Alternative Fashion – Life Out on the Fringe

Have you ever flipped through the popular fashion magazines and wondered where in the world these designers are getting their ideas? Everyone from celebrities to teenage kids is wearing the same tired boring styles that are handed down to them from the so-called high fashion runways. Many people are seeking fashion ideas and inspiration from designers that are more in tune with the way that they like to live their lives. If you are a firm believer that art imitates life, and are looking for fashion that echoes this sentiment, you are searching for the alternative fashion movement.
If you’ve never heard of alternative fashion before, you should know that it means a lot more than just wearing something other than what’s offered to you. Alternative fashion is a state of mind that chooses to challenge the styles of society instead of becoming a victim of them. The people who choose to design, sell and wear alternative clothes are those that feel that more than being a way to cover your body, fashion is a way to express the person that you are inside, and the person that you want to be. Sometimes alternative fashion takes its inspiration from music and sometimes it takes its inspiration from a subculture that very few people know about.
If you are just starting to learn about alternative fashion, but you’ve grown up loving punk or emo music, than you should know that you probably already engage in wearing some alternative fashion. Goth styles, emo styles, industrial and hip hop styles are all examples of alternative style that’s been influenced by a certain genre of music. While these styles are usually pretty over the top, they are almost always designed more to make a statement and to emulate the music than to be practical and comfortable. Most people that wear alternative fashion know that it can be a huge commitment to dress that way every day.
Although hip hop may be the exception to the rule, as it has become so popular that it is almost mainstream, many of the other alternative fashion styles are considered to be really out there and not accepted by society. If you’ve ever seen a group of goth kids walking around in the mall, or a bunch of punk kids out at the bar, you know that they are interested in confronting the opinions that people have about them. They don’t want you to like what they wear. They want you to see it as a statement about what they think is important in life.