Aren't trends quite bizarre if you think about it? Imagine doing something or wearing something because somewhere out there someone decide that this should be the in-thing at the moment.
It is with horror that I'm seeing 80's trends rearing they're ugly heads again, like some old troll peeking out from underneath a dark bridge in a scary part of town. Flat, pointy suede boots, some so sharp that they might be used to stab somebody with, massive shoulder pads and, the absolute worst of all, those hideous, huge glasses that ought to be dead and buried back in the 80's. In fact, I'd come to the funeral, if for nothing else than to assure myself that they are really, truly gone.
Those glasses will forever remind of a scene from the movie Halloween where Michael Myers has just murdered someone who was wearing glasses like that, and is now himself donning those gorgeous things on top of a white sheet.
The past should never be revisited if it was horrible and tasteless to begin with. Perhaps though, my aversion towards the 80's fashion is because I can remember wearing some it, and once I have embraced and outgrown a trend, I can't get interested in it again.
Almost worse perhaps, are when activities become trendy. Doing something because you genuinely enjoy it is marvellous. Doing something simply because it is what everybody else is doing is not. Take golf for example. Playing golf because golf is associated with a certain socio-economic status is pathetic, and I don't care how much people claim to love golf because it's so much fun, the fact remains that some people play it because it still has that fancy label attached to it.
I'd be lying if I claimed never to have given into trends. Something that may appear horribly ugly when you first lay eyes on it will start to look less and less unappealing as time goes on. Suddenly you're used to seeing it and eventually, in some cases, you may even start to like it. I can honestly say though, that I've never given into doing certain things just because that's what was expected of me. For example, I never went out binge drinking as a teenager just because that's what the 'cool' kids were doing. I deliberately avoided using current slang expressions because I hated sounding like a brainless clone with no mind of her own. I didn't want to sound like everybody else because then I wouldn't be sounding like me. I wouldn't be true to myself, that I did know, despite my immaturity and lack of confidence.
Also, I never got the whole chewing gum thing and how that's supposed to make you look cool, chewing on a large piece of glob with a rubbery, sickening consistency. I only chew gum during take off and landing, and perhaps when I suspect that my breath is bad. I want to reach out and punch someone if I'm forced to listen to the sound of chewing gum being hysterically mangled between somebody's teeth. It sounds revolting and looks terrible.
Perhaps the saddest trend of all, at least in this cradle of conformity that I'm currently living in, is cynicism. In order to be accepted and to avoid ridicule, one should act as flippant and cynical as possible, and poke fun at anything even remotely sentimental. It's 'cool' to be sarcastic and act like you're totally unimpressed with everything and everyone.
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