Fashion cognition deciphering meanings of dress

Abstract

Theories of culture based on signs and systems are found across an interdisciplinary spectrum. There seems to be a growing consensus across disciplines that the forms of culture (linguistic, material, aesthetic, ritualistic, etc.) are connected to each other in some way. With the help of social cognition theory, this article claims that the cognitive mechanisms connecting people influence their thinking patterns and identification by their appearance. These patterns could be identified as patterns of the structures of social cognition. Cognitive structures also allow receivers to organize their thoughts and to simplify their perceptions, so they do not have to consciously struggle for interpretation each time a person is observed. Cognitive structures provide an easy sense of order and predictability for the purpose of clarification of expectations and also explaining behaviors related to senders.( Kaiser 1998)The theory also claims that fashion and social change as well as sender’s creativity in appearance management lead to a variety of appearances for which perceivers may not have already formulated a cognitive structure’. It is understood that cognitive processes lead to stereotyping and itis possible to link signs and systems which govern the dress and fashion system into a network of distributed meanings that constitute a culture. Stereotypes are ‘pictures in the head’ that receivers use to place others into categories and then to apply certain cognitive structures. Stereotypes may be viewed as strategies for simplifying and storing the complex array of information supplied by appearance and for reducing uncertainty and apprehension in initial interactions with others. The objective of the present research is to understand how the meanings of dresses arouse and create meaning as a result of negotiation between the wearer and the perceivers. The Kotte era was selected as the study setting. As the Sri Lankan dress paradigm significantly became more ambiguous with the advent of the Portuguese.