Who says that you need to dress up? Why can’t you just put on a hoodie, sweats and slip on some moccasins or sneakers? Society makes it so that the “perfect person” should dress up and wear the best shoes and have the best looking clothes. They should have their hair done all the time or have their makeup on. The thing is not everyone can go out and drop $500 on Gucci shoes or on a belt or buy $300 Yeezys. People can barely afford food or to pay their bills—how can they afford these expensive luxury clothes? Even your local stores at the mall like H&M, American Eagle, Adidas and etc. can add up and be kind of pricey.

What about the comfort of wearing jeans, a nice shirt, or a dress to school everyday? Some people love it and feel comfortable wearing those clothes all the time, but others can look and feel confident from wearing leggings, sweatpants and a hoodie to school everyday. When I asked senior Abby Hogan how she felt about dressing down her response was, “My whole week is leggings but [I use] different styles so I can jazz it up and still feel confident even if I’m just in leggings and a sweatshirt.”

Even if she is wearing leggings everyday she still feels comfortable and confident in doing so.

People also don’t need to have their hair done nicely or to have put on a layer of make up just to feel happy with how they look. Sure, it does feel nice to dress up every once in a while and go that extra mile but I’m lazy and I feel okay wearing sweatpants to school. What other people say about my style does not matter to me. When I asked senior Lauren Ferrajina how many times she dressed up to school she said, “Its mixed. I maybe dress up three times a month.”

Ferrajina said that it does not affect her self esteem. She said, “ I feel confident either dressed down or dressed up.”

She likes to look nice on some days and then to feel lazy and dressed down on other days. Dressing down saves time in the morning and gives you that extra five minutes to sleep in or that extra time to eat your breakfast.

Now there’s a saying that if a person is going to like you, then they should like you for who you are. If you’re a dress down, lazy-day kind of person then that should not matter to them. I asked Senior Baylor Bridges about how his clothing played a factor when he was trying to get his current girlfriend to like him. He answered, “If she doesn’t like me for who I am then it wouldn’t be worth trying.”

Baylor is saying that he felt that in this process he did not consider how he dressed as a factor of at all. That is the way it should be. The person you like should accept you for you, not for your clothes and your accessories.

Does dressing up affect how well I am or how smart I’m going to be in class that day? Some people may think that dressing nice affects their confidence and how they feel, but for most people it actually does not. I can be smart with or without a nice outfit on. I can have hundreds of friends or no friends, regardless of the outfits I wear. I can be in a bad or good mood no matter the style of clothing I’m wearing. Dressing down is a great thing because it’s more convenient, less expensive and it makes you feel more comfortable. So next time you spend an hour looking through your closet for the perfect outfit, just remember that it’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be.