"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes" Henry David Thoreau
Senior year sentimentality has set in, stylishly. And sitting here writing my final article as The Vista's fashion columnist I am poised, and posed, to reflect.
There are defining "firsts" in your first year of college. USD goes to a lot of trouble to create the official rights of passage, from Torero Days to student ho-downs (which, by the way, is just about the most nonsensical thing I can think of for defining a Southern California college experience). But, my first week here at school at the University of San Diego was marked by something different. I liquidated my leftover graduation money for a bright green Juicy Couture track jacket. I subscribed to a personal philosophy of "the clothes make the man" (it was my pre-feminist days). It was what I considered to be the first step to becoming a true USD girl. While I may have been poor, liberal and brunette, in my mind I would no longer be marginalized to the realm of obscurity!
I was pretty smug in my snazzy new jacket up until the first time it rained. Trading in my usual North Face coat I stepped into my first big San Diego drizzle, pulled up my hood, and discovered it only covered three-fourths of my head. Soaking wet and sad I learned a valuable lesson that day - terrycloth is a good material for towels, not water resistance. But, more than that, I learned about change and about remaining true to yourself.
Although I'm a transcendentalist on most levels, I'm afraid I don't agree with the leading statement from my old friend, Thoreau. Clothing can outwardly mark the changes we all experience throughout our lives. Our personal self is constantly in negotiation throughout our lives and our outward (and outerwear) selves are no different. But there are certain things from our past that we should hold on to that help us weather the storms in our lives.
As we become more sure about the person inside, we are less concerned with our outer self matching others, and are more concerned with it matching who we are. There is no reason we can't mix parts of our being like we mix our accessories. A couture cross-section of new and old is the first mark of someone with personal style and personality. No one should be limited to a self that doesn't fit them to avoid judgments of "selling out," or have to pretend to be someone they are not. I've learned a lot about myself since freshman year, and a lot about dressing myself as well.
Fashion is the world's most ephemeral art. Through two years of writing and producing something semi-permanent about something altogether fleeting I have had to come to grips with change. Styles are like college relationships; most of the time finite, but with experiences that leave lasting marks on who we are. They come and they go - and, if it wasn't for incriminating photography, eventually continue only in memory.
A stylish so-long. Thanks USD, it's been fashionably fun, and fabulous.
