Humans have a subconscious analyser that kicks in, the moment we set eyes on another person. This background process of forming a first impression is there for a reason, it gives us an estimate of the other person’s mood, attitude, social status and possibly a lot more. This approach, despite being quite effective in steering us clear of gun-slinging terrorists, fails quite often in modern society. Our society today is growing more secure every day while also turning into a cauldron of randomness, of individual choices that few others can appreciate. In this evolving society, I see a decline in both the requirement and the effectiveness of an initial judgement.
The way we dress and accessorise has been a very important and effective marker in this evaluation, sometime back this was leveraged to create the fashion houses of today. They fuelled this trait with ad campaigns aligning their brands with affluence, power, control and character, pushing us towards a society wherein the tag on our shirts become our identity. This kind of marketing wherein power is drawn from the no. of people believing the story has a multiplying effect. The more the no. of believers, the greater the incentive to pay for your tag. There’s also a problem with this approach, a lot of this brand value also comes from exclusivity. If everyone had the same tag, how would you stand out? Why would you pay the premium? Hence the pricing, just right to keep it from becoming pedestrian.
Amongst all of this hullabaloo, there’s a growing no. of people who are shunning “dressing-up”, instead choosing to spend on things with more substantial value, books, hobbies, travel. They are so very confident of their inner-core that they no longer have to derive importance from others. People judging us, also has an inductive effect, what others think of us and what we think of ourselves is linked. To not care what the external world makes of you, requires a discipline and confidence that takes time to build, but here as well the growth will be exponential, as more and more people decide against spending on fashion brands, it will keep becoming easier for others to shun these tags. In fact, its only natural for everyone to prefer more comfortable, cheaper clothing. In a world with no place for judging people, there really is no market for today’s flashier brands.
To a world in pajamas!!!(building rockets😉)
rabbitRambles 