“What I really want is a simple place. With no flashy clothes ‘cause you can’t eat those.” –Animal Collective – Taste

I begin this train of thought with lyrics from Animal Collective’s song “Taste,” these lyrics compelled me to write this piece. When did clothing and trends become a lifestyle? Allow me to elucidate, people make labels and trends a living thing; too many people make this closet monster who they truly are. When did it become cool to boast about how much money was spent on an item of clothing? Why it’s cool for the first thing to be notice is a man or woman’s attire? When did so many people’s identity become replaced with a tags and labels? No faces, just trends and strobe lights in a club full of Ciroc and lust in the air. Everyone wants to dress and live like a celebrity when, in reality, celebrities are humans, not Gods nor royalty. Allow me to share a thought with you all; I was sitting at home and it dawned on me, I am going to die someday. I don’t know when or how but I will cease to exist one day. I catechized, do I want my legacy to be left upon this world as a label or how I dressed? I’d love for people to speak of my intellect, my parenting, my friendship, or my love; not how “doped I looked in my coffin.” I can not die perpetuating these asinine trends and leave that image for my child to remember me by; I’ll pass on being “cool.” I don’t want a woman to engage with me because of my looks and attire, how about my personality and mind. I wouldn’t want a woman for clothing that makes her sexy because she makes the clothes sexy; I am not just talking about physically. I am talking about mind and personality. Too many people boast about their labels and how much money they have thrown away on a pieces of fabric. So many people are in competition with others to be the best dressed, how about being the most educated or most ambitious? With all that money used for clothing it could have been invested in higher learning. I love how people would buy the latest sneakers or weaves but their light bill isn’t paid and there isn’t any food in their home. These labels and fashion leaders, by the way, we’re making these people millionaires, this industry has consumed too many people’s lives. Too many people are slaves to these grody fashion statements, they forget to just LIVE! Clothes are just clothes but life is invaluable. When we die we won’t be buried with our wardrobe. So think about it next time you’re buying that dress or jacket that’s over two hundred dollar, what could you have been doing with that money? Clothes don’t last forever, we make the clothes, clothes doesn’t make us; therefore, be you!

Hey, who am I, just some Black nerd who thinks too much. It’s your money, do what you please. I just know life is too short to try to impress everyone each day. F**k it, it’s just clothes once it hits the floor.