I Got Style

A distinctive indication of class status that I have noticed is the difference in the choice of color in clothing that the upper and the lower class wear. People of the upper class status are more prone to wearing clothing of neutral colors, such as gray, black, and navy. Individuals among the lower class status, however, are more into wearing clothes of bright colors, such as bright green, pink, purple, etc. In the urban city that I grew up in, a lot of people often wore the brightest, boldest, colors, matching from head to toe in from earrings to shoes. In a more elitist society, such as Harvard, however, people tend to dress in a more reserved way.

In class we learned that the old money class tries their best not to draw attention upon themselves. They do not want to wear things that scream out "rich" to other people. According to Class Matters, "Inherited wealth smoothed the rough edges, their descendants morphed into American high society and evolved a signature style of living based on understatement and old-fashioned patrician values," "Showing off money was a sin," and "Wealthy people dressed down" (2-3). Individuals from the old money upper class social status feels a need to blend themselves into the background so that they do not get called out for being rich and wealthy. They find a need to hide their wealthy and not flaunt it. Individuals from the lower class, however, try their best to be noticed. They tend to wear a lot of bright and loud colored clothing, huge hoops, and match from head to toe. The way they dress tend to draw attention to themselves. The difference in style and clothing between the upper and lower class is indeed an interesting one.