I stood there looking out my front door and saw a couple of teenagers standing there across the street in front of my neighbor’s house. Two guys and two girls. The guys were dressed in baggy pants," Jordan” t-shirts and baseball caps with flat lids pulled to the side. The girls both had skin tight jeans tucked into their new UGGs with an Abercrombie shirt under a black North Face. Their hair looked as if it was straitened too much and it looked fried. You can imagine my confusion looking out there at this puzzling situation. I wondered why they would not want to have their own style. A person, should not conform to the opinions of others, but create their own style based on their individuality.

You might be better liked by the popular kids, or the group you want to be part of, but you will be better liked by yourself if you have your own style and show your individual spirit. Style reflects your personality. Without showing personality through style no one will ever know your true colors. Just because “everybody else” is wearing North Face and Abercrombie doesn’t mean you have to. Sure, if you like it because you think it best represents you and your style, then buy it, but DON’T buy it because it’s the newest must have Fashions will come and go but your style will last forever.

Teenagers seem to have a need to conform, according to ChangingMinds.org. They want to be accepted into a group of people and to please those people, they dress like them and talk like them and start to act like them so they are liked better. This is not the way to finding who you are. You will not be happy if you are acting like someone you are not. Teens must find their own self in order to express themselves through style. If they are trying to be the same person as their peers are, and are acting like them too, then they will have a much harder time trying to find themselves and who they are.
You shouldn’t care what others think of your style! If they don’t like it that’s their own problem. Wear clothes that best represent you and best flatter you. I can’t believe how many of the same or similar outfits I see sometimes when I walk down the hall of my high school. I honestly don’t understand it. You don’t show your individuality if you are wearing only what will make you cool.

The next time you go out to the mall and try on clothes, think not “What will my peers think of the outfit?”, think “What do I think of this outfit?” Also, respect yourself, ladies. Wearing clothes that are too revealing is degrading. Let the clothes that represent you be modest.

I can not say that I never wanted to wear the clothes that everyone thought was cool. I wanted to be accepted into the “cool" group. I wanted to wear the same clothes as them and wanted other people to want to be like me. Then, when I was in high school I realized that I didn’t want to have labels on my clothes and be labeled myself. I wanted to be Jennifer. Not Jennifer the prep, or Jennifer the athletic one or even Jennifer the gothic one. I wanted people to know me for me and not judge me by the brand names on my clothes. Now I will buy clothes that I like and that look good on me. I don’t buy clothes with labels across the front, I buy clothes that are flattering and that I think are cute. I look for clothes that best represent my individual style.

If you are stuck in the mindset of conformity, WAKE UP! Seriously think about the reasons you dress the way you dress, or act the way you act. If it for the wrong reasons, change it up. It is time to blossom in to your own person and style. Think about what you want rather than what others think you should do. Show your true colors through style and don’t try to be anyone other than yourself.