Somehow We Went From Fashion to Maps (Perception and Cycles)

There's something really funny to me about using a tutorial from 2011 to learn to style a side bang (not Funny as in haha, but funny when I mean to say interesting and amusing but that's too many words to say and makes for a bad opener). There's something to be said about the cyclical nature of fashion in the way I envy the striped off the shoulder top of the girl in the video while I'm wearing a lace cami under an early 2000s old navy vest I bought secondhand in the year 2026. 

The tutorial was great by the way, my bangs finally don't look chopped. I will be carrying this information with me. 

But this brings me to the dilemma(?) I've been having. I enjoy how I dress as of late (since september), how I dress has been feeling very authentic to myself, very comfortable to me. How I dress also looks straight out of the 2000s most days. Or so I've been told by my roommates and friends. My best friend has been having a joy of a time telling me what exact year I seem to be emulating when I meet him in class. It's always landed somewhere around 2002 - 2005.

I know for certain that I'm not actually dressing in perfect emulation of the 2000s because that was never my goal in the first place. I enjoy a lot of the stylings, and find that I like the way a lot of the silhouettes and patterns sit on me. I think I actually look good with a side bang. But all of this is getting infused with my sensibilities that have been shaped by the current day. I wear a carabiner on my hip daily. I really enjoy the modern understanding of a low rise jean that hits just about to below my belly button. And I'm still not entirely sold on skinny jeans. 

But despite all of that, despite all logic, I still fear that I've fallen prey to trend and emulation and that in reality none of this is authentic. Which is Stupid. 

Perceptions are bullshit. Have you ever seen the Gall Peters map projection?  I just learned about that today. This is an equal area map projection, wherein the sizes of the landmasses are much more accurate than the Mercator projection, which is the one that's shown in schools. Nothing is the size you think it is. 

 

In my head these 2 things were connected but I think I just wanted to inflict the Gall Peters map projection on other people.  

I think today's lesson for myself is fuck perceptions, if I'm happy with how I'm dressed then that's what matters. And that the continent of Africa is really fucking big.