As someone who is a late bloomer when it comes to shopping, I have learned quite a lot about how fashion trends run in my most recent years of life. Whatever piece of clothing that strikes up the most positive attention and what people tend to wear and advertise the most on social media platforms such as Instagram, seems to be the thing making headlines as the forerunner of the latest trends.

When I think of fashion, I usually think of my aunt. As someone who has studied Fashion Design in college, my aunt has an enormous amount of expertise when it comes to fashion. Thankfully as a late bloomer, having her critique me on what's the right thing to wear, helped me learn more about fashion, in general. Although fashion is largely based on the hottest and latest trends surfacing across the web, I realized that it also comes down to how someone views what piece of clothing best represents them. For some people, it may be the pair of jeans they were able to fit in since high school or the prom-dress-turned evening gown that they wear to fancy night outs with their friends and family. There seems to be no "right" answer to fashion.

I remember the days before quarantine existed, when I would stroll around the malls with my aunt or a friend. When I was shopping at that time, I remember paying more attention to what style is the best fit for me, as opposed to what is more popular in the stores at the moment. Therefore, led to my avant garde wardrobe of mismatches of clothing here and there, that wasn't necessarily within the trend of what "fashion" was supposed to mean at that time. Little did I know fashion would actually be something much more broader than that.

My aunt used to tell me that it is important to stand out a bit in the realm of fashion. Although she was someone who was heavily for following trends, she was also one who enjoyed adding small bits of unique nuances here and there to her outfits. Something about these small nuances stuck out to me. It was almost as if they were telling me that fashion doesn't necessarily have to be an "order." It can be more like someone's secret weapon to discovering themselves.

With that in mind, here are some things I've discovered about following clothing trends in 2021 aka the "second year of quarantine."

-Be bold with your look: Ever since quarantine started, I realized how the trend of clothes became more revealing. It felt almost as if this was a way of fashion designers "protesting" their way against the quarantine. Thankfully, being "bold" with one's look can mean many different things that can fit to one's standard of beauty. Rocking a pair of neon colored/designed flats with a halter back crop top is one way to go about this "bold" look.

-Be expressive with your clothing: I've figured out that the main reason people pay attention to their realm of what fashion means to them and what kinds of fashion they are attracted to, is to better represent themselves through fashion. Wearing something that represents you, and who you are, and not what someone is, becomes a huge confidence boost.

-Don't "dress to impress": Although we usually want to impress other people with our new articles of clothing, we can impress them in other ways besides clothing. I learned that clothing should be something that represents someone, rather than showing them off. It should be a description that tells other people more about you, rather than an indicator that you are just wearing the piece of clothing to show off.