Neither of us tolerate aesthetic clothing styles. We are averse to any clearly visible aesthetic designs on clothing, including logos, text, art or impractical shapes/coverage of the clothing. Both of our wardrobes have whittled down to plain, greyscale clothing. My friend cannot stand any logo on his clothing, no matter how hidden or inconspicuous.
We were exposed to aesthetic clothing styles in childhood. From birth to mid-teenage years, my mother would choose essentially all of my clothes, which often included aesthetic designs.
There were a few rare instances, most notably at around ages 10 and 15, in which I chose to buy particular clothing for the purpose of it conveying a certain look, however I ended up essentially never wearing any of these items of clothing.
At age 14, I stated that I ‘rarely, if ever, buy clothes’, ‘like to stick to similar clothes’, ‘don’t follow any trends’ and ‘just wear what’s comfortable’.
At age 17, in response to my girlfriend at the time stating that she liked pink, lace dresses, skirts and blouses and that it would be ‘non-feminine of [her] not to like them’, I remarked to my friend, ‘I argued with her about this. There are many messages missing in that block where I’m arguing with her lol.’
At age 18, I stated:
‘[This] girl wears some interesting clothes [a plain, black jacket and a plain, white, buttoned shirt], nothing like I’ve ever seen. I told her about it, and she just said she wears whatever’s available and that most of her clothes are black.’
My friend replied, ‘Yes, hair as well [which was uncut and not dyed]. Something is wrong with her that is making her like us. We have yet to find out what it is.’
At age 17, my friend stated, ‘I hate style and fashion. … I have no style: the blunt, blank, plain-black, non-existent style of [me].’
At age 17, my friend stated:
‘My mum mentioned to the psychologist that I don’t wear shirts with logos on. She mentioned my tantrums if there was a logo or writing and how I would not put it on.’
I replied, ‘Yes, good. I’m the same. None of the clothing I wear has logos anymore.’
At age 18, I stated, ‘Don’t you find it hard to understand why there are so many stupid names for clothes? I recently learnt about “cargo trousers”. There’s also “tanktop”. Remember “boyfriend jeans”?’
At age 19, my friend stated:
‘It baffles me why they don’t want to wear black. How is any form of fashion more appealing than wearing black? Why is conforming more appealing than being stubborn and wearing fuck-off black?
This is a major issue, where conforming is more appealing than doing one’s utmost not to conform. The fact its ever worn: it would bug me. I’d have to remove it or cover it over in some way.’
I replied, ‘Well, [my girlfriend at the time] said she’d be interested in wearing my clothes, and she also said her interests would conform to mine in time, as if it was a personality trait she was aware of. She’s brought up out of the blue multiple times how much she values my opinions or viewpoints and will mirror them.’
My friend replied, ‘Ideally, a girl should be like it anyway, before I come into contact with them.’ I replied, ‘Obviously, though I’ve learnt that’s like trying to find a needle in a thousand haystacks.’
My friend replied, ‘It would annoy me, because this shouldn’t be the reason.’ I replied, ‘Exactly, and it bloody did.’
At age 20, I stated, ‘Hate that new dungarees trend, really hate it. Gives me a headache.’
At age 19, my friend stated:
‘Ever since a toddler, I’ve been trying to work out how people can bear writing on their clothes. You see that shirt I was wearing? I remember feeling all eyes burning on me all day, having that on me. I made sure to face away from people as much a possible. I remember it as clear as day, and I’m trying to work out why other people didn’t experience that anxiety.
It absolutely doesn’t matter what is written on the shirt. It could be the most accepted and popular thing ever. It would give me that sensation. I had absolute nightmares about that.
I’m glad those nightmares are gone. I haven’t had to deal with that in years. It feels like a massive weight off my shoulder ever since only wearing white tops. I haven’t felt that anxiety in a long time. I absolutely don’t get it with the clothes I wear.
All my life, I have wondered how people get a desire to have writing and pictures on their shirt, whereas I get extreme anxiety. I remember non-school uniform days. There was always a massive fuss before school; all the clothes would be out, with all the logos and writing, and I wouldn’t want to wear any of the selection given. That’s why I wore school uniform at school and finally all black.
