Focus on Fashion

The date was Sept. 14, 2011. I was walking to class, just minding my own business with my headphones blaring, when I saw her.

This girl was wearing a nicely formed dress with a huge, neon-green stripe down the front.

Neon is seen more around campus, many times in the form of grey-and-neon-striped shirts, and it certainly is an attention grabber.

I think this girl took her styling a little too far, but I must applaud her as well.
She took this emerging neon highlighting style and wore it like a runway model.

You have to admit, models wear some things that wouldn’t normally be seen on the street. And yet this girl made her statement on the concrete runways that are the Bloomington sidewalks. I don’t think I could ever be as confident as I perceived her to be, and she tried a style that I wouldn’t even think of, so I know she’s much more creative than I am.

Who was this mystery girl? Was she a fashionista with the access to new trends that I haven’t even heard of? Or just a girl who saw a dress and thought, “Why not?”
Styles come and go very quickly. Teenagers take things from past generations and change them to meet their fashion criteria.

How do we know if in a couple of months, or in the next few semesters, this “spacegirl” look won’t be the next “in” style?

Normally, when one style becomes prominent, it starts off as part of another fad, making its way into hip, current outfits.

Well, I know I couldn’t pull off this look, so if it does catch on, I hope it does after I’m out of college. But knowing me, I’d probably continue wearing my blue jeans with flowy tops and tight undershirts. It works for me, just like neon worked for the mystery “spacegirl.”

I hope whatever you decide to wear tomorrow will make you feel like the sidewalk is your personal runway, so strut with pride.

—samkirby@indiana.edu