Fashion is at our fingertips. It is easy to lose sight of what an ideal wardrobe looks like. Fashion varies from person to person, depending on specific taste in looks, practicality and the desire to be trending or simply out of style. Ordering clothing online feels like a Friv designer game–you click a button and an item is soon in your hands. In real life, and not a Friv game, this is thanks to expedited shipping.
Continuously adding more items makes you wonder where it all goes–more times than not, it is a landfill once the trend has ended. Fast fashion triggers our constant desire for newness and is relatively affordable for college students. Numerous businesses like “White Fox” or “Pretty Little Thing” are marketed to college-age consumers with prices friendly for a one-time wear ‘going out top.’ Dressing how we please influences our interactions and mood–especially in San Francisco, where self-expression is often emphasized in its unique flair. With fast fashion dominating the industry, it is important to know the ways in which you can achieve your visual persona through appearance, while still supporting the Earth.
According to Earth.Org, the amount of clothing being produced today has doubled since 2000. Trends define eras, seen throughout time from the bell-bottom flare to the baggy ‘jort.’ Trends are bringing back ideas and altering them in ways that feel new and exciting. We can transfer this concept to a physical fruition by revamping clothing that already exists on the planet. The number of garments produced is hard to track due to a lack of brand labor laws, giving a suspicion of shady activity. The ultimate fashion statement is when someone makes a piece their own; whether they add something, cut it up or style it in a new way. Or, when you ask someone about their jacket and their face lights up because of its origins in their mother’s high school garage band. These are the foundations of style, ones that connect to an individual’s experiences. So, rewear that tutu from elementary school as a funky top, or steal your older brother’s ratty t-shirt; recycling results in personality. Thankfully what appears to be an eternal trend is vintage pieces, making us excited about the plethora of options we see in thrift stores, garage sales and hand-me-downs, where prices are often more complimentary to the wallet.
Although the idea of overproduction in the fashion industry is frightening and easier to ignore than address, we can do our best to build a second hand and sustainable wardrobe. Buying pieces of your own that you can envision to be long-lasting is another strategy in support of our environment. Denim, for example, is a daily staple varying in quality and style. It lasts when selected properly and gets worn into something soft and comforting when it is well loved. According to the National Library of Medicine, harmful liquid emissions ranging between 40 and 65 liters from denim production are released into water sources in the most heavily populated countries, such as China and Bangladesh, which is why it is important to maximize the life of your jeans.
I always thought denim improved as it got older. When it becomes more distressed, it also becomes more interesting. When someone has a specific worn pocket, I wonder what they keep in there everyday that makes their jeans mold to their habits–maybe a cowboy’s chewing tobacco and an artist’s pen pocket. Or when they are ripped in the knees from hardcore rollerskating. Perhaps I am assigning too much sentimental value to clothing, but that is another reason why our articles should not always be worn for short periods, and then tossed to the landfill. They are motifs of self expression and moments in time, making time-capsule clothing 10 times more interesting than a Temu top. I am in full support of outfit repetition, and normalizing the wear and tear that comes from attachment to a style or ensemble.
We are always being fed something new to desire, and an easy way to get it. Slowly cultivating a closet of things we truly like is what makes our style expressive and unique. We have the option to get dressed everyday and be excited about what we wear. A wardrobe of experiences, memories and experimentation create an individual’s personal style–things that are acquired not by ease, but through selection and exploration.
