Raise your hand if you’re surprised. No? You shouldn’t be.
For years I’ve worn simply what was within closest proximity to me, and usually what was the most comfortable –this meaning that I tend to don the baggiest and worst offerings leftover from the 1990’s. I’ve gotten away with it with minimal remarks up until recently, but now it seems time has caught up with me and I’m openly criticized over the matter. The criticism itself isn’t an issue… you can never please everyone, right? What does bother me though, is when I object to something and I’m told that I ‘'just don't know fashion'
It’s then I realize… I hate fashion.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy looking good. Everyone does. It’s just… it’s odd that clothing is supposed to help us ‘express ourselves’ and yet, so many people lose their identity when they conform to a particular style. You are what you wear. I see labels every day. Abercrombie. GAP. Dickies. Nike. Etc. Etc. Etc. I don’t want to go out and wear what every hipster on the block is wearing and suddenly be just a ‘hipster’ and not ‘me’. Why should people pay more attention to what I’m wearing over the quality of character I possess?
The other issue, and more importantly… fashion is just silly. It’s cool to wear something one day, and then the flavor of the week is gone and suddenly you’re blacklisted for sporting something that just isn’t ‘in’ anymore. It comes and goes and everyone just wants to find out what the ‘new black’ is. It changes frequently and without mercy, and only a wealthy man can afford to keep up with the latest trends. It’s superficial, shallow, and empty. And yes… that was redundant.
So I know nothing of fashion. And I don’t really want to. But what I do know? Leotards will never go out of style.
