Today, I looked at myself in the mirror to develop an understanding of myself. It is a normal Tuesday and it is the first day in a week that I have felt great after being sick. I am wearing black Oregon sweat shorts with high black socks and running shoes. I am also wearing a white Rudy Fernandez Blazer jersey. I consider this to be a typical outfit I would wear when I am going to class. Mostly, my wardrobe consists of comfortable clothing. Typically on school days I will attend class wearing this style because I consider and education a top priority and it makes it easier for me to get work done when I am comfortable.
Looking into my closet I see a lot of Nike clothing which tells me that I have a societal connection to name brands. On one side of my closet I have my comfortable clothing and the other I have my nice casual wear which consists of khaki pants, button down shirts, sweaters, etc. I only wear these outfits on occasions I deem to be appropriate. This has been the case for many years and I believe it is because of the friends I have had. The people I hang out with consistently dress like I do with lots of comfortable Nike clothing and occasionally dress up in casual clothing for the right occasions.
I notice that the way I dress reflects who I am as a person. I am very into sports. In fact, it is safe to say that sports control my life. I have jerseys and apparel for all of my favorite teams and I choose what I wear based on what team is playing (hence I am wearing a blazer jersey). I also notice that I don’t really care how I look in front of people when it comes to school and hanging out because I choose to be comfortable and I am not trying to impress anyone. That said, when I go out with friends on weekends or to dinner, I will typically wear jeans and some shirt that matches. I don’t try to hard to get dressed and that may be because I have never wanted to dress up until I was older. I envision my life after college where I will dress with slacks and a button down shirt and perhaps a tie, the social norm of the business world. However, seeing that I am only 20 and am working towards an education I don’t have standards on how to dress and I dress how I feel for the day.
For as long as I can remember, my family has supported my style. I don’t have any piercing and tattoos because I have been taught that they are “tacky” and not appropriate to defile the body. My parents have drilled the notion to dress according to the situation, formal clothes for formal occasions and loungewear when I don’t have expectations to meet. I have always been taught to wear my hat the correct way and that is because my father made it apparent that it is the appropriate way and seeing that I played baseball for most of my life, wearing my hat forward was just the way it was done.
As for my peer community, I dress the way I do because that’s just what we do. My friends and I have dressed the same way since junior high and we have found a true love for being comfortable. Since we play sports constantly, it is easy to go forth with our activities wearing sweatpants and etc. Sports are what shape my life and when we see professional players, as well as collegiate players, wearing sweatpants, we consider it to be our social norm. This is who we are. We love to be comfortable and if anyone has problems with it then that’s there deal. But as far as the way we dress and show ourselves to the public, we just don’t care what others think, just what our close friends and family think.
