Culture and Fashion Week: the trendsetter and the sheep

Should hand it to Afrobloggers – these topics have been properly varied. Shoved me a little out my comfort zone and got me learning enough things.

So this is obviously Culture and Fashion Week and at first I thought I was boxed in by one perspective but the more I sat with it, the more ideas came to mind. A variety of culture; pop culture, counter culture, cancel culture, cultural shocks, what’s ‘in’ and trendy and what’s ‘out’ – things I’m most likely not going to get to within this week.

Because it’s a lifetime marathon trying to keep up with what the world is going on about.

But culture and fashion are almost interchangeable 😏 (according to Merriam-Webster you could switch both out with the word ‘custom’). When you get to asking if it’s fashionable to wear mismatched patterns, you are probably asking is it the world’s culture to mix up patterns in their dressing (my two cents if this is an issue, not that I’m the most fashionable person, but wear a pattern with a plain item. It flows better).

Anyway, in understanding culture and fashion, I thought it important to pose the question ‘Are you the trendsetter or a follower?’.

Doing everything because everybody is doing it?

What is the weight culture and fashion have over your daily being?

Are you one to run to a coffee shop and photograph the entire moment yet you hate coffee or starvingly save for the ‘in’ bag that will be out in three months?

As social beings, there is no way we fail to feel that pull – that need to belong, to fit in. I know I paid a lot of attention to these things in high school🙄. Things I can’t remember now except for the Converse All Star. There must have been plenty of trends and I wanted to jump on every single one. I wanted to be cool and in, the sort of person they referred to when they needed to know what’s hot. How shallow. Of course I can look back with the wisdom of age😌 and say that.

But here I am, mostly comfortable in my own skin and doing whatever because I like it even though it may not be popular. I will share my thoughts on some things in culture and fashion that appeal to me or make me think this week.

I’ll close off with a paraphrase of Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

How’s that to get you thinking about being a trendsetter and/or follower?