Fit check time! I went around the school asking students and staff about their thoughts on fashion trends and from the feedback I got, I can claim that William Henry Harrison Highschool has a creative, non-conforming, mixing pot of trends. Harrison has a mix of alternative, clean girl, athletic and so many more styles and trends. I’ll be going in on what some of the students and staff had to say and how it correlates with my claim of Harrison being a mixing pot of creative trends.
When we look at all of the styles at Harrison, I see a bunch of people finding different trends all over the internet. Whether the inspiration comes from music, tv, or styles found on Pinterest, it is all unique to the individual instead of the same copy and paste crowd that you would see at a private school.
For example, Mr. Coffman often wears a suit and a slick tie with good dress shoes. What is the story behind his daily formal appearance? Mr. Coffman talks about how he follows his trends based on the people he sees on tv. When interviewing Mr. Coffman, he stated that, “Listening to the students talk, I can kind of keep up with trends, as well as looking at people on tv.” While he gets his trends from tv, another person finds that his trends are based on singers, Elliot Steinmann says, “Musicians like Nirvana and Harrison Gordon, is who I look for in outfits, I guess”. Finding outfits through musicians is a pretty clever way to find your own unique style and people could recognize who your favorite artist could be based on your outfits alone. This goes into my claim on how there are different creative styles seen both with the staff and students. Each person finds their own unique style in all kinds of places.
When it comes to trends in high school, you would think people would try to conform and everyone would look and act the same for the sake of popularity. Not at Harrison! At Harrison there is this mix of style where no one is conforming, and everyone is being their true self. Josh Adelsberger claimed that “If I see something I like and other people don’t like it, I will still buy it and wear it” What a trend setter, doing what you want and not caring about the norm, so brave! On the more alternative side, Liv Carter has a similar response “I don’t follow trends, so I don’t need to balance them. I’m unique to myself and my own style and interests. I don’t care what people think about me” She is bold in her answer, being able to stay true to herself without caring what others think about her clothes. Making her another true trend setter, she creates the path, and she doesn’t follow it!
Another student at Harrison who follows his own style, not caring about conformity, is Elliot Steinmann, he says, “I wear what I like, why should I change myself for others?” Truly beautiful words coming from Elliot, changing your style that represents you is a massive take on your mental health. Fashion should be expressive not repressive. It seems that the majority of girls and guys at Harrison don’t succumb to the pressure of fitting in, instead Harrison students make their own path, giving everyone a taste of their own style.
Even if Harrison is a mixing pot of trends, what is the majority of trends that we see? Often, we see girls wearing comfortable sweatpants or ripped jeans with oversized hoodies. Comfort obviously comes first while still having a slick style. For guys we tend to see them wearing branded shoes such as Nike and Adidas with sweatpants and branded shirts. These guys really like their brands.
On the flip side the teachers also have a unique style. The male teachers tend to wear more Harrison merch and dress pants but can spruce it up like Mr. Coffman. Female teachers are almost the opposite of the male staff, for example Mrs. Cummings is always wearing comfortable sweaters and a ton of accessories. She explained, “I stay pretty classic with staple pieces, but change it up with accessories, layered pieces, or inexpensive items that tend to come and go with changing trends.” Mrs. Cummings elaborated on this by stating, “I also love big earrings & jewelry; they can help any outfit look elevated!” Even teachers have a mixing pot of style, we can never exactly sum up what the majority wears because of how different we all are! We set the trends at Harrison.
In conclusion, Harrison is a place where we don’t just stick to the status quo. Here at Harrison, we are a giant pile of non-conforming and creative mix of trends. We have Y2k, goth, Hippie, athletic wear, and so much more. We pave our own way and ignore conformity as if it never existed. Now that is
a true fit check.
