Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2014 Why Am I Buying Another Black Dress?: An Anthropological Perspective into the World of Fashion Ava Carnevale Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Fashion Design Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Carnevale, Ava, "Why Am I Buying Another Black Dress?: An Anthropological Perspective into the World of Fashion" (2014). Honors Theses. 492. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/492 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ! Why Am I Buying Another Black Dress?: An Anthropological Look into the World of Fashion By Ava L. Carnevale ************ Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of Anthropology UNION COLLEGE June 2014 ! !ii! Abstract Carnevale, Ava. Why Am I Buying Another Black Dress?: An Anthropological Look into the World of Fashion. Department of Anthropology, June, 2014. This thesis explores how the world of fashion permeates all facets of human life, including social success, individual identity and self-acceptance. The fashion decisions we make each day are, indeed, personal decisions that we use to express ourselves and convey our story to society, however the cultures, people, and society that surround us are what intrinsically make these choices for us. Through extensive research in New York City and at Union College, evidence proves that persons are influenced by their surroundings, including media and friend groups, which ultimately establish his or her wardrobes and his or her level of social freedom or social pressure.