More and more frequently, the media reminds me that we are all waiting for the apocalypse. Dystopian movies, doom-singing headlines, and an overall pessimistic attitude towards the future have overwhelmed my world view. As political tensions rise along with global temperatures, it is not hard to picture today as the beginning of the end. 

And it’s not just me. I know that you have felt it too. As we become more accepting of a gloomy, horror-filled future, we have also altered our dress. Crisp jeans and shiny leather belts have been replaced with tearing and stained denim dangling from our waists, held up by meagher shoe laces or the occasional scavenged ribbon. 

At least, that is what it looks like. Those jeans might be hundreds of dollars and that shoelace might be fresh from a Converse package. More than likely, as you thought about what to hold your pants up with, you had the very easy option of picking a belt, but opted for the edgier and more stylish “random ribbon that I casually found in my mom’s sewing kit.” 

This attitude of wearing the scavenged with style, even in a time of immense surplus, reflects our attitudes of impending doom. The apocalypse has become cool. As the end draws near we romanticize times of old, just like in the movies; ruffle socks, puff sleeves, pioneer skirts, while also preparing for the worst by using what we have. A pair of pants that may be five sizes too big, but hey, they’re pants. 

It is a hilarious juxtaposition that while our world is broken by overproduction of low quality goods we find such satisfaction in digging up a ratty t-shirt and calling it cool. It is cool to reuse these clothes instead of throwing them away, but I think our motivation and satisfaction in wearing them and seeing them worn comes from something deeper: a sick acceptance of the end. A romantic and skewed vision of what the apocalypse may bring, that suffering will be cool and that the end will be heroic, so why not start dressing like it now? 

I am honestly a huge fan of the styles of today. I am happy to wear a random men’s XXL shirt and some baggy jeans from twenty years ago and be both comfortable and cool. But does the mindset that these clothes unveil mean that we are really OK letting the world end? How does our apathy exacerbate the issue? If we want to have any shot at making this world and our future brighter, doesn’t our mindset need to be the first thing that changes? Are we guaranteeing our end when we begin to believe so ardently in it?

I propose this; let’s keep wearing our scavenger apocalypse styles. Let’s keep meshing the old with the new in beautiful patterns of pearls and denim. But let’s do it with the intention of avoiding the worst. When you tie your pants with a shoelace, be grateful that you will never have to dig through the mud to find that shoelace. When you step into your baggy jeans, be grateful that you didn’t pull those jeans off a dead body. 

We must stand up for our future. We must be active participants in our own fate. Even if that means wearing some tight, futuristic pantyhose in the process. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.