Fashion Forward Styles Emerging

With the rise of social media sites, sharing selfies and photos of oneself has become popular in the last 20 years or so. With the popularization of sites like Instagram and Tiktok there has also been a growing interest and participation on young teens, particularly Gen Z to share their outfits online with one another. Trends have come in and out, with different fashion styles becoming mainstream in the recent years, such as Cottagecore, E-Girl, Y2K, Dark Academia, Grunge, etc. Which fashion styles are popular at Freedom? Do most students care about fashion, or do they roll out of bed wearing whatever they have on? How is being fashionable perceived in today’s world?

“I think I dress like a cool uncle,” said sophomore Marz Pugh.

Lots of people have different fashion styles and ways of presenting themselves, there are tons of sub-categories of fashion groups that can fall under the “alternative” label as opposed to mainstream looks. 

“I feel like I look almost straight,” said sophomore Sam Cottrell.

For some people who are into fashion and shopping, they might be accused of being high maintenance or fussy about their looks.

“I care about how I look but I put little effort into it. I wear the same jeans and shirt everyday. I pick whatever,” Cottrell said.

Almost everyone cares in one way or another how others perceive them. In that way, fashion can be an unconscious way of directing control over one area of your life. It can also be a source of outward pride.

“To a degree, I care how I look,” Pugh said. 

 Clothes can also be used as a way to express yourself creatively.

“I’m not entirely sure how it exactly translates it into [someone’s] personality but I think their character can show in their looks,” Cottrell said.

Depending on a person’s personality, they could put either little effort or a lot of effort into their appearance. Either way, it gives you some clue about a person’s mindset.

“Yeah, I think the way someone dresses can show something about themselves,” Pugh said.

There are a lot of different looks that teens are into nowadays, as evidenced by the vast amount of aesthetics and look-books you can find on Instagram or Pinterest.

“Some popular styles [are] Air Force 1’s,” Cottrell said. “It also depends on the group of fashion, like [people wear] fishnets for emo and goth fashion.”

Pugh said, “some popular fashion trends are fishnets. Skirts as well. [And] Spikes.”

No matter one’s opinion on the matter, one thing is for certain. That people to some extent care about how they look and their outward appearance.

“I do think fashion is important,” Pugh said. 

“I think a lot of people care more about fashion than they should but a lot of people feel empowered by fashion so we shouldn’t take it away from them,” Cottrell said. “If you want to wear a bikini to work that’s one thing, but if you think someone’s skirt is too short then.”

Ultimately, fashion is ever changing. It is always evolving with the times, shifting for current trends, and what it looks like one day can be different from the next. The same also applies for different groups of fashion.

The one thing that will never change however, is that people will keep changing their looks and that fashion will always be an important part of some people’s world.