I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with clothes. As a fashion student, I consider this healthy! Shopping and getting dressed in the morning are as close to therapy to me as a shrink.
Nonetheless, I have another confession to make, I don’t always look ‘cute’ and wear sweatpants just like the rest of us.
If you’re anything like me, you get the struggle. Some mornings, I wake up like sleeping beauty, have an hour to do my hair, and curate an aesthetically pleasing outfit. Other times I wake up with fifteen minutes to go from pajamas to put together, and the bridge between the two is a pair of leggings or that trusty sweatshirt. That’s life. Yet no one is really talking about it; about how the differences in our outfit choices make us feel. Why?
There’s no doubt about it; we feel our best when we look our best. While athleisure is a bona fide trend these days and it is acceptable to step out in full spandex, the question is, do we feel as good about ourselves when we’re dressed this way?
Personally, I don’t. As I said before, I live for fashion and beautiful things and feel my best whenever I’m in clothing that I love.
However, it isn’t always that simple. While deep down I always want to wear that new sweater I just got at the mall, sometimes it’s too cold outside, it’s raining, I want to blend in or I simply don’t feel like it. While some may relate and others don’t, that is beside the point. Point is, girls and guys should be able to dress however they want, and avoid the shame from themselves and others about it, because we don’t always have to look our best, and more importantly, we don’t always have to feel our best.
Now, of course, we’d like to (who wouldn’t want to feel at 100 percent all the time). But the up-down of us all is just the natural rhythm of college life. Without getting too philosophical on anyone, we have good days and we have bad. We wear dresses on the good ones and leggings on the sh*tty, and if we were missing one, we couldn’t appreciate the other.
Not to mention, we’re lucky to live in a world where fashion is flexible and accommodates our complex lifestyles. One hundred years ago, society judged any woman who stepped outside without a corset. But as time passed, dress code loosened. Today, we’re facing a new wave of hardworking women who value authenticity and comfort, and this is where we truly find the roots of athleisure. While fashion is ever-connected to beauty and prestige, it’s okay to understand that it’s changing, and it’s okay to embrace it as well.
This is not to undermine the importance of dressing for what you want; leggings are not going to cut it for a job interview, and there are always advantages of dressing professionally, especially for us young women. When we are setting out to conquer the world, we should dress the part. Again, however, conquering the world (aka going to college) is tough on us all, so a sweatpants day is much deserved.
Dress how you want. Live how you want, remember, it’s your life.