Walking down the congested hallways of the school, rubbing shoulders with the peer to your left and right, struggling to get to your destination, passing hundreds of different and forgettable students, when suddenly out of the sea of varying people, someone catches your eye. This person is like you, pacing the hallway, shoulder to shoulder, finding their way throughout the mess that is a high school passing period, but carrying themselves in a way that brings admiration and attention to the way you perceive them at first glance. In such a different way, that even walking the hall where hundreds of different faces can be seen, something about them makes your gaze gravitate towards them. What could it be? Their outfit. Whether you think good or bad, their personal sense of style draws your attention in, as you admire the way they carry themselves amongst a crowd. And there lies the lingering question, what makes a person stylish? What makes someone’s outfit stand out from the rest?
Style is very subjective and will always be a very opinionated discussion. The Oxford Dictionary defines style as “A distinctive appearance, determined by the principles according to which it is designed. Something of superior quality.” This definition can be hard to understand but a simple way to explain it would be “Are you wearing the outfit, or is the outfit wearing you?” This means, that combining pieces of clothing and accessories to create an ensemble that works well can be difficult. “Are you wearing the outfit?”, simply are you exhibiting confidence when wearing an outfit, showing comfort in what one is wearing, being okay with criticism, and simply wearing an outfit because you know it looks good on you personally. Or “Is the outfit wearing you?”, with the attire looking awkward or out of place, as one lacks confidence, or displays discomfort with their attire.
In the modern-day environment that is High School, confidence is key to being admired and displaying a good style. With oversaturated media, constant negativity being normalized, and a need to fit into the perfect mold and fit in, it can be hard to be confident and when someone displays a sizable amount of confidence, it can be inspiring and draw attention to a person. Another way that someone can exude a superior and polished personal style could be by leading away from trends and inventing your own technique to put yourself together. Differences are very admirable, but can also have many flashbacks and negative opinions, so having confidence in yourself and the way one presents themselves is key to being stylish.
There are so many different genres of style, and that is very prominent in today’s culture as people wear so many different and interesting things, making fashion have a fun variety and never get boring. But with short-lived trends from fast media, it can be common to see the same ensemble of outfits worn by many people, displaying popular articles of clothing whether that be a trending shoe or a trendy color theme, like today’s trend for monotone and muted colors.
Segwaying into that topic, color can be very important to making an outfit pop and look good. Color can be a great way to display confidence in oneself as a color can look different on every person, making them so fun. One who is very aware and knows what colors, and not just colors, pieces of clothing look good on them, can be very admirable as they look put together and poised. One who is stylish likes to express themselves with their clothing, whether that be specific color pallets, experimenting with new and selective pieces of clothing, or accessorizing, and overall being different can be praiseworthy.
Sophomore Aiden Harkley described someone who displays good style as “Whenever someone does something unique and they pull it off, and they wear it (the outfit) like they are meant to be wearing it, I think that actually…you know that indicates a good sense of style, and not something basic, or something boring.”. Aiden explained a common thought amongst many modern-day highschool students perfectly as many like to see when someone is unique and when someone doesn’t care what others think. When someone displays an immense amount of confidence that is what makes them stylish.
