From the Editor: ‘Cool girl’ fashion robs us of discovering our own style

When I was around 10 years old, I handpicked a neon yellow “I Love Soccer” T-shirt from Old Navy while back-to-school shopping at the mall. I wanted to re-invent myself as a tomboy for a fresh academic year.

The only problem was I never played — or even liked — soccer. But little ol’ me had a cool new fraudulent persona to sell to my elementary school, and so I made my mom buy the shirt.

Not unexpectedly, I never felt like myself whenever I wore it.

Entering my pre-teen years and into the first half of high school, a similar lack of confidence surrounding the clothes I wore kept following me. I filled my wardrobe with athleisure pieces because they seemed to be the Vancouverite uniform (and still are, let’s be real). I’d buy a trendy dress or accessory that looked like one a celebrity or online personality wore — only to be disappointed when it didn’t flatter me.

It felt like every morning I opened up my closet or chest of drawers to get ready for school, I picked out clothes just because I had to. Nothing excited me or made me feel good about myself.

It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that I realized I did not need to continue wasting money on clothes I knew deep down I didn’t like. I did not need to fill up my wardrobe with sweatpants, ripped jeans, 2010s-era crop tops, and T-shirts and hoodies with trendy brand logos plastered on them to fit in with my classmates. No shade to the folks who wear these items — many are really cute, just not for me!

I could just dress like myself. But how can you do that when you haven’t developed your own personal style?

The result was a bunch of trial and error. I became more open-minded to different materials, colours, and silhouettes. I shopped with more intention — whether the clothes I was buying were practical to pair with the pieces I already owned and versatile for different occasions.

Although I’m light years away from being even remotely close to a stylish person, when I get dressed in the morning, I no longer feel dread and unconfident — and dare I say, I sometimes get a little excited about putting together outfits.

However, with the rise in aesthetics, clothing trends, and dressing like a “cool girl,” I fear social media is peddling the same kind of fashion conformity that left me feeling insecure.

We shouldn’t dress to fit into a box or feel like we belong to some sort of club. No one should be robbed of the opportunity to discover their own style and feel the whimsy of letting go of fashion restrictions.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about taking style inspiration from social media trends and public figures. Aesthetics can serve as great moodboards for fashion exploration.

But if you want to buy a skinny pair of black sunglasses or baggy low-rise jeans, it should be because you feel good in them and want to rock those pieces — not because a viral celeb paparazzi photo convinced you that you need to dress a certain way.

Because the ultimate cool person is one who curates an image for themselves, not to appease society.