This year’s fashion trends are out and it appears I won’t have to go shopping after all. I won’t have to throw out or donate all of my clothes. I won’t have to break out the credit card and run to the, well, the internet I guess since there are so few brick and mortar clothing stores left. Truth be told, I had no intention of ensuring I would be en vogue for 2024. In fact, I had no intention of even knowing what the fashion gods had set for new trends.
While waiting for a snow/ice-pocalypse report from the local news station, the muted national morning show revealed the news I wasn’t waiting for. Which by the way happened to include a bunch of stuff I have in my closet. Purely, by accident, I’ll be representing hip with my old low-rise jeans and big thrift store sweaters.
Within a day I had a flood of sale ads pour into my “promotional” email tab. 60% off those out high rise jeans. Way to go Old Navy for getting with the program asap. If only I loved the idea of having my jeans squeeze the center of my ribs.
As for my redeeming big cardigans, by wearing them I’ll be complying with what is called Grandpa Core. Full disclaimer, I am a grandma but a gen-x grandma so we’re not relegated to wear sweatshirts with kittens or birds appliqued to the front. Although, I do think we’re supposed to get Botox, oh well. There is also a 2024 core trend called la coquette core which is part of the hyperfeminine trend of which includes a lot of puffiness and bows. My best understanding of this, including a French to English translation, is that if you dress like a Hunger Games judge, men will think you’re amazing. Feels like an oxymoron. Thank God, I’ve got nothing in the closet that would accidently toss me on that wagon.
There’s also a trend called Jellyfish stated to be a 90s throwback. I turned 16 in 1990, and I don’t remember everyone dressing like a jellyfish. I remember jelly shoes, terribly uncomfortable, stiff and shiny. Wasn’t a fan. Yep, nothing in the closet for that either. I guess I won’t be runway ready after all.
I’ve written about my distain for fast fashion, hyper consumerism and beauty obsession before, but you know I can be a little too serious sometimes. Needing to fit in is a human need. We are sheep by evolutionary design. We didn’t rise to the top of the food chain because we’re large and ferocious. We didn’t even get there because of our high intelligence, although that helped. We got there because we can do incredible things in numbers. We don’t survive alone. Cats are solitary animals, they survive better that way. Sheep are social animals, so yeah, we’re sheep. It’s not a bad thing. It has served us well to be a part of a tribe (read anything by Daniel Quinn). In the years of early adulthood, we work toward gaining that acceptance. For modern society, what we wear is a large part of that process and acts as a means to visually display what tribe we belong to. I’ve personally grown out of that phase. My tribe has become my family and closest friends. In this regard, ideology be dammed.
Before you agree with me too much here, I want to clearly state that I’m not suggesting we all quit caring about our appearances or go full-on weird. When I’m at home (with my tribe), I wear whatever is comfortable and least likely to be destroyed by my daily activities. When I go out in public, I respect the norms. I don’t wear pajamas to the grocery store. I don’t wear sweatpants or stained or torn clothes. I don’t wear my overalls and work boots to my Rotary Club or to board meetings.
We don’t need a constant flow of new clothes to fit in or be accepted by our tribes. Fast fashion is a made-up concept created to convince everyone that they need to buy more and more often. Since as a whole, we’ve adopted this insanity, all those little outfits need to be as cheap as possible to fit our budgets. To make this happen, they need to be made with cheap, often exploited, labor. They’re usually made in countries without responsible environmental and health regulations. Most of the fabric used to make these clothes are synthetic and made with fossil fuels, then using fossil fuels are shipped thousands of miles to get to us. I’ve made my case.
Buy thrift. Repurpose clothes. Keep what you love. If you can, save up for higher quality clothes that will last for years. Have fun. Express yourself. Avoid fads and go for classics. A simple blouse will never look weird. A blouse covered in bows with puffy shoulders will look weird next year.
To be fair, sustainability did make the list for 2024. Hopefully that will be the one that lasts for ages. Unless Garden Core becomes a thing, that’ll be the only one I can fully participate in.
Audrey L Elder Meaningful Living
Meaningful Living 