As dead week hit us all pretty hard, I pondered all week what my final column would address. Shopping guide, what to wear for holiday parties, winter’s most talked about designers?
While these are all viable options, I would like to end the way I started. I began the semester with a column about confidence being the real success to one’s ?wardrobe.
This week, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was all over the media, and even if you didn’t see it, I’m sure you were aware of it. Constant jokes were made via social media about never attaining the look of a Victoria’s Secret model or the agony people experience watching the models strut perfectly down the runway in their lacy lingerie while admiring them from afar through the television screen.
During a chat with my roommates one evening a few days after the show was aired, one of them articulated what I had been thinking all along.
Girls shouldn’t feel bad that they don’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model. Who does? But they can enjoy it and take into account that that’s the models’ job and they probably work hard at staying in shape. She explained that people need to meet in the middle on this. We shouldn’t shame the models for being thin, and we shouldn’t shame ourselves.
While I was home for Thanksgiving, I saw someone complain online about how the fashion industry doesn’t want plus-size women to wear sparkly dresses. At which point I wanted to link her to several clothing companies that offer beautifully made, plus-size sequined dresses.
The fashion industry tends to cater to tall and thin — I will agree with that. But a comment like that is similar to me saying that the fashion industry doesn’t want me wearing jeans. Jeans are typically too long on me, and I often have to have them hemmed. With fast fashion more popular than ever, items are mass-produced and, unfortunately, large clothing manufacturers focus even less on a wide range of body types. So it’s about how you approach the situation and learning how to dress your body type. And every body type is beautiful.
So what’s the point of rambling about Victoria’s Secret models and plus-size dresses?
I am well aware that many people are happy and confident in their own skin, but my goal was to connect with everybody at some level. Whether it was embracing natural beauty, finding alternative, flattering ways to approach the fashions of the season or asking you to reflect on why it is we wear what we do, I hope I brought a new light to the way you think and approach fashion and self-image.
First and foremost, fashion should reflect you and make you feel like the individual you are. It’s not always about the latest runway designs but more so finding what it is that makes you feel good on the outside and, in turn, the inside.
And because I’m a sucker for a good quote, I’ll leave you with this mantra for the new year from Gianni Versace.
“That is the key of this collection, being yourself. Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.”
