressing identity. The link between fashion, language, and identity can be palpable. As Arvanitidou and Gasouka put it, “clothing is a full visual language with a distinct vocabulary, probably….....

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