Three weeks ago, I wrote about battered accessories, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since. I still wear my beat-up bag, unearthed my 12-year-old Chucks, and can't stop pondering the allure of heavily worn accessories. So, in today’s newsletter, I decided to make a case for every shabby garment I still wear.
Instinctively, my mind first went back to high school. I was 16, and my parents got me a pair of Doc Martens boots. They were the classic ankle boot with a metal top. I loved them, but they looked too perfect. I wanted the pair I saw on a girl from my senior year; they were beaten up and looked like a true punk had some real fun wearing them. So I walked around 'accidentally' hitting the sidewalk or tripping over rocks, and, in no time, they looked just as shabby as hers. High school kids back then took pride in their batter accessories because they made them seem experienced in life. The scruffier, the better - it was everyone’s motto.
Enter social media, and with it, the era of looking perfect – all the time! I long for the early days of social media when we used to share photos of random objects edited with Instagram's default filters. It was a simpler time. Nowadays, it seems like a crime to appear on social media wearing the same thing twice. Also, I’m not sure why Instagram keeps making new filters since nobody uses them. Everyone has a third-party app for those kinds of things. Even the feeds of those who post seemingly arbitrary things with zero or very little information in the caption carefully think their posts through. All of that is so boring and fake.
Social media can’t take all the blame. Many boomer parents have a problem with a distressed look. From an early age, they were taught to present a polished appearance, covering their shoulders and knees once they reached a certain age and wearing at least a minimal amount of makeup to avoid appearing sick. Consequently, many of us were also raised that way.
To be honest, I’m tired of it all. I yearn for some genuine style, authentic stories, and honesty. Why can’t fashion be just a little more personal and a little less perfect? We’d have so much more variety, more candor, and true beauty. And more fun! Wearing your old accessories instead of tossing them because they don’t look new anymore is one way to go. Seriously, if Ashley Olsen can dump her Birkin on the sidewalk while she smokes in a New York alley and then wear it like that, all scruffy and damaged to the CFDA awards, you can rightfully walk around in your beat-up high school Chucks. I know I do. And I take pride in it.