Reflective Post Week 5

On Tuesday in class we spoke about clothing and how it defines ones style and personality. I found that this was a very interesting topic to speak about in class. Often, we associate people and their personalities based upon how they dress. This is many times a true statement because people usually do judge someone the first time they meet by the way they dress. Many people believe that first impressions matter a great deal upon the way they see someone. For example the first time we saw Professor Jackson he was in a suit. We all know that suits normally represent someone of business or an authority figure, so even if we had never seen PTJ before the first class, we would have known he was the professor by the way he was dressed. Had Professor Jackson shown up in shorts and a tee shirt I am assuming most of us wouldn’t have known he was the professor, I would have just assumed he was there for no reason, just another TA or something.

So why does clothing make such a big impact on ones image? So many people judge others from the outside that often times it may affect how one sees themselves from the inside. For example if one chooses to dress a certain way, but everyone makes fun of them, they may change the way they dress in order to get others approval and positive looks.

This reflects back to states and the blog post topic of what a Lady Gaga state would look like. States are often judged upon their external image. Every state wants their image to be perceived well both internally and externally. And often times if a state is judged externally and is viewed in a bad way, the state will try to fix its image in order to make itself look better. All states like to be seen in a good way, just like how individuals like to be seen in a good way. Then again why should a state change in order to impress another state? Often times other states judge a state when they have no basis to do so. States and people are similar, they judge and base their opinions on the way they look from the outside.