Fashion as a mask, fashion as a mirror: When the medium is the message
Soo this Canadian philosopher said this thing....
Marshall McLuhan said this thing: “The medium is the message”, by which he essentially means that the specific method we use to communicate significantly shapes the meaning we convey to a point where it becomes the message itself.
Well, me being me, I accidentally started theorizing on this.
…And decided to apply this theory to fashion, and here’s what I came up with:
Clothing as Narrative: The Power of Perception
If we look at fashion through the lens of McLuhan, clothing itself emerges as far more significant than mere aesthetic expression or a symbol of consumerism; it becomes an intimate and powerful medium.
In everyday life, clothes silently speak volumes about who we are, who we want to be, or who we’d prefer others to think we are.
I suspect that your mind is taking you in a certain direction right now, but let me take you the other way for a moment. I once met a man whose appearance (and smell) suggested homelessness at least. Yet, beneath these deliberately chosen layers of camouflage and misdirected assumptions, he led an exceptionally free and affluent life. His disguise was intentional: after his young son was kidnapped for ransom, he chose to permanently conceal his wealth from public view. His son is a grown-up man of 40-something years by now, and safe, yet his father kept the mask that tells the story. While in my personal environment, I usually experience the opposite, I feel that both a seemingly careless disregard and a meticulous effort serve as statements, masks, or windows into identity and intention.
Clothing, therefore, transcends mere decoration. It actively shapes narratives, bending perceptions to either reveal our truths or cleverly conceal our realities. Recognizing fashion’s profound communicative power — its innate ability to simultaneously reveal and conceal — is the first step toward understanding that sometimes our simplest wardrobe choices speak the loudest.
Fashion is a language.
Pick your dialect: Revealing & Concealing
Like any language, it can be used as a tool. Its effectiveness depends entirely on the intention behind its use. Fashion can serve as decoration, but also as a window, a voice, an expression of self. Equally, it can be the mask you hide behind, the illusion you create to have society presume things about you, or conceal what you don’t want them to know. Being intentionally invisible can be crucial to keeping you safe — think celebrities, wealthy people, or even wanted individuals.
Consider the celebrity's classic "cap-and-sunglasses" look. Today, it’s practically a trend, approved as chic streetwear. But historically, it was the opposite — a deliberate attempt at invisibility, a hiding strategy that provided a shield against unwanted attention.
Strategic Transparency & Status Symbols
Turning around again, symbols of status are often used as strategic transparency to position oneself in society. A designer logo subtly (or not so subtly) placed sends clear, purposeful signals. Yet this reliance on symbols can also serve as armor. Uniforms, whether literal uniforms or in a sense of trend-driven conformity, promise safe predictability and belonging. But there's a catch — you sacrifice your flexibility, often frozen into a state of anonymity and sameness.
Authenticity vs. Masquerade
Both extremes — caring deeply about fashion and not caring at all — equally serve as masks and self-expression simultaneously. Choosing to dress deliberately unconventional can itself become a performance, especially if it doesn’t resonate with your true inner self. Then you are simply turning authenticity into an act, a masquerade.
True self-expression in fashion doesn’t demand extreme boldness or flamboyant style if that's not genuinely aligned with your personality. Instead, authentic self-expression is about aligning materials, textures, colors, silhouettes, and comfort with your inner personality and values. It’s about using fashion not merely as decoration but as an accurate representation of who you genuinely are — no mask required.
Ultimately, fashion remains a complex, powerful language. To master this language, one must navigate between revealing and concealing, understanding precisely when to use fashion as a window into their truest self and when, if ever, to deploy it strategically as a mask.