It’s the fashion issue, baby! Let’s talk about threads, shall we?

Currently, everyone at uni seems to have their unique sense of style. Sure, there’s definitely Tik Tok influences lurking around, from Y2K to Cottagecore, but genuinely, every person seems to be doing their own thang. And I love that! I look around campus and it warms my little heart. I’m only 23 (and a baby one at that) but my God, through my time in the education system, I have seen things. Unspeakable things. Things I can only express in therapy or magazine editorials. 

In around 2017, everyone wore long-sleeved striped shirts with black puffer jackets. We looked like sad, Parisian mimes. Or escaped white-collar convicts. I don’t know why puffer jackets were such a thing. Truly, I don’t. Maybe it was particularly cold that year? Maybe there was a boom in the duck feather industry? Either way, I am both sexually and emotionally confused. Same as usual, really. 

2018 was the year of Huffer. God help us all. White denim miniskirts were the name of the game, and the game was terrible. A-line cut, a little bit distressed if you were particularly edgy (I wasn’t). Skin showing, hair flowing, clinical depression OUT. A black belt to tie it all together, paired with some white kicks. 

2019 followed the golden rule of tight/baggy. One piece of item could be baggy, if the other bit was tight. Yes, I know I’m explaining this terribly. Sorry. Basically, you’d have mom jeans paired with a tit-piercing crop top. Or an oversized denim jacket layered over a bodycon moment. This isn’t me being weird right? This actually happened, and I’m not hallucinating a set of bizarre fashion rules for myself? Overall, this whole trend wasn’t the worst, it even kind of made sense at times. But it was like 1984, honestly, the conformity, urgh! Orwellian oversized denim, anyone? 

But now, things are different. Maybe it’s to do with the pandemic, maybe it’s just the cyclical nature of consumerism spinning around so fast that keeping up seems pointless. Whatever it is, I’m grateful for this small mercy. Fashion seems freer, trends seem less earth-shattering. We can once again start dressing like child Disney stars, which is all I’ve ever wanted to be. 

So go out there, explore your wardrobe and explore thy self. In the famous words of Tim Gunn, make it work designers, make it work. 

X 

Caroline