Throughout this past year, there have been many ups and unfortunately, many more downs. However, the world of Fashion and Beauty has acted as a shining platform to allow us, especially me, the opportunity to reconstruct ourselves and create individuality through distinct articles of clothing. From oversized leather jackets and high-waisted loafers, to baby tees and low-rise jeans, the trends that were born this year will continue through 2021. Even though our lives have been put on pause, and the “normal” is now seen through computer or phone screens, high-end brands such as, Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and many more, have illustrated alluring and exclusive pieces that have proudly walked down the runways of Paris and Italy. Fashion can be accepted and enjoyed from more than 6 feet apart. While Fashion is an environment absorbed with creative minds and inventive creations, you and I play a vital role for the existence of Fashion and Beauty. Fashion icons all around the world have paved the way for our eyes to be attracted to pieces and products that speak to our heart, and through Quarantine, I believe that thousands of girls and boys, like myself, have changed their Fashion taste, style, and preference.

“Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.” —Gianni Versace“

Even though 2020 has been the longest, yet fastest year, our TV’s, computers, and phones have influenced the way Fashion and Beauty is seen through the eyes of the young. Celebrities’ such as, Adut Akech, Devon Lee Carlson, and Emma Chamberlain have made a significant impact on teens and adults during Quarantine. Personally for me, in the beginning of 2020, my style needed a major rebranding. It started with skinny jeans, plain shirts, and day-to-day shoes. Yet, as time passed by, I saw myself becoming more and more intrigued with pastel tones, printed pants, chunky rings, and surprisingly, oversized blazers. Fashion is a never ending cycle of artistry, ingenuity, and thread. I, and many teens out there, search for purpose everyday in our lives, whether that means playing a specific sport, or participating in theater, or even writing poems about love and hope. And the craziest thing that I have learned about myself this year, is that I don’t need to hide from my problems or fears, or escape from what I love, which is writing and learning about Fashion.

2020 has been an exhausting, unstable, and conflicting year, yet, a year that has allowed me to dig deep inwardly and grow with a sense of self importance and purpose. As we continue on with these difficult yet, reassuring times, remember to be curious, so curious that it will make you want to mix and match patterns and textures. Remember to be accepting, so accepting that it makes those around you, feel beautiful and powerful. And lastly, remember to be brave, so brave that you even surprise yourself for the choices that you have made, that it leaves you wanting more. So, cheers to 2020, you will forever be in our past.

“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” —Elsa Schiaparelli