Repetitive outfit choices throughout the week. Photo collage courtesy of freshman Irelynn Zurbach.
Outfit repeating has been summed up as distasteful by generations of San Luis Obispo High School students. But outfit repetition used to be the status quo, less than 150 years ago middle class people used to only have two or three outfits.
Is the problem a rush of capitalism? Maybe consumerism has skyrocketed since then? Or maybe social media made the youth long for the things they didn’t have.
“There are a lot of trends that warrant new fashion, new style. I feel like the kind of people who adapt those sorts of trends to be different decide that outfit repeating is not in their quota,” said freshman Melisa Tapia.
People can be seen outfit repeating any event. From casual school days to homecoming and prom, wearing the same outfit twice is bound to turn heads. At least most friends can remember what people wear. So when it comes to events like prom, people buy these expensive dresses brand new and never wear them again.
“I’d say less is probably better nowadays, because consumerism is still definitely a thing because people buy things once or twice and then never wear it again,” said Tapia.
Because of social media, trends are changing as fast as they are arriving. People are buying new clothes just as fast as they are getting rid of them. Because people need to buy clothes so consistently they are buying new clothes the only place they can afford. Shein, Temu and Romwe are all online stores that charge suspiciously low prices for their clothes while cutting corners and ducking under labor laws.
“Even back in the 1950s, style was still as rampant as ever. All the girls, all the guys had their own sort of fashion taste. Whatever was there or whatever was new back in those days was IT. You know, the IT item. The IT fashion,” said Tapia.
People, even though they believe so, don’t get as harshly judged as they imagine. This is often a result of the ‘Imaginary Audience’. Often experienced with adolescents, many feel as though they are always being judged, perceived and scrutinized. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, almost everyone is too busy thinking about what others are thinking that they couldn’t care about something as menial as your outfit.
“No, people don’t judge me because of my outfits. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t care what other people think. But I like my style,” said freshman Helen White.
Repeating outfits has always been the point of having clothing. People are supposed to wear things more than once, that’s what a washer and dryer are for. People can buy new clothes for each new trend, but they shouldn’t abandon their old clothes just because they aren’t ‘on trend’.
“Sometimes if you keep repeating and repeating outfits it’s not as fun because you don’t get to show who you are,” said freshman Mimi Vrajich.
Just because an outfit has been worn before doesn’t take away from the fact that it is still a good outfit. Whether it is comfortable, stylish, on or off trend, wear the clothes because the best outfits deserve to be worn more than once.
