Academic Research Projects
“Do These Jeans Make Me Look Fat? The Psychological Effects of Shopping for Blue Jeans on American Women in their Twenties”
Fashioning America: The History of Fashion and Style in the United States (Holly Kent, Fall 2012)
I conducted oral interviews with ten young American women in their twenties to understand the psychological effects that shopping for blue jeans has on each woman’s self-esteem. In addition, I examined denim blog posts, fashion television shows, magazines, and the media’s emphasis on body image to understand how the constant focus on fitting in with one’s peers affects women’s self-esteem when shopping for jeans. I concluded that while the transformation of the denim industry over the past five years and the media placed pressure on young American women to follow the newest denim trends, it was the large selection of styles, cuts, colors, materials, and brands that overwhelmed the consumer to the point of psychological exhaustion and instability.
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