*Collaborative post.
Many people (unfortunately) think that in order to be fashionable, you have to look and behave a certain way. Of course, that’s nonsense through and through. It’s most important to recognize that in actual fact, fashion is more about expression than it is about rules.
Sure, there are guidelines worth keeping in mind. It’s unlikely you’re going to wear underwear on your wrists as some kind of avant-garde statement; unless you were making some kind of fashionable point at a seasonal show dedicated to this sort of thinking.
Certain perennial advice will always be in vogue, also. It’s good to keep clothing in good condition and ensure it’s hygienic, of course. So, while there are a few fundamentals to keep in mind, it’s most important to realize just how much freedom you have when focusing on your fashion that helps you look good and feel better.
It’s not always easy to do this. After all, when we see celebrities rocking the catwalk or advice column telling us the hot new trends, it’s easy to think our own approach is lacking. In this post, we’ll showcase why fashion is never about looking a certain way, but rather, doing your best to look how you wish to, and how to get the most out of your personal sense of style. We hope these aphorisms can reduce the pressure on your shoulders, and permit you to have more fun:
Style Emanates From Who We Are
While it’s possible to change yourself a little through cosmetic surgeries, hair treatments, skincare and body art, it’s true to say that a good portion of what we look like is predetermined simply by how our body is formed. This means you may have strengths that you don’t really appreciate.
You may have beautiful natural eyebrows, for instance, or long eyelashes even before makeup. Understanding the different types of natural hair can help you embrace yours, while also treating it in the best possible way. Women with 4C hair, for instance, are starting to thoroughly express their beautiful thick locks instead of feeling ashamed of them because they haven’t been presented as “the standard” in many societies. That’s wonderful and far overdue.
Style and beauty emanate from what we look like, and how we express the best of ourselves now. This also teaches us not to focus on perceived weaknesses, which for many people rarely serve as weaknesses in the first place. For instance, one person may dislike the shape of their nose until they realize just how much this helps represent their ethnicity, instead of celebrating it as a beautiful feature of identity rather than a blemish to be ashamed of. As you can see – beauty, fashion and style are perspectives. It’s about who we are now, not who we think we should be. That’s the kind of worth that helps us think of someone as effortlessly stylish.
“Coolness” Has Limited Worth
It’s perfectly fine to think of someone as cool and to appreciate their fashion in this way. This isn’t an outdated term and it’s certainly not offensive. That said, coolness can sometimes be limiting in terms of how you regard yourself.
This is because being “cool” is often defined in a certain way, and prevents us from thinking outside of the box, or trying new things simply because we enjoy them. A good example is the famous recording artist Harry Styles, who, for the past few years, has been challenging masculine dressing habits by wearing skirts, dresses, pearls, netted collars, and jewelry most people would consider “feminine.” Is that cool? Well, we make it cool. So it’s become cool.
If Harry were to have worried about the predefined idea of what cool is, that is only wearing leather jackets and never venturing outside of his comfort zone, he might never have expanded coolness in his own stead. We come to realize that coolness has limits unless we can constantly change them, and keep that kind of freshness in flux. While you might not want to be completely innovative with everything you wear, you might keep this lesson in mind next time you think “is that really for me?”
Fashion Is About Celebration
It’s easy to look at events like the Met Gala and review each outfit, but when you look at things from the top down and see the big picture, it’s just wonderful that so many people are getting together to dress up and showcase their creativity.
As such, the moment you think that you’re dressing up in order to pass a test rather than to celebrate the fashion itself and what it gives you, then you might need to alter your perspective for the better. Of course, at some events, it might be worthwhile to think if your dress is appropriate, or if it fits within the guidelines of the actual guidelines given. Wearing white on someone else’s wedding day is generally considered to be in very poor taste, for instance, unless you’ve been asked to do so.
That said, celebrating fashion is a good way to go for adornments you might not usually enjoy, like a pearl-laden outfit, or to wear accessories that mean something to you. Fashion can also play on our heartstrings, such as accessories given to us by late relatives, or pieces purchased for us by our partner. When you celebrate, all of a sudden, fashion becomes enjoyable and not something you have to perfect.
Without You, Fashion Doesn’t Exist
Without people willing to wear clothing, try new things, experiment with colors, and update their wardrobe, fashion wouldn’t exist at all. It’s important to remember who it’s serving then.
When we worry about having nothing to wear, or that none of our outfits are exactly what we wish to wear that day, it can be easy to think as though we’ve somehow failed the test of fashion and that our style sensibilities aren’t up to par.
But you’re the one who makes an outfit, not the other way around. So, sure you might not have the most expensive or designer clothes in your wardrobe, but you have yourself, and that’s priceless. The way you walk confidently in an outfit, having it fitted to your body shape, all of this can help you make an outfit that might not work for another look great on you.
Acting like this can help you realize fashion is something you do to express your worth – not something you do in order to appease others.
Trendsetters Always Break The Rules
The reason yearly fashion shows are so exciting is because of how experimental and interesting they are. New concepts, new themes, new designs, and new combinations of color and texture conform to provide an idea of what certain designers are going for this year, rather than actually showing the exact models that will be in stores (at least the high profile fashion shows are like this).
If we can appreciate creatives breaking the rules like this, then we may feel that appropriate in our own lives, too. For instance, perhaps wearing neon-like colors for a certain event could be great, or committing to our own dying and treatment of our jeans could lend them new life. Creativity begets breaking rules, and this is how trends are born. Following your own trends might be all you have to do in order to stand out.
With this advice, we hope you can understand that fashion is never about looking a certain way, but rather expressing who you are, celebrating fashion as a fun addition to your life, and enjoying the social experience that comes along with that. If you find yourself criticizing every fashion choice you make, this new perspective can hopefully provide you with some levity.