Following fashion

"do you want to fit in or stand out?"

Fashion is all about following trends and being quick to adopt whenever something new appears on the horizon. Unfortunately, change is constant and trends are replaced in short succession, and that dreaded feeling of uniformity and fitting in leads to the search for the next new thing.

Don’t forget that fashion is driven by the choices of a small number of designers with a vested interest in making money by promoting change and offering only the latest things to make them desirable and hip.

Anything you own can go out of fashion overnight and turn into something you no longer wear. Mostly, this dead weight will end up in some hidden wardrobe, box, loft or storage unit … kept for a long time and forgotten.

Most people follow fashion for one of two reasons: fitting in (= doing what everyone else does) or setting yourself apart from the others (= by adopting the new and unusual). The real question is: do you want to fit in or stand out?
Either way, you will end up with items that only serve you for a short period of time and then accumulate things you never use because you live in hope that a particular style may just make a reappearance sometime soon.

To break this cycle, it may be a good idea to think about cultivating a personal style rather than following every new fashion that hits the stores. Following trends may help you fit into a peer group and avoid any confrontation regarding your outfit, but having your personal style gives you more freedom in your choices and keep you away from the constant hunt for the next new thing.

Of course, having a personal style does not mean you can’t look for new things, but maybe the pressure to follow suit is taken down a little and you end up being able to manage your wardrobe space a little more easily.

In practical terms, the most space-efficient option to hone your fashion is a capsule wardrobe with a couple of standard pieces that can be combined with stand-out highlights to add variation. Think of the capsule pieces as a canvas for the more fashion-forward pieces that stand out and can be updated easily. You can still follow trends but you won’t have to change everything.

A capsule wardrobe does not have to be boring either, we don’t all have to look like Steve Jobs! The ‘capsule’ element does not have to be defined by its colour (usually black or muted tones) but could be a particular model in several colours, or you may limit the added elements to certain lengths or shapes.

It took me a while to find a style that I like and I have stuck with it ever since. It’s a comfortable cut of trousers that suits me, plus T-shirts, pullovers and various shirts. I choose the colour of trousers, plus a top that suits the temperature and weather. Not exactly a capsule wardrobe, but close enough.