I used to think trends the most horrific thing imaginable in style next to high fashion, and would skirt broadly around anything approaching flash in style. Wide leg pants? Never! Plastic earrings? What fresh horror…

Everyone laughs and says, “you know we’re going to think that’s so ugly in ten years. Our children will laugh.”

So? You know they’re going to laugh either way. <chuckles… mom and dad… SMH>

There was one trend to which I gave the cold shoulder and have come to the conclusion that was less about the trend and more about the fact that I just really dislike that look. I’ve never gotten used it. Holes in shoulders? Something slightly obsessive in me shudders. Like, do you have a round circle on your shoulders that get goose-pimpled flesh and cold? No thank you, not for me. I have friends pull it off, but still it doesn’t appeal to me.

But to remain true to my value system, I stolidly maintain people ought to make their own decisions as to what is interesting or elegant or chic or comfortable. None of us are the last word, which brings me to my point:

Is it possible hating trends wholesale is being a closet perfectionist — are we just playing it safe?

I can hear the sputtering, “but no! They’re just really ugly!”

That’s my point. We shouldn’t be afraid to fail in our fashion choices. Not in a, “I could care less attitude” but in a “it’s ok if people aren’t pleased by my choices.” The point here is not how to be the most beautiful or well-dressed, but to live a life that is willing to walk through failure to gain success.

SO. If I have kids, I fully expect them to laugh, but then I expect them to feel pleased somewhere deep down inside that they have a parent that is free to fail, which in turns leaves them free to fail.

The end goal isn’t the failure, the end goal is to free ourselves from needing to please everyone around us, past, present or future.

It’s why some of the decades such as the 80s and 90s really appeal to me. They just.. were. In a more beautiful way it’s why everyone loves the French style — they always strive for excellence and loveliness, but underneath that is a bedrock of knowing exactly who they are. Occasionally it leads to bizarro styles such as Picasso’s paintings. He may have been Spanish, but most of his adult life was spent in France, and to this day you’ll see their freedom to experiment evident in everything from clothing to home decor to morals.

Ok, morals, aren’t a trend.

Thank God.

But lots of clothing styles are. Feel free to try them out. If you look terrible I’ll join in and we can all laugh in ten years. Just think how jolly we’ll be!

L. Raine

P.S. Guess who is wearing wide-leg pants and plastic earrings on occasion? It’s so much fun to experiment with style now.

Photo up top by: Eli DeFaria