Young girls : their dress code in Malta

Abstract

Clothes are regarded to be very important to young people especially for adolescent girls. Clothes have evolved over history and this brought about a change in the way girls dress up. Whereas in the beginning of the last century, it was unheard of to see a girl without gloves, bonnet and stockings, today girls go bare as they dare. Various influential factors are identified in the literature in relation to why young girls select fashionable dress codes, including amongst others, peer pressure, fear of ridicule and rejection and need of acceptance. This research study aims to investigate why Maltese young girls choose to conform to the latest fashion trends. Data was collated by utilising a triangular approach through field observation, semi-structured interviews with twelve respondents and focus groups. Through this study it was evident that young girls conform to the latest fashion for various factors. The main reasons to wear fashionable clothes were to please oneself and feel good about oneself. However, results also indicated that through their dress code young girls aim to create an impression on other young people of both sexes for different reasons. For young girls, how they look and how their friends see them is a very important issue since this determines their level of self-acceptance and self-esteem as well as their relation with peers. Pressure from media and youth culture also forced young girls to conform. These findings also indicate that traditional values are still important in the lives of young people. However, it seems that the perception of traditional values has somehow changed. Today young people tend to interpret traditional values different to previous generations and this is reflected, amongst others, in their dress code.