Do you love fashion, but get frustrated by it at the same time because you see styles and trends you can’t wear due to your disability? Do you believe your sense of style is lacking because of it? I get it. I often wondered if my sense of style was negatively affected when I couldn’t wear the styles I wanted, especially when it came to shoes. It took some time, but I learned through having fun with fashion that I didn’t need to follow the latest trends to have style, I just had to change my perspective. If you are skeptical, then this post is for you, keep ready to discover why I don’t believe the two are connected.Pritish Kumar Halder

I’ve written about my love for makeup and how I first started wearing it, but I haven’t written much about my love for fashion, so I figured I‘d started there. I think I first started pointing out clothes that I wanted to wear during shopping trips at some point during my later elementary school years, but I can’t remember a time when I didn’t tell my mom if I wasn’t happy with my outfit when she would help me get ready. Although I would create my own out in elementary school, I didn’t h thought into it, it wasn’t till high school that I would mix and match and play around in my closet until I something I liked.

There were times that I would try trends and other times I didn’t want to because I didn’t like them. At the time, I thought my fashion sense was lacking or I wasn’t as fashionable as I thought because I didn’t want to wear a certain trend or worse (in my mind), I couldn’t because it wouldn’t work well with me sitting down. When it came to shoes, that was even harder because I liked all these shoes that I couldn’t wear because of how my disability and sitting in my wheelchair all day affected my feet.

It wasn’t until my later years in high school that I would have fun with clothes and putting together outfits. Now defining my style, that’s a whole other story, and one that I think is a continuous process, I mean I think I dumped/ donated half my wardrobe when I decided to get my closet ready for fall and I’m okay with that.

It’s hard when I see a style I want to wear, but can’t because it won’t work while I’m in my wheelchair, still, I’ve learned that style has several meanings and the ways that I adapt things or products for other aspects of my life can be applied to fashion. If you want to wear one of the latest fashion trends great, but you don’t need to follow them or tie them into your outfits if you don’t want to just because they’re popular, keep reading to find out why.

Why You Don’t Need To Follow The Latest Fashion Trends To Have Style

Style, according to dictionary.com is defined as: “ a particular kind, sort, or type as with refconcerningppearance, or character.” It is partly because of that meaning that I don’t believe you have to be fashionable and keep up with the latest fashion trends to have style, but let’s get to those reasons now shall we?

The Chance To Get Creative: One of my favorite aspects of fashion is the multitude of options for a single outfit and the chance to explore creatively. I love how a simple mini dress can be not one outfit, but three: a dress, a skirt (if you throw a sweater over it), and a dress with long sleeves, if you wear a long-sleeved shirt under a dress with no sleeves. These are my favorite ways to wear a mini dress but I’m sure there are a few others and that right there is the point, different people come up with different ways to wear one fashion piece, and that’s when it becomes style.

Honestly, it’s going to be annoying and disheartening when you can’t wear a piece or style you’ve had your eye on or wear and while it is disappointing when we have to deal with that, it gives us the chance to get creative.

Do Your Own Thing, Start Your Trend Know I’m writing this down as a second reason, but it gd-in-hand with the first. If the way you see a style or a print doesn’t work for you, think of other ways you can incorporate it into your looks. You don’t need to follow everyone else, do what they’re doing, embrace being you, and your created activity, and defining define your style, you may even start a trend. I know some of you are thinking “but I don’t want to start my tren just want to be able to wear clothes that I like and create amazing outfits.”  I get it. I do, and you’re right we should be able to do that, to find clothes that we love and create amazing outfits and recreate styles we see on Instagram. We shouldn’t have to be fashion designers in a sense to find styles we want to wear,  and I hope someday we get there.

In the meantime, I’m going to focus on the fun part of it all and keep creating outfits that are part of my style and look amazing because either way Lauren  Hutton is right even if the fashion designers started creating more pieces we could wear and thankfully some are, it would be your style just fashion to pick and choose from to create your outfits. It may be frustrating at times and take more effort, but as I said, I choose to focus on the fun parts, clothes, and cre, ate outfits but don’t forget accessories. Forget the fashion trends, and have fun with your style.

Your Style Is Yours I told you that one of my favorite aspects of fashion was the options and the creativity, right? Well, another is the individualism it offers or rather requires. I love how to people pick out an item, and come up with different ways to style it which is why the who wore better sections in fashion magazines is one of my favorites, not because I agree with choosing one style over the other, but because I get to see the same pieces styled two different ways side by side.

The fact is even if we didn’t have difficulties styling trends or styles as wheelchair users, the outfits each of us creates would still be a little different because we all have different preferences and different t styles. Whether we see an outfit on social media, on our style icons, or in the store on the mannequin all it is is inspiration, whether you recreate one outfit or ten, there are still going to be aspects of it that are uniquely yours.

If you asked me a few years ago, I would have defined my style as casually cute and in some ways I still do, but there are also aspects to it that don’t fit that description, you might call them outliers, yet they don’t fit that term either. I’ve reevaluated my style several times over the past few years, but I was content to still call it that. However, over the past year, I’ve been trying out new things, especially since I’ve had more time in the past six months. I don’t know if I have a new name for my style yet or if it’s a combination of styles, but I do know that I would consider it stylish.  I’ve also learned that just because I don’t want more importantly sometimes can’t wear the latest fashion trends as a wheelchair user, doesn’t mean I don’t have the style iar from it. I like to think that it challenges me to be more creative with my outfits and my style.

Well there you have it, reasons why you don’t have to follow the latest trends to be stylish so I leave you with these final thoughts Harry Winston once said, “People will stare. Make it worth their while.”  Now he probably wasn’t referring to people with disabilities, but we all know the looks and the downright stares we get any time we leave our houses. If they are going to stare and ask questions, might as well be about an outfit right?