One of my favorite compliments is: “I like your outfit.” Complimenting outfits was how I made one of my first friends over online school, a way I’ve upheld random friendships throughout the years when passing by in hallways and my go-to for creating a shared connection. Complimenting a top, necklaces, shoes and so on became my way to offer small verbal gifts. Brief and almost insignificant, such an easy thing to say in passing has an exceptional ability to make someone feel so seen. At the same time, the person giving the compliment is able to show attentiveness, curiosity and appreciation for the way someone chooses to
present themselves to the world.

Spending hours in my mom’s closet in 8th grade, I would pick out clothing with lace or beads in shades from turquoise to every pink imaginable just so I could hear: “Your outfit is so cute!” Even before I fully understood what fashion was to me, I appreciated what it meant to use it as a form of expression. My clothing became one of the first ways I learned how to communicate something about myself and it granted me a sense of identity before I had fully grown into one of my own.

Fashion used to feel directly connected to my worth because it stood as proof that I offer something recognizable or likable to other people. However, I grew to realize that style is meaningful only because of the person wearing it. Outfits are memorable when it reflects someone’s confidence or individuality because fashion is simply an extension of identity, their personal narrative and one of the most vibrant forms of self-expression. Throughout my time at school, I was able to separate my confidence and self-worth from the very thing that served as
my crutch.

As I enter this new chapter in my life, I will lean on fashion again in moments of uncertainty but I understand that the security it gives is only amplifying something that already exists underneath. More than anything, I hope people continue to appreciate clothing the way they have these past six years, because paying attention to the way someone expresses themselves is just another way of paying attention to the person themselves.