Grandma Sweaters and Other Ugly Stuff That I Like to Wear

So, today at work I was really cold and I borrowed a sweater from the Women's department. The sweater looked fine when I put it on, so I went about my work, but the next time I saw myself in the mirror I realized that this particular sweater reminded me of something that my grandma might have worn. For some reason, this didn't put me off much and I realized that its because Grandma-wear is apparently en vogue these days. The trick is that only the young can get away with looking like a grandma. Once you reach a certain age, wearing grandma clothing makes you look like an old lady, at which point, the aging men and women of our society try desperately to look younger than they are.
The funny thing about most of this stuff is that it's really kind of ugly, another interesting thing about clothing. We seek individuality by looking distinctive, even if the distinctiveness involves something that others would consider "ugly". I do it myself all the time. I have this habit to head straight for clearance racks, find the ugliest thing possible, and try it on. I have this weird attitude that I can pull off anything, even if it's crazy and/or ugly. This is probably how I ended up with red plaid skinny jeans, shirts with crazy ruffles, and several pairs of brightly colored tights. I also tend to put really weird outfits together, again, telling myself that I can pull it off. I get really creative when I have next to no clean clothes and start pairing things together. I've found that I'm not a naturally outgoing person, but the clothing that I wear forces me to be outgoing. It's times like these when I like to think of a little something that Mark Twain once (allegedly) said: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society". Amen, Mark Twain, Amen.