The funny thing is, all-black would probably get more attention from [regular people], more attention than if I just had something popular on my shirt, but my brain doesn’t let me do that, and I’ve always wondered why I have this. People actually wear the top for what’s on it.
Having writing on a shirt is totally antithetical to my existence. Why would I pay extra money for a shirt because it has writing on, writing that will make me look like an idiot to the people I would actually want to associate with if I encountered them by chance?
That form of communication is a misrepresentation of me full stop. The act of having something on a t-shirt is a misrepresentation of me. The method of communication itself is the misrepresentation, let alone the semantics. It’s totally pointless because of who is going to see it. I can only imagine seeing something like that practically.’
At age 19, I stated:
‘Another thing I’ve found myself to detest is clothing that has an entirely aesthetic basis to it and none in practicality.
Take this awful example: what is the point in a hoodie that’s cut off at the waist, exposing you to the cold? It defeats the purpose entirely and proves to me that it’s like that just to look trendy or aesthetic or whatever people see in that.
Even the trousers I found strange. Why are they built to go that high up? What’s the point, other than an aesthetic one?’
At age 20, I stated:
‘I’m also sick of these [tights in the shape of black cats], sick to death. It’s because they no longer become just tights, because I instantly know that the fact they wear those tights means a dozen other things. They instantly become predictable and unindividual. It really taints the individual.
The issue isn’t in the tights themselves; it’s in the way they were chosen, the why, the mental process that took place.’ My friend replied, ‘Indeed. It’s always going to lead to deterioration. You know who they are from that.’
At age 19, my friend sent a screenshot of the Google results for ‘most common shoe’ and stated:
‘Hahaha, [Vans shoes with a white stripe,] literally the first photo. It’s not right that all those people should have that same shoe when there are thousands of shoes they could buy.
There are thousands that are more comfortable and less noticeable, with fewer embellishments. It’s impossible for anyone with a practical mindset to arrive at that same shoe on that scale. I’ve got to read the 12,000 reviews for this shoe.’
My friend then sent a screenshot of a review and stated, ‘What a load of old bollocks. It’s the fact they’ve given that ecstatic review and a 5-star rating, and the only positive mentioned is how they look, despite the glaring, “They’re stiff”, “It bruised a bit round my ankle”, “The sharp tongues cut into my skin.”
Again, it’s the overwhelming social and aesthetical gain over practicality or comfortability. It’s that same paradigm I see time and time again, social aesthetics over comfortability.
They’re getting such a social and emotional gain out of it that it gives them cause to bear through the pain and continue wearing them, whereas I don’t see that, so they would be immediately removed. I see those shoes on every other girl.’ I replied, ‘It’s how they bear alcohol and hangovers.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘This is possibly the earliest photo of those [Vans] shoes I’ve seen.
It’s the fact it’s a white stripe on a black shoe. It’s the fact that is the trend. It’s the fact everyone is going out and buying that just because that’s the trend, proving it almost doesn’t matter what the thing is; people will go after it when it’s a trend.’
My friend replied, ‘Horrible thinking. People are like flies.‘
At age 20, I stated:
‘Don’t you just hate this [net] clothing? I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been seeing it around for the past 3 or so years, and it does my absolute head in.
I hate any clothing that purports to be a full piece of clothing but intends to show as much skin as possible. There ends up being literally 0 purpose for it to be that transparent. It holds no practical benefit, no protection benefit.
And you might as well not have sleeves at all. The sleeves are pointless in that piece of clothing, but the reason they are there is to make it sarcastically resemble a full piece of clothing. It’s even worse than just bare skin. The intended purpose gets even more specified and stated. The pointlessness of the clothing itself gets even higher.’
At age 20, my friend stated:
‘I absolutely hate massive, clunky, unwieldy shoes that these emo girls insist on wearing.’ I replied, ‘Yes. Those are strange too. I don’t get that too, having such an arsenal of clothing. There’s no need or point.’
My friend replied, ‘It’s baffling to me how I see people wear different shoes, different trousers every single day, different socks, but especially different shoes. I remember [one girl] had 5 different pairs of shoes on across the photos. It put me off.‘