There are two types of people in the world: trend setters and trend seekers. Trend setters, as it is well known, are the people who wear what is cool “before it is cool.” They seem to catch onto trends in culture and in fashion before the general public does, matching clothing items in a way that has not been done before. The trend seekers, however, are people who bandwagon on those trends a few months or even years after the trend setters.
A lot can be said about people who copy trend setters. Maybe they don’t have a strong eye for what looks good; maybe they simply got inspiration from looks they’ve seen on other people. I don’t dislike the trend seekers. Honestly, sometimes it’s me. What I do dislike though, is posers in fashion.
You see it everyday on campus. People wearing Thrasher Magazine shirts who don’t read Thrasher. Okay, maybe some of them do, but for the most part, people wearing Thrasher shirts don’t skateboard and don’t read the magazine.
If you are part of the minority who actually skates and reads Thrasher, I applaud you. Everyone else: if you are wearing something because it is trendy or you think it looks cool, but you don’t actually know what you are wearing, find a different trend to piggyback on.
The same can be said for band t-shirts. If “Sweet Child O’Mine” is the only Guns N’ Roses song you know, don’t buy their t-shirt. The Nirvana yellow smiley shirt is definitely a shirt you see frequently, and is too often worn by people who can’t name anyone who was in Nirvana other than Kurt Cobain.
A lot of people try to defend themselves by saying they’re supporting a brand or band in wearing their merch. Which is true, they are supporting it, but they don’t know what they’re supporting.
Everyone is trying to achieve a certain aesthetic nowadays. Graphic tees are a super easy way to achieve one. They say, “This is something I am into which is part of my aesthetic” without saying anything at all. If people are wearing shirts or merch for certain bands and brands that they aren’t actually into, it becomes ingenuine.
That makes it harder to be individuals. When people start wearing something because it’s cool, not because it is something they truly like and are into, people lose a bit of their sense of self. They become the facade that they put on, and lose a piece of who they actually are based on their actual interests.
It may not seem like that big of a deal: “It’s just a t-shirt,” we may say to ourselves. But everytime we buy something because it is trendy and not because we actually know or like what it is, we lose our individuality. Don’t conform your clothing. Wear what you actually like, not what you want people to think you like.
Mikayla Rochelle is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Mikayla by tweeting her at @mikayla_roch.
