Are We Still Pretending We Dress for Ourselves?

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Sometimes, dressing for yourself means dressing for the moment—and the eyes that come with it.

The Social Media Effect

There’s a reason you’ve never posted a mirror selfie in that same oversized hoodie you actually live in. Social media turned personal style into shared content. Now, even our most “unbothered” outfits go through a mental filter: would I post this? Would it get saved? Would it say something about me?

Dressing has become digital branding. It's less “I like this” and more “What does this say about me to them?”

It’s Okay to Dress for the World—As Long As You Know It

Maybe the better question isn’t who we dress for, but why. For some, it’s validation. For others, it’s fun. Sometimes it’s a mask, sometimes it’s a megaphone. But dressing is rarely done in a vacuum—and pretending otherwise doesn’t empower us. Owning the complexity does.

Summary

Style Doesn’t Need to Be Pure—Just Honest You don’t need to dress solely for yourself to have autonomy. You can dress for attention, admiration, flirtation, or your future self. The lie isn’t that we dress for others—it’s pretending we never do. Let’s drop the pretense and embrace the whole picture: style is layered, performative, and powerful. Just like us.