Standing Out - Topic of the day 7/18/25
It seems there's as many people want to stand out by dressing as there are people that don't - how do you feel about this? Are there specific reasons why one would or would not want to stand out? How do you address any potential negativity that comes as a result? If you've shared your opinion on this before, consider sharing your wisdom again for the benefit for those that haven't. :)
17 Replies
My reason for dressing to stand out:
I love attention:gigachad:
once again parroting @will
but also i really like cool clothes and accessories and i want people to be confronted by the idea that they can dress however they want
it’s not always all compliments and positivity but i have one life and trying to censor myself or otherwise conform to expectations i don’t give a shit about sucks; i could be sad and try to blend in or i could put that shit on
I wouldn’t necessarily say I dress to standout, rather I dress in the stuff I want to but wearing flares and cowboy hats makes it quite hard not to stand out in northern england lol. 95% of the time i’ve had no issues whatsoever - the occasional funny luck or a giggle here and there but most people simply either don’t notice or don’t care. i remember one old bloke who seemed like he’d be incredibly judgemental tell me he’d seen me around and thought the fact I dressed the way I want to was really cool.
that said, standing out has put me in a few uncomfortable situations. i remember one time I was walking down the main street past mcdonald’s and a drunk woman try to grab my shoulder so she could steal my hat and all her mates egging her on which really sucked. similar thing with a big group of drunk guys follow me and my mates shouting abuse at us as we all stand out a bit.
with that said, I’d far rather dress how I want than how others think I should
gotta lead with: if 'standing out' in clothes causes you harm/potential harm in your situation (ex. gender affirming clothing) then weigh your options and do what you feel is right
otherwise, wear what you want and-
from what I gather, the fear of standing out is largely internal, based on others' potential reactions and potential rejection (aside from https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1395797265515417743/1395810050819493908). if you like what you wear unabashedly, people will generally either accept it or show themselves to not be worth your time (a win-win)
I wear what I like and if I stand out, that’s great because I also love attention
After standing out by wearing really ill-fitting clothes for a long time, I would like to blend in by wearing good normal stuff for a while
I think I enjoy standing out. Todays very whimsical fit got me plenty of odd but not neccessarily negative looks, and I think I enjoy slightly irritating ppl in that way and to interrupt their usual day to day
I think a beautiful thing about fashion centers like NYC is that you can basically wear anything without feeling out of place
I used to want to dress to stand out, because I had a punk ethos in HS and college, but now I just wanna be left TF alone
But, being in Iowa, it's sometimes hard to not stick out like a sore thumb, especially when the colleges aren't in session
Especially if I go back to my hometown, much less my home county
This comment reminded me of this picture, though possibly not the exact point you're making
I’m with twig on this one, I could proselytize til the cows come home about this subject but an honest and base answer would just be that I like being seen
The trick to avoiding people trying to take the hat is get really good at punching while wearing the hat, or get really good at running while wearing the hat (and boots) :xd:
Definitely a skill worth having, to be fair on that occasion they’d stopped before I’d clocked what was happening and I then learnt to not wear it around drunk folks where possible
being seen rules
You’re a musician, this is gonna be difficult LOL
Touché
To be fair I don’t play enough gigs for it to be an issue as it stands (😭 )