What is fashion and why is it important? Sophomore and fashionable student Mia Smith, Class of 2026, commented, “Fashion is how we represent ourselves and show how we are on the inside. How everyone dresses can tell you at least the smallest detail about them. Fashion is a very important thing because fashion shows individuality or originality.” But could fashion have a negative effect? In some ways, fashion can affect teachers and influence students.

So then, does fashion affect how students are treated? There are many different fashions and different opinions towards fashion. Spooky and sweet Astro Sullivan, Class of 2026, states, “Fashion does affect how I am treated. I am a more edgy person who wears darker clothes and black lipstick and it’s different. Students go two ways: they either accept me and like the way I dress and have a similar style and possibly think mine is cute, or they judge me, and bully me, and weirdly look at me, and for some people that could affect how they feel about themselves.”

Astro sullivan doing an outfit checkFashion can change how people perceive each other, and how strangers’ views can affect one’s thinking. Brooklyn Lewis, Class of 2027, suggests, “Sometimes you can tell a lot about someone by the way they dress. Someone who dresses in main brands and takes care of themselves shows wealth and responsibility. People who dress in pajamas are stereotyped as lazy or depressed. Someone in hand-me-down clothes or old clothes usually is seen as poor. We look at someone when we meet them and make our first impression by what they wear, but it is not just the fashion itself it’s also the time, place, and circumstances.” Viewing others’ clothes can help people have the mindset of the person they are talking to and get an idea of what they are like.

Can fashion affect school? Preschool teacher and loving mother of one, Hailey Niles notes, “School is a professional environment, so when I have a student who gets a new pair of shoes or a cute shirt, the other students begin to become distracted. The students talk to her about it which can bother my teaching and sometimes it is hard to gain the focus back to what we are learning.”

Fashion is important because it helps show originality or can help tell someone about who a person is and what they are like. In some ways fashion is important and in others, it can get in the way of things. But fashion is a complicated thing and it’s unique and makes everyone individually different.