This doesn't happen often but when it does it can be dangerous. Earlier last week my friend asked me to accompany her to the mall so she could buy some much needed basic items. I myself being the type of person that likes to avoid doing school work quickly said yes and let me tell you guys it all went down hill from there. Firstly I spent more money (aka any money) at Forever 21 picking up a few basic items that at the moment I felt absolutely NEEDED to be in my wardrobe. Secondly after feeling guilty about accidentally shopping I tried perking myself up with some bad food court food which obviously didn't work. As I ate my terriyaki chicken and people watched I was appalled at what I saw in front of me. Women of a certain age and a certain body shape wearing thin leggings in the most unflattering ways. Teens prancing around in every trend they could get their hands on and giving absolutely no second thought to the context of those trends or what they even mean or come from. Grown men still wearing socks with sandals. I mean damn, I knew it was bad out there but I had no idea....
I don't want to use this space to hate on people since nothing comes out of that besides negative energy all around. Rather I'd like to help and teach people about the history, meaning and context of fashion, clothing and trends. I know I don't really do posts like 'How To Wear Leggings' or '5 Ways to Style Wedge Sneakers' because in some way or another I think that is restricting on people's creativity. Instead I like to use this space to talk about what clothing means to me and what I think it says about us as individuals.
I spend a lot of time talking about style and what I think that is and how wearing the latest trend doesn't necessarily mean you have style it just means you went shopping recently and that is exactly what I saw at the mall that fateful day last week; a lot of people who had gone shopping recently, perhaps accidentally like myself, and didn't think about what they had put on their bodies with a second thought because it was "in".
You don't have to be wearing printed leggings or neon colors or crop tops or combat boots to be in style because there is no such thing as being "in style". The statement itself is irrefutably incorrect. If you want to be in fashion that is one thing but it is not style. Style is understanding yourself, your needs, your desires, your limitations and synthesizing that into the way that you express yourself to the world. Style is an innate sense of self. I always say you could be oblivious to the fashion industry and have a strong sense of style and you could be working in the fashion industry you're entire life and never have style. They are not one in the same.
My point in all of this? That we need to stop confusing fashion with style and style with having gone shopping recently.