Fitting In

My style: casual. Is that a good thing? After taking “The Style Quiz,” which is apparently supposed to pinpoint my style, I seem to enjoy dressing casual. Their research apparently tells me that I am an on-the-go straight shooter that becomes approachable based upon my style. Though this quiz and test had very limited options, I thought it was a fun and creative way to end this lesson. The next source I enjoyed was the “Wings” video and lyrics by Macklemore. Not only do I enjoy this artist’s music, I was particularly interested because it is related to basketball, and the shoes the players wear. First, I thought I would add that watching the video completely changes my thoughts on the song. Not only do I realize it’s about the Jordan shoes and how it makes him fly, but now I can relate this to the “not fitting in” emotion. The music video did an amazing job at expressing the excitement within the boys face when he realized that he was the only one with “cool” shoes. One of my favorite lines is when he sings, “We are what we wear, we wear what we are.” This line doesn’t only add to the song, but it hits home for athletes similar to me that always needed the $150 basketball shoes or the $250 soccer cleats that make us seem to fit in more.

The next source, “Guy Gives Abercrombie & Fitch a Brand Readjustment By Giving Their Clothes to the Homeless,” seemed to confuse me just as much as it made me feel angry towards the CEO of the company. Though I understand the purpose behind this guys approach at readjusting the standards for A & F, I was curious what made this man want to accomplish something like this. Yes, I support what he has in mind, but it seems that he really is involved with undermining the company. However, that is not what this lesson is about. I believe this video was included to really show how some people do not fit in to our society. For example, this video shared about how the CEO does not want larger women wearing his clothes. This video’s goal was trying to change the brands idea that “A & F only wants a certain kind of person to be wearing their clothes.” This original statement basically limits what kind of people wear their clothes, but also seems to knock off thousands of people that don’t fit in towards their standards.

The next two sources seem to stump me. First, the “Jacket” article made me wonder if clothing and other items that seem a bit out of the ordinary really tear down people’s self-esteem or successes in life. Though I do agree that thousands of people get judges on what they wear, I do not believe that they have an effect on grades and the bad luck that some people have. I do agree it can lead to embarrassment, but some people love to be the odd balls that wear the ugly jackets from the 70’s or 80’s. The last source, “Merchants of Cool,” seemed to relate to the Abercrombie and Fitch video, but in means of targeting teens and their opinions on clothing. This article seemed helpful because it explains how fashion companies seem to swarm and target the new fads that are occurring within school. Though I was confused with this source, I believe it fits in well with the 6^th grade unit because that is when youths are trying to find their identities, and clothing always seems to be the way that people “fit in.”

On a side note, this was one of my favorite blogs. Not only because it will fit in well with the sixth graders, but also because I personally related to each one of these sources. We have all struggled to fit in at one point or another. In my case, I always felt that clothes and the nicest soccer cleats helped me get a little more attention from the women in school or the fans by the soccer field.