the anti-uniform

Wow. I didn’t realize that this post would get so much feedback! Thanks for all of the quality of your comments and thoughts. Just a few bits of clarification from my end since I feel like I might have come across as brasher than I intended:

I’m mortified that I might have come across as saying that dressing trendy or having multiferious tastes is something negative. Dude, I wear pants all the time. I’ll rock a super-femme vintage dress. I’ll even show up to your house in stilettos if that’s what my mood’s calling for. Being creative and experimental with your clothing is paramount to any person’s fashion odyssey and falling in love with new shapes and aesthetics and new designers and looks is argueably the most entertaining part of fashion. But I think that experimentation and creativity should have a purpose. What’s at the root of all of this is that your clothing you choose to wear yourself should send a message that’s consistent what what you’re trying to say about yourself. Now, if what you value is novelty, then wearing trendy and contemporary clothing is exactly what you should do. And if your mood oscillates, then by all means, dress up and down and left and right. That’s your uniform!

While I know that people’ personalities are multifaceted and change from day to day, I haven’t met many people who are at once both intrinsically ostentatious and shy, or minimalist and opulent, or super girly cute and also hard and jaded. And so for me, when I see someone who will dress in head to toe black studded leather one day and then in a peasant skirt and a boho scarf the next, it’s hard for me to gauge what kind of person they are. And this probably says more about myself than anything, but it’s that uncertainty that’s the reason why I get uneasy.

But TBH, those kinds of people are few and far between (I’m thinking Lindsay Lohan in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen). And even though I’m not delicate or twee or fussy myself, I get along really well with delicate and twee and fussy people as well as tall and introverted and mean people and short and extroverted and nice people. And bonus points if you’re into fashion :)

And if you disagree, please comment! I can’t pretend that what I’m saying isn’t going to offend some, or elicit some strong reactions, but fashion is supposed to be contentious! I’m all about discussing fashion in deeper terms and talking about what it means to you. From the supportive to the skeptical, Chictopia depends on your opinions and thoughts to make this whole thing worthwhile.

This kind of sounds like a PSA. Sorrryy. But check it: my hair is unstraightened, my shirt is frilly, and I’ve got PANTS on (that are DENIM for chrissakes). So even though this is totally not what I usually wear—an anti-uniform perhaps?—I still feel comfortable and myself in it, you know?