Fashion Observation Analysis

1. Go to a public place and OBSERVE the community of people in that place for at least 30 minutes; perhaps as long as 60 minutes. In your report, describe the setting and note the date and time of your observation. Describe the element of “community” that you observed. The public place, in which I chose to observe fashion, was a community fall festival. This festival occurs once a year and brings people from several communities. I arrived at the festival in early afternoon, around 12:30 pm. The festival was just starting to get crowded. At this time there were mostly families with children present. I observed numerous families with babies in strollers. There were at least twenty “vendor” booths …show more content…

This would be an example of customs. Customs are social habits that are more deeply rooted than folkways. Other customs that I observed included men shaking other men’s hands when they knew each other or were introduced for the first time, I also witnessed a young man get out of his seat and give it to an older woman, apparently out of respect. Another element observed in this outing is mores. Mores are rules related to ethical or moral expectations. This community has a strong religious compass and not many people were dressed inappropriately. That being, said, there is always a few that like go outside of the norm and do their own thing. I observed one young girl, who was with a couple that I assume were her parents, and she had on a very short dress and at one point I believe I actually saw her undergarments. I say that this is inappropriate because she appeared to be twelve or thirteen years old. Clearly, she was too young to be wearing such a revealing garment. Finally, the sumptuary laws that I observed included firemen, police officers, and the concession wear uniforms stand workers.
C. Your assessment of the forces influencing the fashions you observed. As I said previously, this is a strongly religious community and I believe that is a strong influential force in the fashion I observed on this day. This is also an avid football community. I cannot count the number of t-shirts I observed on people, which supported