14 DAY TRIAL // Hello there! How are you all feeling this Saturday? Going out plans ahead or just getting cozy in front of the TV with a huge bowl of popcorn? Well, if you're up for clubbing in an hour or two, but instead of picking the right Versace-labeled T-shirt and the shinny Gucci's last collection shoes, you are just enjoying yourself browsing the net and maybe reading my humble editorial, you're definitely not a "fashion victim". What's a "fashion victim"? I guess you've heard the term before, but if you're not quite sure what it really means, here's an attempt to clarify this extremely present issue among nowadays addictions?
First of all, I need to point out that the "fashion victim" term doesn't only concern women, but also men. In the most common sense, it's obviously that fashion victims are those people who blindly adopt and worship fashion trends, run with them regardless of how they look on them, no matter if those particular trends are appropriate or not. In their quest to be trendy, such people are usually excessively wearing a lot of accessories they find out trend-setters hint for every season, ending up to completely miss the most important part of being stylish: customizing a trend to suit their own body, age and circumstance. Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) defines those blind trend-followers in addition to a related type of people, called "magazine people", as "Deeply insecure people who seek solace in looking exactly the same as all their fellow fashion victims and who haven't got the imagination to develop a style of their own and so follow whatever their favorite lifestyle magazine tells them to do.
They're called "victims" for they are indeed the result of the interactivity between the way they understand fashion and the social expectations they feel like they need to fulfill. They simply can not accept not being trendy, not mindlessly following the dictates of the fashion world, not showing everybody that their outfits are highly updated, not feeling like they are the master authority when it comes to dressing, not being deeply into fashion news and trends. Those people use to wear anything that represents the newest feature of fashion collections, even if it doesn't feel or look quite right to them? They'll wear it anyway, because fashion rules them! Besides, if everyone else was jumping of a cliff, in the name of being the same as their fellows, they would probably be do the same and do it even proudly!
So, the first conclusion is that being a fashion victim is something bad, it's not a virtue or something to be proud of, it may even be considered an illness at some point. Someone who takes all the trends of a given time and ends up looking like a store mannequin is absurd for sure and what's even sadder is that "fashion victims" live quite a stressful life, for always being concerned about restoring their wardrobe to up-to-date. Those people who are so much into fashion are usually known for only purchasing brand-name apparel, for being compulsive shoppers and for considering that the clothes worth wearing are only the ones that are listed among "the latest trend" outfits. It's quite easy to spot a "fashion victim", as his/her features don't suffer quite big and confusing variations: a "fashion victim" is normally wearing unsuitable outfits for his/her body structure, is usually wearing too much of one thing, sometimes wears a has-been trend, is also wearing inappropriate clothes considering the weather or the occasion and sometimes a "fashion victim" dresses in total dissonance with his/her age.
It's a disaster when a woman who's not quite slim adopts stretch pants just because it's trendy, despite of what the others and also her own reflection in the mirror says: "Ok, it's obvious you've studied the trend-setters' reports, but have you lately seen yourself in the mirror?" Such a woman is surely a "fashion victim", otherwise who would be so desperate to madly follow the fashion trends paying the price of looking ridiculous? It's also a bad idea to wear too much of one thing, be it jewelry, clothes, make-up or even perfume, but "fashion victims" never seem to be able to censure themselves. So, we can easily find them in the newest and most chic clubs in town wearing a pair of trendy sunglasses, a Diesel cap, a Energie belt, a purple scarf (as purple is the color of the season), in a few words, almost everything they find up-to-date in their wardrobe. That's how they end up looking like an ambulant "trendy" shop.
It's obvious by default that 'poor fashion victims' have to face another problem: the fact that following trends is quite a tricky thing to do, as fashion is in continuous process of renewal and change. So, when you reportedly see someone dressed in a passed out style, be sure he or she is a "fashion victim", that has a closet full with a favorite past trend. Hey, if you guys have already found yourselves in one of these situations, please take a reality check on yourselves and admit you're fashion addicted and need urgent help! And if you're also one of those people who wear new spring collections when outside is still snowing, you're in great jeopardy of being unrecoverable? Who else but a "fashion victim" would risk his/her health, safety or comfort by wearing the new Dolce&Gabbana trend spring suite in February, or by suffering from a pair of 12 centimeters high-heels shoes while going to work by subway, or enduring a "trendy" synthetic fabric on the skin when there are 35 degrees outside. Yeah, it's not a pleasure, but hey? it's trendy, so the pain and suffering are quite worth!
And what I find most horrible is when people seem to lose their good sense of their age just for the sake of fashion. So, here's something I want to seriously ask you: please don't choose an outfit that would look great on your grandmother or on your granddaughter, depending on your age! Being all dressed up following the latest trends is not necessarily a good option, unless you know how to adapt what's new in fashion to your own features, necessities, occasions and so on. It's a good thing though to follow what trend-setters say, but only if you're able to make the new trends fit you, instead of forcing yourself to fit them, unless you wish to become one of those pathetic "fashion victims".