Fashion Creates Social Identity

Fashion, Kuel Category Expert: Angie Weihs

Escapism is in great demand these days; living in fantasy worlds feels so much better than in Pandemic restrictions. The trick is to transform the magic we experienced on Netflix, virtual travel sites, book clubs or fashion shows into new awareness and even life changing energy.

Wardrobe has always been a tool for creative expression of status or mindset, For Instance, to move us above others, to fit in or rebel against the norms. We distinguish ourselves and consciously or unconsciously show who we are even when we negate fashion its power.

Fashion creates social identity. The three main categories women are looking at are:

1. What woman I want to be
2. The woman I fear to be
3. Kind of woman I usually am

Imagination is a tool for self-creation; we discover more about who we want to be and even who we truly are under the robes of daily life. Our feelings towards the expression of others in their visuals tell us stories about our judgments and desires, reveal imposters as much as guides. When our hearts beat faster watching women wrapped in couture in shows like the Queen’s gambit, Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, Younger or movies like the Devil Wears Prada, we are onto something; often our neglected desires.

Too Often We Are Stuck In Our Roles And Mistake Them For Our Identity:

Roles of normalcy as much as the latest fashion trends can feel like jail, a need to perform; to conform or always be on the forefront of the latest trend. Both extremes ask us to fulfill all kinds of expectations. To know who we want or fear to be and why we have a particular “normal,” requires an adventurous journey into past and future stories. Fashion is, in my experience, the most fun awareness journey there is. Outfits can be muses, awakening desires from the depth of our soul.

Fashion fantasy is one of those little talked about tools for self-discovery, slowly emerging from the secret world of designers into the curious why of psychology. Why do we feel attracted by a certain style and repulsed by the other? What does it have to do with our personal story? Why do looks matters to us?

What Happens When We Step Into Our Fantasy?

“When making collections, designers often turn to art, film, and literature as jumping-off points. Fairy tales, for example, have informed fashion shoots, some of which are collected in Vogue: Fantasy & Fashion. But Little Red Riding Hood, renegade princesses, and latter-day Joan of Arcs aren’t only to be found on the magazine’s glossy pages. Season after season, the runway is populated with Dickens heroines and royals, as well as more outré imaginings, like femme fleurs and mystical creatures.” (Vogue)

What happens when we step into our fantasy? When we, no matter the challenges of finances, body shapes, age, cultural expectations and society’s demands, accept an outrageous outfit as part of us, as the desired version of self? What do we feel when we look at our avatar adorned in our dreams?

“If limitations of any kind were no object, in which fashion statement would you most want to walk down the runway? Let it happen.”

Go On A Little Adventure With Me:

Enter Vogue Runway.

Let go what you think you know about your daily self, even your known desires or your style. Physically shake it; jump rope, dance, do yoga for a couple minutes; whatever it takes to loosen and open up.

Scroll down the front page of designers’ visions.

If limitations of any kind were no object, in which fashion statement would you most want to walk down the runway? Let it happen; that special something triggering a memory, emotion, or connection. Inspiration works much the same way; it can come from anywhere, but it can’t be manufactured. It is discovered.

Acknowledge and take notes of what provokes or lures you in.

Step into the outfit that talks to you, how does it feel?

Fashion Is A Language We Can Learn:

Outfits are imbued with history, personal history, social values, and personal judgments. As a result, our feelings are the translator.

Fashion is communication, a conversation between you and me, but also a way for our subconscious to get through to us.

Fantasizing our outrageous self liberates us. We better understand our wants and needs, which enable us to plan for the future. Without dreams, without fantasy, we become shells of our potential selves.

Fantasy Is A Step Out Of Our Comfort Zone:

It allows us to enter a world of “contrasts and opposites”, to break away from the entrapment of realism. Above all, It creates an equilibrium of intellect and intuition, the analytical and visionary.

We Use It:

Fantasies are typically associated with scenarios that are statistically implausible or impossible in reality.

How Can We Transport Our Dream Selves Back Into Reality?

Accessories, scarves, jewelry, boots, hats, gloves or stockings can make strong points of our vibration even when added to an every day outfit, they’re like the little flags kids wave at a parade.

When digital fashion designs become mainstream use, our creativity literally won’t have any boundaries. Moreover we become the women we discovered being all along.

About the Author:

Angie Weihs is a fashion forward Instagram influencer. In nearly three years of outfit explorations, fashion evolved as a tool for awareness and empowerment. Women who embarked on a styling journey with her found confidence by discovering their ”real.”

Her upcoming memoir, “Maybe you should wear pink,” lets outfits talk and shows how to wear our souls on our sleeves so that the Universe can have our back. Reinventing ourselves during a worldwide pandemic is an unprecedented challenge. Angie’s goal is to let our style help us rethink, redefine, and re-feel our lives. And, provide the clarity and power we need to reinvent a broken world. You can follow Angie on Instagram at agelessrebelmagic.