SelfFashioning

Selffashioning refers to the deliberate construction of a personal identity through choices about dress, grooming, speech, behavior, and mediated representations. It treats identity as something actively produced rather than a fixed essence, shaped through interaction with audiences, social norms, and technologies of communication.

The term has roots in literary theory, notably Stephen Greenblatt’s self-fashioning (1980), which analyzes how early modern authors used paratexts, dedicatory poems, and publishing practices to fashion a public persona and to claim authority within the cultural field. In that context, selffashioning links textual production to self-presentation and claims to cultural authority.

In contemporary usage, selffashioning broadens to everyday life and digital culture. The concept overlaps with and is informed by theories of self-presentation in sociology, such as Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical framework, and by performativity theories in gender studies, notably Judith Butler. It also intersects with notions of self-branding and personal branding in media ecosystems, where individuals curate profiles, content, and affiliations to shape audience perceptions.

Practices of selffashioning include wardrobe and grooming choices, speech and affect, online avatars and usernames, autobiographical storytelling, and the selective disclosure of experiences. The rise of social media has intensified the visibility and tempo of self-fashioning, increasing pressure to balance authenticity with strategic presentation, commercial considerations, and privacy concerns.

Critics note tensions between agency and constraint, the commodification of identity, and the risk of homogenization or performative excess. Proponents emphasize the constructive potential of deliberate self-presentation for narrative coherence, social signaling, and belonging.

See also: self-presentation, performativity, branding, self-portrait.