Reflections in the Mirror

Every day begins with mirror mirror on the wall, feeding it with questions about how you look and what perceptions others have of you based on what clothes you wear. The mirror develops your sense of self — what you see looking back at you is how you imagine everyone else to see you. Fashion has evolved into the newest looking glass. Now more than ever, fashion is a symbol of self-confidence, status, and personality. It is a constant battle to portray yourself through the medium of fabrics and colors. Clothes have increasingly become a new way to perceive oneself and measure beauty. Not only that, but it has become a way for others to form their opinions, stereotypes, and personality assumptions of others.

Fashion recently became my best friend. It let me portray myself however I wanted to. I look into my tall standing mirror and evaluate my outfit from head to toe each morning, carefully constructing a look that expresses my personality and mood for the day. The H&M skims dupe says clean girl aesthetic, while my Adidas windbreaker and Jordans give off athletic. The mirror lets me know what other people think, too. They gather bits and pieces of my personality through my fashion choices and use them to make assumptions about my life. People ask me if I play sports or if I am a shoe girl on some days, but I do not know how to tell them that all I did was search for green Nike shoes…

Without even having a conversation with someone, fashion choices speak volumes. People are given a new medium through which they can express their thoughts and feelings and wear them openly on their bodies. Essentially, we are all canvases. We are draped with fabrics we feel express what goes on inside our minds' vast forest of thoughts.

Just as concealer hides our sleepless nights, fashion can make self-doubt invisible. It can create confidence through mere threads and colors. The appearance of confidence can be constructed by wearing a particular outfit or by making a bold statement with accessories. I have always firmly aligned with the saying, “Look good, Feel good.” Getting dressed simply to study at a coffee shop or attend class brings me confidence. Essentially, fashion constructs confidence. It can make you feel good simply by giving you an arsenal of personas to embody on every journey or every errand you embark on. It has the power to be so much more than just an outfit.

Though we are not timeless, fashion is. Our mirrors have seen everything. They have seen the horrendous elementary school tomboy shorts, the side part phases, the VSCO girl phase, and now the college girl phase. Fashion has accompanied us through every era of our lives. Specific fashion trends and certain portrayals mark every era we hoped to accomplish through the trends. It has been the friend we all grew up with, evolved with, and grew into our skin. The friend that helps us attain the identity of whoever we want to be. Our timeless friend.

On the other hand, there are instances where fashion can be our worst enemy. Fitting in with the trends and aesthetics becomes increasingly difficult when your body does not look like the models wearing them. When you look in the mirror, and the person looking back at you is a body you do not recognize anymore, nitpicking at every tiny detail that people swear nobody notices except yourself, fashion can be our most honest friend. It can make our insecurities more tangible and visible to everyone, which is when the mirror tells you that you are not perfect. Mirror mirror on the wall starts to tell you that you will never look as good in some clothes as others or that the clean girl aesthetic is for people whose bodies match those on Instagram.

At the end of the day, the good and bad reconcile into our versions of self-perception. We see ourselves through our costumes. The costumes we put on for every occasion. The very costumes that fabricate our confidence in others’ perceptions of us and display our personas on our bodies for everyone to see. At the end of the day, we are all playing dress up, deciding who we want to be for the day, and asking the mirror one last time:

Mirror mirror on the wall, who am I?