Cultural Expression through Clothing

Through clothing, people are able to express both their own personal identity, as well as their cultural identity. On a micro level, fashion choices communicate individual identity. On a macro level, clothing is a means of representing social and cultural groups. Around the world, cultural groups associate with different articles of clothing in order to develop connections and distinguish themselves. This idea can be illustrated through African fashion and cultural identity.

Traditionally, Africans used clothing to depict tribes and celebrate various spiritual events. Often, African clothing is vibrantly colored, dyed and made from cotton fabrics. Colors such as yellow and gold represent wealth and fertility, and colors including blue and green represent peace and prosperity. These unique characteristics represent the idea of using appearance as a way to represent cultural identity. Here is an example of a traditional African fashion:

This picture shows the bright colors commonly represented in African fashion. 

The significance of African appearance and aesthetics is closely related to my current curriculum in English class with the novel, Poisonwood Bible, which is the story of a missionary family who travels to the Congo and undergoes a multitude of tumultuous experiences while attempting to both adopt and change the African culture. In the novel, the character Ruth May illustrates how clothing is used to shape identity through her narration of the differences between herself and the Congolese people in terms of appearance. On page 153, Ruth May states, "...That's all the clothes he has. Everybody here has just one clothes...The girls don't ever, ever wear pants." Ruth May's recognition of the differences in clothing between Americans and the Congolese ultimately show the broader idea that cultural differences can be shown through pieces such as clothing.

It is interesting to examine the importance of appearance and identity through different lenses, such as the African culture, because it helps me (and hopefully my readers) to recognize the significance of cultural influences on identity and therefore help us to better understand why certain cultures act in certain ways. After this post, I hope my readers will ponder the following questions:

• How does our appearance define who we are? How others view us?
• What impact does our culture have on our appearance?
• Does our culture determine our appearance, or does or appearance determine our culture?