20 Years of Fashion

A reflection on the first 20 years of my life shows a passion for fashion that has persisted. With 20 years under my belt, I find myself at a milestone where my personal style has developed and been established, but simultaneously I still feel liberated to explore beyond what I have discovered thus far and expand my style comfortably and confidently.

The fashion world is always accepting, allowing you the flexibly to find your own style and take risks at your own pace. I was once the tiny little child who would stroll into gym class and sit on the bleachers week after week because I REFUSED to wear sneakers or even bring them to change into for the 45 minutes of class.

It was also at this time that I refused to wear pants. So even in the dead of New York City winters, I trucked through the snow in my ballet flats with the ever so chic leg warmers that I would pull down over my feet and up to my knees until I arrived at school, where I would pull them back to the proper placement around my ankles. 

 Today, it’s rare to find me not sporting my sneakers. I believe that my personal style story reflects the overall fashion forecast. More so today, we see comfort being not only accepted by the fashion world but embraced by it. If you told 4th grade me sneakers were on the rise, I simply would have said that will never be me. Little did I know.

The overwhelming re-emergence of old trends highlights the cyclical nature of style and reveals parallels between my style today and my mom’s when she was my age. Recently, I have found myself loving my newly-rented fanny pack and camo cargo pants, both trends popular with my mom’s generation that I very adamantly believed would never come back into style.

In celebrating my childhood flair as I embark on many years of no longer being a teen (yuck!), share with us your favorite birthday outfits and the best parts of your year! Tag us @theedgemag to be featured.