The world is full of destruction and pain. War is upon us, and children are starving-but the fashion industry is thriving and bumping and making big bucks. I think.
As it is obvious that I don’t have very much to say in the arena of pertinent or thought-provoking opinions, I’d like to make a few comments on something that I deal with every day. Some people even deal with this every hour. Yes, dears, the subject is (drum roll, please): clothing.
I grew up right in the heart of Dixie-Birmingham, Ala. While my family isn’t especially rich or famous, we had access to several malls and outlet centers. Thus, the influence of such malls was strongly felt in my family, and I was fortunate enough to have older sisters who primed and pruned my appearance every day of my oppressed childhood.
Each morning when I was trying to leave for school, my mother would look at my clothes, and say, “Joy, what did Carol (my sister) say about your outfit?”
If I had been able to elude my sister’s fashion-savvy eye until that point, I would be forced to trudge back upstairs and undergo what amounted to a critique of my outfit and hair.
One of the main problems that my sister had with my clothing (besides the fact that I often borrowed her clothes without asking) was that I never matched. I also didn’t really work well with sizes, so everything always fit funny.
I used to put some crazy outfits together, but I was not allowed to explore my creative dressing like I wanted to at the time when it would’ve been most appropriate. Instead, I forced myself into the outfits that my family deemed acceptable and trudged through the mire of a lonely and uncreatively put-together life.
So, when I finally was able to wrench myself free from Carol’s iron fist of scrutiny, something beautiful and magical happened.
Wait-let me backtrack. Not only did I have to escape from the iron fist of my previously mentioned older sister, I also had to move out of my home. My mother also had a semi-iron fist (don’t worry, all of these issues have been resolved, and I hold no fashion grudges against my family).
So, I came to college and tasted the sweetness of clothing freedom, and then the beautiful, magical things happened: I threw out my old ideas of monochromic color preferences. I decided that I didn’t have a favorite color. I also decided that I didn’t mind wearing pinks and reds together. Then I decided that I liked to mix fabric types within my outfits. I made sure I bought clothes that didn’t make me look like a balloon. It was wonderful.
I started willfully allowing my clothes to clash. I started wearing more skirts and different types of pants. I decided that I would have fun with my clothing choices, at all costs.
Now, I must admit that this has not been an easy road. For example, last semester, I decided that I was going to walk to school one day. That day also happened to be a day when I couldn’t decide what to wear. So, I decided, ever so childishly, to simply wear all of my favorite things. The outfit looked something like this: Red shirt. Turquoise and tan wool skirt. Gray tights. Tennis shoes. In short, I utterly and totally clashed.
The funny thing is, I didn’t mind the clashing. However, I got glares and stares from people all day long. When I was walking home from school, some girl that was driving by stuck her head out of the window and yelled (to me), “Oh, no you didn’t!” (referring, I guess, to the outfit). I was amazed at how antagonistic everyone seemed toward me that day.
Not only was I amazed at the antagonism, but I was surprised that people even cared about what I was wearing. We worry way too much about how other people view us. I should be able to wear whatever I want to wear without meeting frowns and discontent. It wasn’t like I was revealing too much skin or anything like that. I was fully covered, just in a fun and not completely color-coordinated way.
People should have more fun with what they wear and how they present themselves. It’s not that people worry too much about looking cool-they worry too much about looking like everyone else. But why look like everyone else and live like everyone else and act like everyone else when you could have fun and let loose every once in a while? Meet other people who wear clashing clothes! Enjoy the fact that everyone doesn’t look like you! This is the way we will save the world!
While I admit that I’m going a little overboard in this clothing-is-fun tirade, I do think that people should let loose. More likely than not, we’ll never meet most of the people that we see every day (you know-on the street or at the bus stop), so we should at least wear something that they’ll remember. Even if they don’t notice it, it’s worth the confidence boost you’ll get from being free to express yourself fabrically. Come on. Try it. It’s fun.
Joy Murphy is a senior English major.