By: Ava C. Green, Editor-in-Chief
A new season means new styles and that same self-proclaimed fashionista giving her two cents on said new styles. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m personally very excited to wrap up in a cocoon of cardigans as the leaves and temperatures start to drop. What I’m not excited about is getting pestered by people on TikTok and fashion blogs who want us to buy into boring trends. I’ve used these pages before to rant about trend cycles stinting stylistic expression, so today we’ll get less philosophical and a bit more blunt and talk about the trends that – on top of keeping you from wearing the things that feel like you – I just can’t get behind.
As I’m writing this, I’m actively attempting (and failing) to pull off baggy jeans. Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and every streetwear aficionado tells me the baggier the better when it comes to the bottom of the outfit, but at what point is baggy too baggy? I say we hit that point when we started using shoelaces to keep pants that are eight sizes too big held up just enough that you can see by the pocket that they’re True Religion. I’m all for fashion over function, but fit is fashion; and to me, a billowy, bunched up bottom-half gives pantaloon rather than fashion-forward. Like most things, the bagginess works in moderation, but relaxed fits are getting too relaxed; people are trading mom jeans for their grandpas’ jeans. Don’t let denim swallow up your stems, and don’t forget the chic timelessness of a pair of well-fitting pants.
Speaking of things that I don’t find flattering, the bane of my low-arched existence: ballet flats. I think ballet flats are adorable…in photos…and when I don’t think about how hard the soles of my feet are going to be pounding on the floors of Old Main, or the sidewalk, or any surface. With that, I think it’s hard to find outfits that these quasi-, less comfortable house slippers actually work with. They, like baggy pants, just make people’s legs look shorter, and I think these uber-specific statement pieces are just trends bound to pass.
The style seeming to seep into everyone’s Pinterest boards, For You pages and Dress to Impress servers all over Roblox is the “office siren” look. I like to think I stand by sophisticated fashion, but wearing blazers and trouser pants when business attire isn’t required sounds miserable, and therefore, not worth your time. And when I see those Pinterest baddies wearing the same Dollar Store cheater reading glasses my mom wears when she drives and call it fashion, it sends me over the edge. It looks more like a costume, or like you’re trying to evoke the energy of the green M&M. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a total hottie, but if you want to look hot, maybe don’t draw inspiration from the workplace; if you want to look appropriate in the workplace, maybe don’t try to look hot.
You should take this all with a grain of salt. Clearly, I have personal vendettas against some of these styles, and all of these opinions could easily be discredited by you pulling one of these trends off. Maybe I’m just more of a boot cut baddie when it comes to jeans, but that’s not to say that you won’t look opulent in an oversized pant. So, know that the person in the paper shouldn’t dictate your fashion decisions, she’ll just be silently judging them. At the end of the day, confidence turns even the wackiest clothing into an artistic choice, making you the trendsetter, and she’ll respect that no matter what. It’s better to just ignore these trends that, like I promised, will pass. Wear what makes you want to strut your stuff; and if you have trouble finding those garments that make you feel great, you can always Ask Ava.
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