Trory Finley
Ms. Griswold
ENG101
August 15, 2010
Coming to an Awareness of Fashion
I was never one to particularly focus on my daily attire, including my own, in my
younger years. In my pre-teen years my shoe collection could easily have been divided by play
shoes and school shoes, as well as school clothes and play clothes. Matching and coordinating
was unnecessary, doesn’t follow making them irrelevant and non-existent.
It wasn’t until middle school that I paid the slightest attention to the brands some of my
peers where wearing, only because I recognized a few names from music videos. It wasn’t until
trying to get the attention of a girl in my sixth grade class that I grew the desire to learn
fundamentals to compiling effective outfits. I began building a wardrobe, seeing gradual
improvement and enjoying the results.
One day my father disagreed with me about wearing a recently bought pa pair of shoes to
the grocery store, suggesting a more contemporary, everyday look. He told me,” Chris,
everywhere you go ‘aint no fashion show.” I suddenly realized how strongly I disagreed. From
my perspective, everywhere you go is a form of a fashion show, with the exception of
nudist camps. Although not in the sense of competition, I respect the language of dressing as a
form of self expression.
The way I see it, the outfit is the absolute first impression on anyone you come in
contact with, giving them clues to your personality without your speaking a word. It wasn’t until
I was in high school and I worked for an internship with a T-shirt based clothing line known as
Fli Pelican Co. that I got my first insight in the industry where I found my passion. After various
road trips to St. Louis and Memphis, coupled with multiple events in the Metro Atlanta area, I
got to see how far I could take this dream.
This couldn’t have come at a better time of my life, due to me gaining local
success from comedy videos I did for my...