My favorite aspect of fashion to observe is sizing, particularly the width of clothing. Depending on how old
you are, you may remember that wide and baggy reigned supreme in the past; the era of hip-hop was all about
loose bottoms and tops on some occasions. As the 2000s and 2010s rolled in, we went in the opposite
direction with skinny jeans and more skinny jeans. Put some plastic on your pants so you can actually wear
them, said the crazy folks in 2013 (elastane on denim). Then, as the yo-yo of fashion goes, we went full
wide, baggy, boxy, and barrel in the 2020s.
If you know me, you know I do love wide; I think a nice pair of baggy wide jeans carry a presence that is
unmatched. Add some creative use of elastic bands, and you can wear them with high-top sneakers if you so
desire; they're more versatile than they look if you put in the work. But more than my preference, I find
the idea of wide strangely liberating. What determines the shape isn't your body; it's the fabric; the
clothes do all the talking. In a way, it's a post-body fashion ideology; what better way to ignite the
gender and beauty stereotypes than removing our bodies from the equation?
Forever, the "rules" on how to dress were pretty set in stone. If you have a small frame, never wear
oversized clothes, because the clothes will swallow you. If you are curvy or fat, avoid showing too much
skin, prefer normal fits so you don't appear too big, wear black to look thinner. If you are tall, beware of
clothing that makes you look like a giant; high heels? Never. Women wear clothes to look feminine; men wear
clothes to look masculine. Those are rules people made to try looking taller, thinner, younger.
Characteristics that they told us we should strive for. If we are not those things, we should either fix it
or hide it.
Forever, the "rules" on how to dress were pretty set in stone. If you have a small frame, never wear
oversized, because the clothes will swallow you. If you are curvy or fat, avoid showing too much skin,
prefer normal fits so you don't appear too big, wear black to look thinner. If you are tall, beware of
clothing that makes you look like a giant, high heels? Never. Women wear clothes to look feminine, men wear
clothes to look masculine. Those are rules people made with the effort of looking taller, thinner, younger.
Characteristics that they told us we should strive for. If we are not those things, we should either fix it,
or hide it.
I hear derivatives often: "I am too fat to wear crop tops", "My legs are too thin to wear baggy jeans", "I
am too wide to wear a dress". No one is authoritative on fashion, and today of all times is when we have the
broadest selection. Sure, skinny jeans are out of fashion, but Levi's has a wide (ha) selection of them
available, at normal pricing. There is always a store with outfits for you, even if they may not be at the
closest H&M. And here's the thing: those are made-up rules; you can wear those things anyway, and trust me,
with a little effort, you can look amazing if you so desire.
Breaking barriers in clothing is perhaps the most valuable thing this generation continues to do when it
comes to fashion. Clothing for people, for tall people, short people, fat people, thin people, old people,
young people, men, women, everything in between and everything outside that spectrum too. There is no real
reason why this can't be it; it just seems only now we have big enough voices to speak, and perhaps show
that women look amazing in jorts too.
Footnotes
- The 4th paragraph was inspired by an Instagram post I just so happened to read by the brand LR3 Louis Rubi, which seems to be a Paris fashion brand. Completely coincidental; I read it on the same day as I wrote. I already had the idea, but a lot of the wording came from their post here.