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Defne Baymam 24', Ava Reed 23', Briar Martin 24', and Olaf Christopherson 25' stand together to showcase their outfits and varying styles.

With different fashion trends blowing up every other day, it’s hard to keep up with what Gen Z considers “cool” and “fashionable”. It seems like every time something becomes popular another pair of shoes or pants replaces that trend. Adding on to that, creators on social media are constantly convincing us to spend money on these trends as well. But not everyone feels like they have to follow our generation’s fashion rules. 

“I don’t really follow fashion trends.” says Ava Reed 23’. “I haven’t stuck to a single style since I started caring about how I dress.” Reed describes her style using the word “fluid”. She decides what she wants to wear depending on how she’s feeling or what she’s feeling inspired by. Reed focuses on what colors and styles make her happy instead of dressing to look like others. Dressing for herself gives her the chance to express herself in many different unique ways. 

With different trends and styles circulating through Tiktok, Instagram, and other platforms, we see so many people telling us what we “need” to buy. When in reality a lot of these trends aren’t realistic for most. Spending over $50 on a shirt isn’t in everyone’s price range and some trends are fitted for certain people and not inclusive to everyone. When you see all the same styles everywhere it starts to feel unoriginal and not an accurate representation of someone’s personality. “I really like this decade of fashion because I think people are starting to dress in a mix of different styles.” says Briar Martin 24’. She values variety in style and dressing to represent your own style and not what you’re influenced by. 

Walking down the hallways in high school and feeling like everyone is silently judging you can be a scary thing, but high school is also the chance before moving out into the real world to really find yourself and many show that through their style. At West, students get the freedom to express themselves through fashion in a variety of ways. Unfortunately a lot of that is tainted by social media. It can be hard to find your individuality when it seems like there is only one style that’s popular or one way you can dress. People feel like in order to fit in they have to look like others and that can’t be farther from the truth.

“People try to fit in with other people. It’s been like that forever.” Reed says. Similar to Ava, Defne Baymam 24’ also has a changing style. They describe their style as inconsistent. Her favorite trend right now is clothes that reflect “ballerina core”. “Only doing something for a trend and not doing it because you want to personally, and just doing it to fit in seems like a bit of a waste.” says Bayman. Like Defne said teenagers wear things for the approval of others which is not only draining and an inaccurate reflection of their personality but we also see so many things repeated.

At the end of the day it’s important to wear what makes you happy. Trends go out of style just as fast as they came in and personal style doesn’t have to be defined or stay the same. The best outfits are the ones you love, even if you laugh at them years later.