Thoughts After Practice

So I was walking to my car after track practice tonight. I was in my practice attire: shorts, t-shirt, pony-tail, sweaty-face, running shoes, stinky-smell, and my compression sleeves. To me, this is perfectly normal. I wear this pretty much every day (but don't worry, we have a washing machine at home, so it's all clean:). But for outsiders looking at me, I was far from normal looking. There in the parking lot were a couple of my friends. They had just finished tennis, and were heading to their cars.

Across the lot, I yelled, "Hey guys! How's it going?" But before I could even finish my next line of conversation, one interjected. "What are you wearing? What are those things on your legs?"

"The latest fashion fad," I replied with a smile.

Then I explained to her- still somewhat yelling to transfer the sound waves down the never-ending KPL - that they were compression sleeves to help with my shin splints. Then I went on with my original line of conversation (that which got cut off by the question). I can't remember, it was something about her boyfriend. But that's beside the point. During the rest of the walk to my car, I was thinking about her question. It never occured to me that, "Ya, these sleeves are kind of weird looking", especially if you don't know what they are to appreciate their worth. Seeing as my mind had nothing better to think about, (haha), it went off on a tangent about fashion fads.

What makes this topic interesting is what my friends exemplified through this trivial encounter: fashion trends are subject to opinion. What one person or group deems "tight" may be screaming for a ticket from the fashion police. On a much larger scale, this holds true an the global arena. Let me explain.

I am reminded of one specific example. The cultures in contrast: the United States and China. A few weeks back, my Chinese teacher was telling us about the importance of wearing the right color clothing to certain events when you live in China. She said you are to wear red to weddings and black to funerals. Wearing red to a funeral is like saying you are happy that the person died. (Red is an auspicious color in China, the hue that is celebrate with joy and luck.) On the flip side, it is custom to wear white at weddings and black at funerals.

Another example pops into my head. But this example represents a comparison. The cultures in comparison: the United States and Sweden. Just last Saturday my family and I were in Washington D.C. We traveled the famous M Street where nearly every big name store can be found. My mom and I only went into one store: H&M. It was my first time ever to shop there. I had heard of it before. My friend, a frequent H&M shopper, said they have trendy clothes at a fraction of the normal price. That had me excited. When I entered the store, my expectations were exceeded.

Over an hour later, I headed to the front counter to make my purchases. What I soon found out took me by surprise. My mom asked the cashier what H and M stood for. The cashier said something, but I can't remember. I did remember this: H&M is a Swedish clothing company. I came to U.S. just a couple years ago. After thinking about this now, that means I share common fashion taste with the Swedish. Both cultures like the same kinds of clothing styles. There are teens here in America and teens over in Europe sporting the same look. Sweet!

Maybe I'm thinking way into this. (Like I said earlier, what else did I have to think about on my way home from practice?) Nevertheless, these are my thoughts. And I guarantee, when I wear my new H&M clothes, these are the thoughts that will entertain my mind once again. Fashion...who said it was just a superficial commodity?