161095: November 2014

I've touched on this in the past, but as I've started figuring out my style and how I want my style to evolve, the concept of a 'trend' as opposed to 'style' has been taking up my thoughts more so than it probably should. I'm not the most stylish person I know, I'm not the most trendy person either but how I dress on each day is a direct portrait of how I feel. I use clothes as more of a means to represent what's going on with my life, this started off as a subconscious thing but I've recently tuned on to this phenomenon that has ruled my life and here we are, I've been wearing black nonstop for the past week because I'm stressed with uni work, have a chest infection and am 300% done.

However, the other night I was out and I bumped into a group of my friends who were all wearing the exact same thing; a denim mini skirt, cropped top, converse and with their long straight hair in a ponytail. For me, this was completely ridiculous and I felt both uncomfortable and out of place as I wore a sheer black top, black shorts and flatforms. Yet, they seemed so content with all being dressed in the same way. All of my friends, some of whom the most stylish people I know have mentioned it to me and how weird it is that they were perfectly comfortable being dressed in the same uniform of sorts, and how if we had been in the same situation we'd have changed. It was remnant of when we were twelve and would go to the local shopping centre (to attract boys) wearing a quirky shirt from Jay-Jays, denim shorts, converse and maybe on a chilly day, leggings under the shorts.

I don't know whether it was the culmination of this, or the consistent boyfriend jeans/stripy t-shirt/converse seen at university that made me go through all of my clothes and throw out any garments that I've seen a maximum of five other people wear. It's part of the superiority complex that's reached it's pinnacle since turning 19. The thing is, people who have a unique style pervade an image of confidence and effortlessness, this image is something that I'm yearning to emulate. I know that when I am dressed well I'll have a good day, it's a combination of people stopping to comment on how nice I look and feeling content with life.

There's a certain uniform that envelopes so many teenage girls, apparently, according to my mother this phenomenon is called a trend. However this same phenomenon removes individuality from clothes, it removes the dressing for a mood as being a way of expression and makes doing such appear as an anomaly. I think building up a style is something that evolves over time and with age, but when you see so many girls all dressed the same, it's very easy to put them all in the same category of the masses. It's only enhanced by the mass reproduction that clothes are made now and how much cheaper it is to buy basics that coincidently everybody has. I think that socially we should promote an image of individuality in the way you dress as being good for the soul, because it is. When you are dressed head to toe in an outfit that you've worked hard to create as a representation of you it's a really positive thing. We live in a society ruled by fashion dos and don'ts but dressing in a style that represents you is probably the best thing one can do, this retired artist walks her dog with me every week. She's dressed as you'd expect a retired pop-artist to, and she looks immaculate which is what I can only dream of.