Fashion at a glance

When fashion is the topic of a conversation, the average person will automatically affiliate it with clothing. It is a common belief fashion is merely the clothing one wears. However, for teens like senior Micaela Galvez, the term can take on a variety of meanings.

“If we’re talking about everyday fashion, it’s just the way you express yourself through your clothes,” Galvez said. “It’s the way you represent how you feel or [what] makes you feel good. But fashion can also [be] like [an] art form. Like Alexander Wang, people like that. That is also included in fashion. I feel like fashion is an umbrella term we use to [refer] to anything relating to clothes.”

Fashion is meant to be a liberating concept, giving teens a medium through which they can be themselves. The fashion industry, however, tends to be a double-edged sword, often containing an underlying truth.

“So many clothing brands, like Brandy Melville and Lululemon, have built reputations on being exclusive to slimmer bodies,” senior Yobany Pizano said. ”[They] make the general population feel that in order to be their customer, you’d have to lose weight, harming their views of their own bodies.”