Expressing Your Personality Through Yur Clothing

1-2 YEARS IN PROJECT

Expressing Your Personality Through Your Clothing

4-H Clothing and Textiles Project
Part of the Family and Consumer Sciences 4-H Project Series
Selecting What’s Right for Me

Project Outcome: Select clothing that expresses an individual’s unique personality.
Project Indicator: Complete analysis of personal style with picture in outfit that represents personal style.
Clothing conveys much about our personalities and who we are. It is one of
the most important clues from which first impressions are made. When you
learn what your clothing says about you and ideas for adding your own
personal touch to your clothing, you can have fun with your wardrobe.
To get started, think about what you wear on a daily basis and describe two
outfits here:
OUTFIT ONE OUTFIT TWO

(circle) (circle)
Knit Top or Button- Pants or shorts or Knit Top or Button- Pants or shorts
up shirt skirt up shirt or skirt
Long Sleeve or Short Long or short Long Sleeve or Short Long or short
Sleeve or Sleeveless Sleeve or Sleeveless
Loose or Body fitting Loose or Body fitting Loose or Body fitting Loose or Body
fitting
Fabric: Solid color Fabric: Solid color Fabric: Solid color Fabric: Solid
or Print or Print or Print color or Print
Actual Color: Actual Color: Actual Color: Actual Color:
Shoe type: Accessories (List): Shoe type: Accessories (List):

Shoe color: Shoe color:
CLOTHING REFLECTS OUR VALUES
CREATING OUR CLOTHING PERSONALITY
Our society has developed ideas as to what is best and right for people to wear. These ideas are
adopted or rejected by each of us. As we form our values we may reflect, reject, or accept a
portion of these ideas. Through experimentation, our clothing personality is developed. Each one
of us say something about ourselves by the way we dress. This is our own “clothing personality.”
Whether you believe it or not, values are reflected through the clothing we wear.
Do you and your parents ever disagree on appearances? One reason may be the values of each
person. You may feel a style is a statement of independence from your parents, while your
parents may feel the style represents values they dislike.
Think for a moment how you

would feel if the President and
the First Lady showed up for a
public appearance dressed like
current rock music stars.
-Would the public’s opinion of
them change?
-Do you think they would make
the news?
That is how important our choice of clothing is to us and others. As you grow older, you
will experiment with various styles and probably find yourself comfortable with one
or two style themes. Within these styles, you can dress up or down to suit the activities in
your life. You will get more clothing for your dollar by purchasing garments in your
personality style than you can by accumulating many different styles. Some clothing may
look terrific on you, but you will not wear them as often if they don’t fit your clothing
style.
WHERE DO YOU WEAR YOUR CLOTHING?
As we adopt a style, we must use it within a wide range of activities.

These include such things as school, leisure, hobbies, religious, cultural and formal
occasions. Look in your closet and identify where you wear the majority of your clothes:
I wear the majority of the clothes in my closet at:
School
Leisure Activities
When Enjoying my Hobbies
Religious Functions
Cultural and/or Formal (dressy) occasions
(If you have a good amount of clothes in your closet in more than one category above,
check those above.)
At all of the above occasions, our dress reflects our personality as well as our values,
such as:
Clothing Personality Styles
To get a better picture of various styles that can be identified through the clothing we wear,
examine the clothing personality styles below.
Dramatic—enjoys bold, colorful dressing. Uses
large and spectacular accessories. This person is
often the first to try a new style. Everyone notices
when a ‘dramatic’ person walks into the room. Guys
in this style are usually tall and thin.
Sporty/Natural—enjoys dressing with a relaxed

or outdoorsy feeling. Simple clean-cut lines. Easy
care hairstyle. Lots of denim, khaki, and button-front
styling. The natural person may also love animals and
prefer to be outside. The sporty/natural will find
their style of clothes in places like Eddie Bauer.
Gamine—a smaller\shorter version of

sporty/natural. The gamin looks great in pixie
hairstyles and sporty/natural clothing styles. Guys
are youthful looking and have an eye for detail.
Classic—enjoys dressing in a tailored look. Classic

sweaters, pleated skirts or pants. This person is
naturally very neat; every- thing is in place and
stylish in moderation.
Romantic—likes dressing with lots of fullness and

softness. This person chooses large plaids, large
printed designs on fabrics, and large details (females
like large ruffles, lace and bows; males like baggy
pants and full cut shirts & sweaters).
Ingénue (on-jin-u)—is soft spoken, likes fine detail,

and looks good in small details.
IDENTIFYING YOUR PERSONAL STYLE
Now that you have learned more about personal style, look at the two outfits you described in this
exercise (or look at your favorite outfits in your closet and identify your style as one of the following
(Dramatic, Sporty/Natural, Gamine, Classic, Romantic, Ingénue):
My style is:
Is there anything you would add to your outfits to make them better reflect your style? Yes No
If ‘yes’ describe here what you would add:
Now that you have identified your personal style, look at the descriptions of that style and/or
examples given. If you could buy an outfit for a special occasion reflecting your identified style,
describe what that outfit would look like including color, fit, length, etc.
I would wear my special occasion outfit to:
Description of outfit:
Test your knowledge
1. Identify the following images with the correct style. Choose from: Dramatic, Gamine,
Romantic
a b c
2. Identify the following images with the correct style. Choose from: Sporty/Natural, Ingénue,
Classic.
a b c
To complete this activity, take a picture of you in an outfit that expresses your identified personality
style and keep it for your portfolio or to use to show others what you have learned.
Answers: 1a. Dramatic; 1b. Romantic; 1c. Gamine; 2a. Classic; 2b. Sporty/Natural; 2c. Ingenue
By: Sue Byrd, Professor Emeritus, the University of Tennessee at Martin

Adapted from Kansas 4-H Leader Guide

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1-2 YEARS IN PROJECT

Expressing Your Personality Through Your Clothing

Selecting What’s Right for Me

OUTFIT ONE OUTFIT TWO

Shoe type: Accessories (List): Shoe type: Accessories (List):

Think for a moment how you

WHERE DO YOU WEAR YOUR CLOTHING?

As we adopt a style, we must use it within a wide range of activities.

Sporty/Natural—enjoys dressing with a relaxed

Gamine—a smaller\shorter version of

Classic—enjoys dressing in a tailored look. Classic

Romantic—likes dressing with lots of fullness and

Ingénue (on-jin-u)—is soft spoken, likes fine detail,

By: Sue Byrd, Professor Emeritus, the University of Tennessee at Martin

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