Condemned by the fashion police, our names become engraved into the social Death Note. Whether it is by dressing too conservatively or otherwise, when we seek to enforce our individualism through fashion, we tend to see reactions to our choices. Fashion police seems like a harmless term but it has dire consequences on a person’s mental health and reflects the ugly side of the human psyche, the aspect of judging others based on outward appearances.
What happens when we, as humans, start to police other people’s choices of clothing and fashion sense. It almost seems as a reactionary to how the older generation judges the younger generation for our more liberal choices in clothing that we, the younger generation, prove that we are part of the same coin and we divert this negative aspect of the human experience and we question, judge and condemn people that do not follow the trends that are dictated by the celebrities we worship at this present age.
The ideal view is that we should not judge someone based on their appearances of which fashion is one aspect. Our cultures teach us that one should learn to look beyond the material world and superficial things like appearances.
The need to follow the crowd is also the reason we have dress codes. We emphasise dress codes almost as if to send a message of what they represent. We all understand the necessities of a dress code and reminding a friend to follow a dress code is not the same as taunting someone for their choice of clothing, a very clear distinction needs to be made.
Fashion policing may also be our normalisation of television shows on entertainment channels such as “Fashion Police” that questions the clothing celebrities wear on the red carpet.
Another part of fashion policing is when a person gets shamed for repeating outfits! This is one of the most silliest thing i have ever heard of. The need to constantly come up with a new look is exhausting when you don’t want to do it. In our community, if a wealthy women is seen repeating her sarees, it simply means that she is not “taking the effort” or just simply having an immature judgement. This is completely unnecessary!
Fashion policing is not right and no one should be taunted for the clothes they wear. When we engage in such frivolous activities, we only perpetuate our lack of maturity and ignorance without considering the lasting consequences it has on a person’s mental health such as causing body image issues.
Many people assume it is fun and the rise of the “political correctness” movement has seen the reactions by people to say whatever they want for the sake of saying without people actually understanding the consequences of it. To anyone who is currently going through this, I call to you to be empowered by your choices in clothing and simply be comfortable in who you are because you have already won.
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