As I sit at my laptop to write my last fashion article at Fairfield University, I find myself reflecting on everything I have written so far. What trends are in? How should blue-eyed versus brown-eyed people do their makeup? Lists of the best bags and shoes and the hottest items. Writing it, I’ve thought: “I have given great advice on fashion.” But, as I sit here, it is clear that none of that is true. Nothing I have said has mattered much. You might ask yourself what I’m talking about, why I’m basically saying that my articles have been pointless. And I guess it is because at the end of the day, I can advise on style all day long, but everyone’s style is different. Everyone has an individualistic style that is completely separate from mine, so what is most important to know about fashion and style is this: it’s totally subjective.
See, it is very easy to look in someone’s closet and see what kind of style they have, and truth be told, I think it is truly great that everyone’s style is different. It means that fashion is a method of expression that no one can take away, but it also means that every magazine we read or column we look at don’t mean anything to us unless it is what we want to hear. I can turn around and write that leather leggings are the hottest new item and everyone should buy a pair to wear to class, but at the end of the day, there are always going to be individuals that will never wear
leather leggings.
I have mentioned my crocs before. That is exactly what I mean. Every time I wear my crocs I am reminded by someone how hideously out of fashion they are (and always have been), but it will never matter to me how out of fashion they are, because I love them and how comfortable they are. Those who share my sense of style will love them, and maybe take something away from them, but those who do not will move along and continue to style themselves the way they always have.
This is my favorite thing about fashion. It can really be whatever you want. Two people can watch the Oscars together and disagree on every single look being “hot or not”, and that is just the nature of fashion. To be controversial, to be exciting, to be glamorous, to make people argue on whether or not it is fashion. There is a reason people do not walk around all wearing the same clothes, because in this life we are free to choose how we want to portray our beauty to the world. We decide how to display what we view as our best assets and cover up our worst, how to conceal a bad hair day, or rock a bad one. The best thing about fashion is that it really does not exist, because it is whatever I say it is, and it is whatever you say it is, and whatever your best friend says it is. We take popular culture examples and call it fashion because it is easier to have standards of fashion, but in reality, go crazy and wear whatever you want because everyone else is just as unsure of what fashion truly is as you are.
So that’s it, my final thoughts. Just be yourself, style yourself the way you want to, because no one can tell you it isn’t fashion.
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