When it comes to style what story will you tell?

Why do people love style? Why do they wear a street style motif over a shirt and tie? The short answer—because they feel like it. But the real question is: why do we choose certain clothes to wear, and why do others choose a differently? When I was in college in my senior year, around 2006, I had a thing for Miami Vice, for how Don Johnson was wearing those pastel colors.

Now, you remember that 2006 was 16 years after the show ended and for some people. I looked ridiculous wearing white pants, an orange shirt, and a white blazer that I bought at a women’s section of my Burlington’s Coat Factory—it was $9.99, so sue me! So, I got this blazer—actually, I got four (white, orange, green, and pink). I changed the buttons to look “manly,” and nobody was wiser to call me out on my “cross-dressing” choice. I looked good! Call it “alternative clothing,” my alternative was wearing women’s blazers.

I told you this story because fashion and style is about what makes you happy. Fashion is about enjoying the clothes you wear, whether you want to wear Victorian dresses or are into grunge outfits. The key is always to be true to yourself. To be true your taste, to your fashion.

Just like eating or watching movies. If you like eating Chinese most of the time and watching romantic comedies, knock yourself out. Suppose horror movies and pizza are your things; more power to you. Fashion is about enjoying yourself with what you bought. Clothes never judge you. They will never ask why you are still single. Clothes are there to make you feel good, and if you like to wear a suit and tie while you are walking your dog at nighttime, why not? Please do not go out naked because the police will have a problem. Not the fashion police, the real police.

We wear clothes of a certain style because of how amazing it makes us feel every time we go out. My 87-year-old grandmother still puts lipstick on every time she goes out. She wears a matching purse, matching hat, and matching shoes. If she must go to more places during her day, she goes home, changes her clothes, and continues her journey to where she needs to go.

Talk about “street style.” What does her style have to do with a guy who wears a white shirt, black shorts, and slippers? Or the guy who is obsessed with grunge fashion? Or the punk rocker into goth? They all are happy with what they wear.

When you talk about a passion for your outfits, you are not only talking about wearing an Armani suit and Gucci glasses but also about putting on what you like. Because if you are happy with how you look and feel, who cares what people say. Take a 12-year-old kid who has no idea that his or her teenage clothes are screaming: Style! Or 25-year-old whose grunge outfits have taken the neighborhood by storm. So, when it comes to fashion, is it a right way and a wrong way to wear clothes? Or is it just the power of imagination?

Fashion is life. What do you feel when you are inside a vintage men’s clothing store, and you think that you went back in time? When you see something that hasn’t been worn since the 1920s. What do you think of the 1920s fashion or even 1950s fashion, the vintage clothing, the story they tell through the fabric, color, and imagination? They key to fashion is finding your style. Finding what make you… well you; and style, fashion, trend color will always play a factor in what you will wear. What story will you tell?