Illustration Essay

Do clothes really make the person? Clothes may play a role in how people around you choose to look at you and make judgments, but will not make the person in question. People are defined by their actions, not by their sense of fashion.
Let’s travel back in time to High School. Every Friday all the football players would walk around school like they owned the place. They are in no way a different person just by transforming their image. They still posses the same qualities, and have the same personality. I know when I walked around as one of those guys with my football jersey I was still the same person on the inside.
Another example is that of the student population at schools nationwide. So many people are focused on making a good first impression through their image that they forget that it’s about what’s inside that counts. People walk around everyday who are uncomfortable to be themselves because they are so caught up on this “perfect image.” Everyone is so focused on looking good, because in today’s society that’s the only thing that seems to matter. If the clothes molded people into the “perfect image” then there would be an absurd amount of “perfect” people in this world.
Let’s take another example of something that’s very close to home, our parents. I’m sure everyone at some point in their life has looked at their mom or dad and just thought, “What the heck are they wearing? Nobody in today’s generation would be caught dead in that.” If clothes make the person, and our parents made us, then by the transitive property we should dress as our parents dress in order to be the same people. But nobody likes the goofy crap their parents wear, and I’m sure most people don’t want to be their parents, so why dress like them? Yet another example of how clothes don’t make the person.
Another thing that bothers me is when people with a lot of money flaunt it by buying extremely expensive clothing. I don’t understand why some people will go way out of the way to buy a 2,000 dollar suit, when a Men’s Warehouse will sell you one for 200. People with money just choose to buy expensive clothing because they can, but are they really any different than me? I’m I not as smart, attractive, sociable, or hard-working because I do my shopping at Khols? This is not only a problem with celebrities and others with much money, but it’s affecting today’s youth as well. All the little boys and girls want to be just like the people they see on TV. They all want expensive clothes, shoes, and bags. They all want to change their image to change themselves. It’s like the chicken and the egg and which one came first. You can change your style of clothing, and eventually you may change your image, but only when you change your actions can you truly change yourself.