Fashion-Types Based on Personality Is Simple Starting Place for Self-AnalysisThis book about fashion-types shows that something that is hard-to-find is not necessarily worth hunting. [Continued]
Essential Self, Essential Style by Alyce Parsons, Kathy Hurley, and Theodore Donson (2002, Windwalker Press) made me glad for interlibrary loan services. The primary author, Parsons, has a mission similar to Fashion After 50. She wants women to understand that outer expression through fashion is a way of expressing the true inner self. This 199-page volume is the result of Parsons' collaboration between Hurley and Donson, whose expertise is personality systems. Three Personality Dimensions are Doing, Feeling, and ThinkingThe style analysis is based on the three so-called intelligences -- doing/activity, feeling/emotions, intelligence/reflecting.The Doer uses the action and thinking elements, but under uses emotions. The Doer can wind up walking all over everyone else's feelings and must develop empathy. The Networker uses action and feeling, but does not always trust her ideas and thoughts. She must learn to develop confidence in her own good thinking. The Introspective has well developed thinking and feeling centers, but under uses the action center. Some of the most useful sections of the book are checklists with suggestions for how to unleash that under-utilized personality dimension. This is more about psychology than fashion and style, though. Sporty, Traditional, and Elegant Style May Be BlendedParsons posits fashion-types for each of these essential components of the self:
By wearing the preferred style, a person reinforces both the positive and negative characteristics of that personality intelligence. Lack of illustrations for these fashion-types is another weakness of the argument. Personal Style Is More Than the Clothes You WearStyle, according to these authors, "is a manner of expression characteristic of an individual. It is the way we think, act, and operate. It is the external expression of our internal perception and ourselves. People identify us by our style: our voice, movement, dress, and every discernable characteristic that makes us who we are" (p. 54).Each of us emphasizes our two most-used intelligences as a blend in our fashion style and ways of communication. Parsons, Hurley, and Donson suggests that we add the under-used style into our dress and manner of communicating. In this way, we will strengthen our essential self. Authors' Self-Analyses Raise Questions about Research RigorEach of the authors represents a different primary intelligence. They use themselves as case studies to illustrate how integrating under-used style into their daily activities has made them more whole.As case studies, the authors’ testimonials are suspect evidence that begs the questions of whether the self-fulfilling prophecy has been at work. On the one hand, this seems a bit like magical thinking: by performing certain rituals, circumstances will be brought into being. Or we could call it the "fake it til you make it" mentality. On the other hand, becoming conscious of how we communicate in our manner and clothing can help us create the selves we want to be. This slender volume of only 119 big-print pages is written in basic language appropriate for a first or second year college student. Read more reviews.
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