Stylin'

A guy walks into a store and starts searching for a new shirt to wear. Confronted with many decisions on what color, size, and shape the shirt he wants will be, he chooses a particular article. Taking his clothing to a dressing room, he tries it on. Admiring it for a second, he murmurs to himself, “This shirt just isn't my style.”

I've come to believe that an attitude and phrasing of a personal style is false: without a preconceived view of someone's “style” there cannot be an article of clothing out of style for an individual.

We are especially swayed by our own opinion of what our style is. For instance, a v neck t-shirt is slightly different from a crew cut. Since I've only ever worn crew neck, I tend to believe that v neck isn't my style. If I were to put it on, I know that would be out of the ordinary to wear such a thing. Also, if people I knew were around me saw it, they would also think it wasn't my style.

Here's the thing: without a preconceived notion of what my style is, bystanders who've never seen me before would not suspect anything, and decide that v neck was my style. Thus, if I wore a crew neck around them after a while of wearing nothing but v necks, they'd see me as though I was breaking my unwritten “code.”

I've attempted a few social experiments of my own, going to movie theaters or dinners dressed in ways that I normally wouldn't even consider wearing to a party with my closest friend, and every time, I've received the same reaction: none. I wasn't out of my style in their eyes.

Therefore, why are we so afraid of changing it up a little bit here and there? Why don't we make it a style to not have one?