Clothing As Identifiers

Clothing as an identifier has predated most academic writing on it. In Alison Lurie's piece she touches upon the societal implications of clothing. Lurie goes through the history of clothing as a social divider. In 2014, this fact has not changed. However, despite this lasting trend, we currently have the most clothing autonomy in human history. How we chose to use that freedom is more paramount today than ever before. Clothes are not simply a reflection of what you are, as they have been in the past, but a social indicator of what you want the world to see you as.

Clothing allows people to show more of their personality that ever before. As Lurie suggests, something as simple as color pattern relays personality. The "language of colors" as Lurie argues is vital in understanding oneself and perceiving the world. Conservative colors, such as those seen in religious communities and even in business, highlight the importance of visual appearance. Clothing signals more than it ever has in human history, complicating identification and classification.

Campus Life: the Sacred & the Sporty Clothes

    In our jammed-packed lives, we’re practically running from one event to another. Many of us on campus are physically active as well, so it’s not uncommon in class to see people in sport’s clothes coming from the gym or about to hit the track. But how about during services?

     I asked a Jewish friend of mine if being religious shaped how she dressed. We agreed that as Jewish and Catholic students, we perhaps dressed more conservatively than most, especially during services.

     “But sometimes I wear sports clothes to service, because I simply don’t have time to change before,” Jane* said. And I agreed. Many other students, including myself, have shown up to services a tad sweaty. I’d say there’s at least one person in sportswear at our Sunday Mass. 

      “It’s something about the space too” Jane commented, “We have services in the Hub [a public event space on campus], and it’s not like going to Temple. Nor is the Chapel like going to Mass for you, I bet. Knowing that during concerts a cappella groups drink beer on that alter makes it, I don’t know, different.”

     And she was right. For me, the modest, white Protestant Chapel did not have the same amount of sacredness for me as my home parish with its kneelers, stained glass, and incense in the air.

     For Jane and I, the casual campus vibe and our busy, active lives pervade into our sacred space. The spaces for our services were also more casual than what we were used to, less traditional. Maybe that’s a reason why us students feel its ok to be sporty and worship: the buildings themselves are such a mix of the typical “college life” and the religious.

*name changed