Articles

Relay Column: Changing My Appearance & My Appearance Changing Me – Fashion as Communication (Ryo Shoji)

2022.06.22

PROFILE

Ryo Shoji

Part-time lecturer at Senshu University's School of Human Sciences and others. He completed his doctoral program in the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Hitotsubashi University. His specialty is sociology, social research, and communication theory. After the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear accident in 2011, he has conducted research mainly focusing on the social functions of humor and laughter, and issues and possibilities related to experiences and communication under problematic situations, with Fukushima being his field of study post-disaster.

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The Act of Dressing Up

Many might have once indulged in the thought of waking up one morning to find themselves having turned invisible. As a child, I often wondered if an invisible man left his house clothed, would his clothes be seen simply floating about town.

If this were the case, to keep one's invisible status—and therefore one's identity—hidden, it would be better to not wear anything at all. However, wearing something exposes your identity to others. This paradox - if I may call it that - accompanies us each time we decide what to wear, even when we're not invisible.

If one doesn't wish to reveal their identity, perhaps they shouldn't wear anything at all. However, those of us who aren't invisible cannot go about like this. As soon as we step outside sporting an attire, it unavoidably transforms into a message expressing something about us to others. Dressing up, therefore, is essentially expressing oneself to others. Or rather, it happens naturally. To put it another way, the act of dressing up can be seen as a vital channel of communication with others.

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