English people I need you !
I'm French and I'm doing a cross-cultural comparative analysis for my linguistics course.
I'm looking for people who would have time and kindness to answer my questions, about clothes and what they communicate.

My questions are :
1) What is your first feeling / reaction when you see people dressed like that ? How do you feel ? (scared, attracted, surprised, shocked etc)
2) What do you imagine about their personality, what would you say about who they are ? (nice, brave, shy, intelligent, lazy etc etc)
3) What do you imagine about their way of life / hobbies / activites ?
4) What do you imagine about their social background / education / past,future / problems etc ?
5) What do you think they try to communicate with their clothes ? What is their "message" ?


And you have to apply these questions to each of the 10following groups of people :
1= english style (coloured leggings and tights, dress with flowers, lady-slippers, ballet shoes or boots, vintage and retro clothes, mixing of colours like orange with blue and green)
2= "hot", very sexy (mini skirt, mini dress, shorts, clothes showing legs and breasts, tight tops, black & white, like the girls in the discos)
3= gothic (black black black & red, heavy shoes, lace, long coats or mini skirt)
4= BCBG, very well-dressed (suits, tie, straight skirt, white shirts)
5= punk (black, pink, green, leather jacket, fishnet stockings, mini skirt, torn tights, t-shirts with messages)
6= classic style, basic (simple clothes and colours, jeans, t-shirts)
7= hip hop, street wear (baggies, large t-shirts, caps, sneakers)
8=crazy look (flashy colours, strange combination of clothes, old and fashion mixed, like fancy dress)
9=sportswear (sweat suit, large tee-shirts, short, basket shoes)
10=grunge (torn jeans, clothes looking old and dirty, colourless)

Thank you very much for those who will reply seriously ! I just need 10 answers !:help:

I was thinking about this, and realised that I don't analyse people by their clothes, and never make judgements on their lifestyle / personality etc. Perhaps this is because I have, at one time or another, fitted into class 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 yet have always been me.

The clothes someone wears, to me, offers less of an insight into that person as the body language they convey (something useful when trying to spot people who are 'up to no good' at work - which pays off at least 80% of the time). How someone holds themself (stance), or what their eyes tell you (are they cautiously, nervously glancing around? Is it a "spying" glance, or is it a 'shy' glance? Etc, etc).

In addition, relating to the clothes: Take the example of the 2nd option, sexy clothes. Now to have them on a well proportioned person will offer one result...to have them on someone who is overweight, has skin problems, is not attractive gives a whole new view. It isn't the clothes which offer the impression - it is the person.

Some people may feel differently, and use clothes to make instant judgements (I have been the victim of a few beatings over the years just because of what i wore when going out), but for me the material worth matters not.



BTW: Perhaps this should go in another section of the forum - not really entertainment chat.