It’s a delicate balance: cool versus comfortable? Many times in different aspects of fashion, the two don’t necessarily overlap. The cool thing to be wearing doesn’t always actually work the best for one’s physical needs.
You may be thinking; “What? Why is Will writing an article about fashion? Homie walks around in the same pair of Vouri shorts and one of four t-shirts year round!” And to that I say “Hey. That’s hurtful.”
And while it may be true that I’m not necessarily a fashion icon, I, like many humans, think about what I’m wearing and how it presents to other people. And balancing that with the actual functionality of the clothing can be challenging sometimes.
I can think of a lot of examples, but I’ll give you two that actually apply to my life. The first being Nike Dunks. While they’re super cool looking shoes, their level of comfort doesn’t match their fashion appeal whatsoever. My friend had to get his foot amputated because he walked half a mile in dunks. Every time I take a step in mine, I scream. They’re banned in the European Union and classified in some countries as a form of self harm.
While none of that is actually true, Dunks serve as a perfect example of this “cool-not-comfortable” enigma. Why would we wear something so often in our lives that doesn’t fit our everyday needs? I know so many people who wear their dunks to school most if not every day, when the best functional shoe for sitting in class for hours would be something much more comfortable. Like slippers. Big fuzzy slippers.
Here’s my second example: hoodies while skiing. Typically hoodies, or sweatshirts, are pretty great. They’re a good mix of both cool and comfortable.
But on the ski slopes, they get wet really easily and they aren’t very warm. And yet everyone still wears them. I wear them sometimes! I’m fully aware of the fact that they suck for the thing I’m trying to do, but I still ski in a hoodie at least a couple times a season. And a lot of times it’s one of the worst days of the season because of it. It’s like a toxic relationship: I keep coming back to them, but every time I wear them I feel horrible and want to change.
These two examples (and many more like them) bring up a question: why do we keep going back to these pieces of clothing that, while they may be cool, don’t work best for the activity we’re doing?
It points to the fact that the reason we choose these uncomfortable clothing items is because we care more about our appearance than our own comfortability at school, or on the ski hill, or just in life in general. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can definitely be taken too far. Like if you got hypothermia from a soaked cotton sweatshirt and died, or if your foot fell off because you had to walk thirty feet in dunks and you bled out and died, or many other situations that would probably result in fashion related deaths.
So, make sure to keep your fashion choices and your personal level of physical comfort balanced. It’s better for yourself, and people won’t care if a couple days a week you wear Birkenstocks instead of Dunks or an actual ski jacket instead of a hoodie. Keep yourself comfortable, otherwise you might literally die.
