‘Dress to kill’ is what many say, but I must say, dress to survive. Why? Because what we wear decides who we are. Your clothing during different occasions not only decides what others see but what you see yourself. Different clothing material, fittings, and accessories determine how we see ourselves and how we perform any activity whatsoever.
DANCE
We are all aware that dance comes in many forms. There’s hip hop, jazz, ballet, contemporary, tap, folk, and various other forms. You might have noticed how the dancers of different dance styles wear different types of costumes on stage. If you thought that it was only to add to the looks, you are absolutely mistaken. Let us take the example of two dance forms, Hip Hop and Jazz.
Hip Hop is more of a cardio dance, it’s free and loose. Wearing airy and comfortable clothing is important because when you dress freely, your movements are free. It is comfortable to move freely at quick rates. Jazz, on the other hand, is streamlined and graceful. It is more strenuous on the muscles than on the heart. Wearing tight clothing where all the lines of the body are visible not only enables you to feel more graceful but facilitates your mentor to correct the posture of any part of your body.
Wearing the right clothing isn’t only important on stage but during rehearsals too so that you can know and feel your part.
COOKING
The attire of a chef or server is not only important to them but to their customers too. The sense of relief one gets when they see their food being handled in a clean and well-dressed environment is as relieving as me realising that I actually remembered to turn off the stove after my mom had told me to do so 2 hours ago.
Wearing a toque is important so that one’s hair doesn’t fall into the food while it’s being prepared. Chefs with beards need to wear beard restraints as well. They wear whites because it is easier to detect when their clothes get stained. Dirty clothes may harbour pathogens that can later be transferred to the food. They remove all their jewellery since wearing jewellery might tempt them to touch it and fiddle around with it which may transmit microorganisms. As you can see, their major motive with dressing is cleanliness.
ARTISTS
Ever wondered why an artist always looks out of the ordinary? They have their own bomb trends and look fantastic with their own aesthetic look. This is, however, largely stereotyped but you will be surprised by how true it is among several professional artists. They are highly creative and hence, such out-of-the-ordinary looks come naturally to them. A friend of mine who is an artist himself told me that dressing up creatively helps him think creatively and portray his thoughts creatively.
MUSICIANS
Musicians who aren’t performing any other sort of art form with music wear anything that gives them the feeling of what they play or feel. This might sound absurd to most people, but as a musician, I can tell you that even when we play just instrumentals, we can picture what the music is telling us. Most musicians don’t need lyrics to understand music. Wearing what you feel brings you closer to your music, enabling you to portray your emotions through your music.
These are only some of the main art forms I picked to depict the importance of dressing in art. But when you think about it, everything you do in life has its own form of dressing. You sleep in your pajamas, wear a uniform to school, and wear your jerseys when playing sports. You have a separate set of clothes to wear at home and outside. You don’t do this simply for their external look but on the basis of their comfort and purpose too.
“The joy of dressing is an art,” said John Galliano. Guess we should be adding this to our set of art forms!