Most likely you, who is reading this, is from a county of the western hemisphere. You are most likely either from the US, Canada, South America or from somewhere in Europe. I welcome you from any region, no matter where you are from. The chances of you and me coming from the same city are not that high though. Though the first thing you and me have in common is that we both speak English (more or less). No matter if it is your first language or a second or even a third one, like in my case.
What else do you we have in common? Maybe we are the same age or gender. Maybe we have studied the same thing in university or maybe we share the same favourite movie. However, not everyone is sharing your favourite band, your haircolour or your prefered travel destination with you.

Is there something we all have in common?
To answer this question, we have to be less specific. We can’t think about any “favourites” or any tastes and likes. We also can’t think of experiences, relationships and talents. We need to think about something more generic. Something more vital to us. Vital as in that we are all humans. We all need to eat and breath in order to survive. We all get thirsty and we all need exercise and sleep. We need rules and regulations to get the tools we need for survival. In order to set those rules, in order to express our needs and desires, we speak. We speak to express ideas, to voice our opinion and to discuss problems. Communication is one of our vital and basic needs to ensure that our society works as we need it to. Our ability to speak is not the only option to communicate. What you are reading now is also a form of communication. The emotions you express, gestures, actions and non-action are all forms of transmitting an idea, feeling or desire. As soon as we are transmitting something to the public, we are communicating.

So to say, the act of communicating certain ideas and feelings is something we all have in common as humans.

But what does this mean for fashion?
Fashion is a way of presenting ourselves. Especially in our society it is a way of showing our own identity or aesthetic. However, fashion can also have a functional purpose primarily or can be rooted in tradition. It can be a rebellious act or doesn’t even have to have a purpose in the first place. We are all wearing clothes. No matter where we are from. And our reasons for it are all very different. And as something we show the public, as something for other people to see, we are communication non-verbally. Even if there is no deep meaning or no intention behind it. Someone might see you and have their own thoughts about the way you look. They might have prejudice, they might find you inspiring or they might totally ignore what you are wearing at all. You might wear a certain colour theme to an event to feel part of it. You might wear traditional clothing in honour for a celebration. You might wear a tricot to show your suppport. You might wear a pyjama to go grocery shopping because you really don’t care. You might wear a pair of jeans and a shirt every day to work because that’s what you feel most comfortable in…

The purpose of this blog is to satisfy my own curiosity about the way communication and fashion collide.
As a student of Multilingual Communication and as someone who has always been interested in extravagant fashion, I can’t wait to write about my latest discoveries.
My motivation is to find out the reasons why people choose to wear what they want to wear. What is their motivation? What do they want to express and what does clothing mean to them?
In the end fashion is the only language we all have in common.