I am not one to follow trends. There is a trend, every so often, that I’ll feel tempted by–but I’ll inevitably feel and look uncomfortable. I like the sort of clothes I wear for many reasons, but mostly because I feel comfortable in them.

Which means that it’s a problem (for me) when things that I like become trendy. Suddenly they are everywhere. Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but it’s frustrating. I don’t mind wearing the same clothes as one other person (proof: my best friend/roommate for five years routinely would emerge from our rooms wearing almost identical outfits like five times a week…!) but I find it so awkward to be walking down the street and seeing twenty other people wearing the same thing. I don’t know how people who are really into trends do it. In moments like that, I feel like I’m back in school, wearing a uniform.

I have my own personal uniform, but I certainly appreciate individuality, and dressing for yourself and not for some idealized version–wearing clothes that flatter and fit, instead of something you hope does because it’s “in.” I don’t really understand that.

It makes me wonder. Why do I feel comfortable dressing similarly if not identically to friends, but feel somewhat squeamish when following a trend? My best friends’ mother once came outside when her daughters and I were sitting on her porch, all (inadvertently) dressed almost identically, and she said “you are sooo alike!” After that (and this was about a decade ago), my friends and I constantly bandy that catchphrase back and forth with each other, both in speaking and texting. My iPhone automatically suggests #wearesoooalike on some occasions! So why doesn’t that bother me?

This was originally meant to be a lighthearted post on how staying true to your own style is more important than following trends, but as I’ve typed this, it’s really making me think. Is part of my contentment in sticking to my own style, and annoyance when things I like become trendy, because I want to be known as an individual? Or is it the “cool” factor (although as someone who recently placed an order for straight-leg khakis from LL Bean, I’m hardly one to speak about being “cool”) because I knew about something first? Something for me to consider.

I read a quote from Kate Schelter the other day on Instagram (via an interview she did with Sleepy Jones.) In it, she says, “The less I chase trends, or try to be stylish, the more I have my own style.” That sums it up for me!