When a student wakes up in the morning before school, they may not realize it, but the selected outfit can reveal a lot about the wearer’s personality. Students at NVD feel strongly that style is a form of self-expression and an important part of identity. To explore this idea, students at NVD reflected on their style and how it connects to other aspects of their lives.
When asked to describe their style in three words, common adjectives amongst different ages and genders at NVD included colorful, different, cool, neutral, trendy, and comfortable. It can be argued that these adjectives closely correlate with personality, along with style preferences.
Sophomore Sienna Bosker deeply understands the connection between style and personality. Bokser believes her outfit of the day reflects her vibe as she claims, “My outfit today is really bright which shows I’m a really happy person,” she said.
On the other hand, sophomore Addison Rowan does not believe that her personality is reflected through her outfit choices.
“No, my outfit is really dark today and I’m not a dark person,” Rowan said.
Sophomore Julian Gorenstein agrees with Rowan’s perspective.
“No, I’m just wearing a basic school outfit that doesn’t really say anything about my personality,” Gorenstein said.
Influence for style comes from all directions, most unanimously from social media platforms, friends, and family.
Sophomore Remi Actman gets inspiration from a mix of places.
“Influencers have a big impact on my fashion choices. Sometimes I see people on TikTok and if I like their clothes I’ll try and figure out where they bought it. My sister also influences what I buy and I like to borrow her clothes,” Actman said.
Similarly, Gorenstein gets inspiration from his older sibling.
“My brother influences what I wear because when I was little I would take all of his clothes and I would wear his hand-me-downs. Now I just dress similarly to him,” Gorenstein said.
Different from the rest, sophomore Yonatan Evar sticks to the beat of his own drum.
“The only thing that influences what I wear is myself, how I’m feeling and what type of day it is. It depends on the occasion for me, not other people’s opinions,” Evar said.
Students at NVD also have differing opinions on the reasons why they wear the clothes that they do. In the morning or night before, students at NVD choose what they are wearing based on factors like cleanliness, the weather, and comfort. Mood also plays a role in outfit choice.
“When I’m tired I wear bigger clothes and when I have an active day I wear more put-together outfits,” Bokser said.
Rowan and Actman agree with the idea that tiredness goes hand in hand with slouchier clothes. Gorenstein contradicts this belief.
“I dress differently based on events, not really mood,” Gorenstein said.
The group was unanimous in the fact that people make assumptions about a person based on their clothing, proving that clothing does say a lot about one’s identity. Additionally, 86% of interviewees declared that style is more important to them than comfort and 100% said they wear black the most. Students are also unanimous in the decision that clothes are representative to identity.
“I think clothing says a lot about a person,” Gorenstein said.
