Dress as Identity

Clothing forms a kind of a communication network between people through the usage of signs and symbols. Sometimes the symbolic values of the societies find their way into clothing and apparel. These values play a big role in maintaining the cultural elements of people. The basic role of clothing might have been for protection reasons only but later on, according to the development of social and cultural activities, it found a new symbolic role. The dress mostly is a representative of social identity of its wearer. To understand the sociological role of clothing, in making part of the identity of the people, one must understand its values. Also should be aware of the fact that, same as language differences, clothing also is a way to identify various cultures from each other; therefore it is as vital for a culture, as the linguistic aspects. Local customs of each area can play the same role, therefore as changing people's language has vast impacts on vanishing their identity, changing the clothing can have same impact on identity aspects. In this Paper, we will investigate the national, regional and personal values of clothing; and will also provide examples of Iranian people's awareness about this issue in the history. Studying the impacts of clothing on identity is another important issue that we will try to address and also we will try to find the answer to the question that are the effective parameters on identity, the same parameters that have direct impact on clothing or not.