Don’t Follow Fashion Trends, Do This Instead
It was December 28, 2011, right after Christmas. At this time I would’ve been 15 which was around the age my family didn’t know what gifts to give me so they just gave me money.
Usually, after Christmas, my mom would take my brother and I to the mall to purchase some new items with the money we got for Christmas.
My choice usually leaned towards a new wardrobe whereas my brother was more interested in tech.
My Brand New Jacket
This particular year the new addition to my wardrobe would be a popular one: a down jacket. And I just knew I was going to have the flyest one.
I went to H&M and saw this bright red down jacket with a hood. It was well insulated, had zipper pockets and even an inside pocket to store a small wallet.
I loved this coat and knew I had to get it. It had to be no more than $30-$40 which was a steal to me.
Soon as I bought it I put it on and wore it the whole ride home. I didn’t want to take the jacket off.
When we arrived at the house, I went straight upstairs and took a selfie in the mirror attempting to make the best “light-skin face” I possibly could.
From Flyest Kid To A Clone
A few days later, still wearing the jacket, I went to a friend’s house to hang out.
What followed would crush any dream I had of being the flyest kid in school:
“You know everyone has that jacket?”
I tried to deny it but I knew she was right. And it wasn’t long after I began seeing everyone else wearing the same make and model in various colors trying to be the flyest kid just like me.
I realized I was a clone; a copy of something that already existed.
When I bought the jacket I made the same misconception as did so many others before me and are still doing till this day; seeking out the latest trends and trying to wear it better than everyone else.
Turns out, just like everyone else, I couldn’t wear it better.
Why?
Because we all looked the same.
Change of Style
It wasn’t until college that I realized that if I want to be the flyest kid out there I had to find my own style; I had to be unique in the way I dressed.
My sophomore year of college I changed my style and found myself more and more interested in tailored clothing mixing and matching modern menswear with traditional tailoring on Sundays when I went to church.
During the week when most guys would be wearing Jordans, skinny jeans, and bomber jackets I would lean towards low-top white sneakers, cropped trousers and a 3/4 zip polo or t-shirt tucked into my pants.
I even started a blog to help other collegiate men find their own style so they wouldn’t end up like me trying to keep up with trends and competing with their clones.
My Style Made Me a Celebrity
What I discovered was that people really loved how I dressed. They loved the fact that I had my own style and embraced it.
People started asking me how I get dressed in the morning and which places I’d shop. Some people even asked me to put together outfits and help them find their own style.
What I Learned
The lesson of all this?
Don’t follow trends find your own style, wear what suits you and never deviate from it. When you try to keep up with the latest fashions the best you can do is come second because there is always going to be someone out there who did it first.
In the end, you’ll end up looking like a copy of your peers just like I had when I was 15. You’ll go through season after season switching wardrobes trying to figure out how to look better than everyone else but to no avail.
Do you want to look better than everyone else? Do you want to be the one starting the trends instead of following them?
Then Find your own style and wear it with confidence.
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde.
