Nine Ways to Avoid Being a Fashion Slave

by: Maryann Colella

Just about every girl has experienced the terror of being a trend victim. You walk into prom feeling like a million bucks, only to find that five other girls have dresses just like yours. A perfect example of this is the hideous, clunky, black sandal Rocket Dogs that every girl and her sister has, here at ESHS. Are you sick of looking just like everybody else? Well here are nine (ten would be too trendy) simple tips that I have discovered to avoid being an average, trendy, fashion slave.

1. Throw out the fashion forecasts.

            The most important step you can take on your road to being your own fashion designer, is to rip up every “What’s Hot, What’s Not” list. First of all, these lists are just marketing ploys put out by major designers and magazines to boost sales. Most of the time, “What’s Hot” lists contain fashion items that nobody is even wearing, but once everybody reads the list, they run out to the nearest department store, credit card in hand, and they make the items “Hot.” But most importantly, if you follow these fashion forecasts, you are just going to end up looking like everybody else who reads them too, which would be oh so tragic.

2. More expensive does not always mean better quality.

            I just have to laugh when girls buy plain, boring clothes at expensive designer stores. Any one who buys a plain, gray, cotton, t- shirt from some fancy designer store for $30 is just being ripped off! If you have to wear plain clothes, don’t even approach a designer store, because you can buy the exact same thing at Target for a fourth of the price. If you are going to splurge, and spend a ton of cash on some designer item, make sure it is something ultra-cute that you can’t find anywhere else. Don’t buy expensive blue jeans; they all generally look the same. I bought Express brand jeans at Ross for 15 bucks, and my friend bought the exact same jeans for $45. What a sad story.

3. Make your own clothes.

            I have found that one of the best ways to avoid looking like everybody else is to make my own clothes. A couple years ago, I invested about 50 bucks in needles, thread, fabric paint, hot glue, beads, feathers, rhinestones, funky fabric, patches, ribbon and trim. I must say that this is probably one of the most super-smarty investments I’ve ever made. Now I just buy plain vintage jeans and t-shirts, or old band tees, then I rip, shred, sew, paint, and Bedazzle to my heart’s content. Also, whenever my standard, cheap, white, canvas kicks from payless get too dirty to pass off as white, I give them a little scrub-a-dub, and then I use them as an artistic canvas. Once, I painted a pair all Picasso-esque, and then for another pair, I cut little squares of fun fabric and then hot glued them to my kicks to make them look like quilt work.  Not only can you put your personality into your wardrobe by making your get-up, but you can save tons of cash, and guarantee no one else will look like you. 

4. Don’t be a Biter

            If you see someone wearing something you like, don’t copy it exactly! Put your own twist on it, add your own flavor. Biters are just as bad as fashion slaves.

5. Be a Madonna-esque Chameleon

            When people ask me what my style is, I simply reply, “My mood.” I would just die if I had to be stuck in one style of dress, day after day. My favorite thing to do is pick a different time period every morning and rock the style of that period. And thus I become ever changing like Madonna’s persona. From preppy to punky, my wardrobe changes with my mood. One day you can be a Bohemian babe, and the next day you might be a gaudy goddess from the 80s. This is a definite way to avoid going into mimeograph, and it’s buckets of fun!

6. Wear something because you like it.

            Don’t wear something because it’s trendy, and not wear something because it’s not trendy. Wear something because you like it! Who cares if miss popular says it’s “so last year.” You should look in the mirror every morning and ask yourself, “Do I like what I’m wearing? Do I feel comfortable in this outfit? Does this reflect my personality and mood?” If your answer is yes, wear whatever it is, no matter how crazy. Don’t dress to please others, dress to please yourself. After all, the only person you should ever worry about feeling beautiful for is yourself!

7. Runway inspirations, not rip-offs

            This goes a long with being a copy kitty cat. When you flip through Vogue, don’t go buy some rip-off. Use magazines and runways to inspire your own style. Most girls wear all the runway rip-offs, and if you do this too, you’ll be looking like twinsies.

8. Rock clothes with history

            Thrift stores are like heaven! I would much rather pay 3 dollars for a coat that was worn by some hippie in the 60s than pay fifty dollars at Express for a coat that looks like it was worn by some hippie in the 60s. These days, mainstream fashion has acquired a vintage look; The more faded and ripped an item in department stores is, the more expensive it is! Why not get the real look for a fraction of the price? You can find awesomely glammy clothes for such low prices. Besides, there is nothing like wearing a dress and knowing that some woman from the 40s probably wore it dancing!

9. Break all the rules!

            If you ever go into a clothing store, and the sales woman starts using the words, “always” and “never,” RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION! Fashion should be fun! Don’t let anybody tell you that you shouldn’t wear a certain color shoe after Labor Day! (I am personally a big fan of wearing stripes and polka dots together) Fashion rules are for conformists, and conformity is ever so blasphemous to the art of self-expression through fashion!