In this article I would like to focus on personal adornment and how fashion has changed over the years since there is a wider variety of clothing from different cultures around the world so we should embrace this.In my opinion body jewellery is your own personal style because a person wears things that attracts them and many people choose to wear jewellery from other cultures as they are intrigued and attracted to that type of jewellery therefore they decide to wear things that aren't from their own culture.
Another reason why I believe that body jewellery is a reflection of personal style rather than a cultural influence is that, especially in modern eras, no one's restricted by cultural boundaries that were placed before the recent development of globalisation which allows different countries to interchange aspects of their cultures. This results to a wider range of styles and less restrictions to what your personal adornment consists of and what you are expected to wear.
In the past everyone was expected to wear a certain type of clothing or jewellery depending on their gender or what country they're from or living in. For example in Britain woman were expected to wear skirts and dresses while men wore trousers and suites but now in the modern era women may wear trousers and suits if they wish and men may wear skirts without being judged by others. In the past the only styles that where introduced and expected to be worn were British clothes and clothes designed by other cultures weren't even introduced in Britain. In the past less people travelled because of the high prices and the lack of travelling options unlike the planes that people use to travel in 2017 which are fast and comfortable instead of the previously used boats that may sink and are uncomfortable.
I asked a Walthamstow resident called Leyla on her opinions on personal adornment and she replied with, “A personal style is like handwriting- it happens as the byproduct of our way of seing things enriched by the expereinces of everything around us.”
In conclusion personal adornment is a reflection of personal style because a person chooses what they want to wear as they are attracted to it and it intrigues them. Personal style is what the person chooses to wear and many people choose to wear clothes/accessories from abroad even though they're not from that country but just because they like them. On the other hand many people may argue that personal adornment is a reflection of cultural influence as many people change their personal style when they move abroad to a different country to fit in with the people around them and to be accepted by that society therefore personal adornment is a reflection of personal style but personal style may also consist of some elements of culture but you choose to include those elements into your own style.
Aishah Qureshi, Walthamstow Academy
