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The Daily Tar Heel
Dress Code

Brand names don't make you fashionable

We all remember the days where showing up to school in your Hollister Co. T-shirt and rainbows solidified your dominant position in the social hierarchy of middle school. 

As time went on the clothes that are expected of you to wear became a little more subtle than the brand name being stamped upon your chest, but does wearing clothes that flaunt the designer really make you fashionable at all?

It depends. There are unavoidable circumstances where some very attractive pieces of clothing happen to have the designer's name or logo on them and you just can't help but give in to purchasing the over priced pair of shoes, or purse, or really whatever it may be.

However, if you're genuinely buying the product to flaunt the fact that you can, you're doing nothing for your personal style and it does not mean that you are the most stylish person in the room, even if you feel like it because you spent $400 on a bag that says someone else's name on it.

The way I like to look at it is if the thing you're buying can be worn as a staple piece and will be worn almost the amount of times as the amount of money you're spending on it, go for it.

But you do not seeing the most respected bloggers, fashion editors or even socialites walking around with the Michael Kors logo plastered on everything they own just to prove to the public that they can afford it.

This method of styling is materialistic and frankly quite outdated.

Like I said, in some cases, yes, this is okay and a logo might not give that impression right away. 

If you're going to spend big money on something that you assume is pushing your personal style in a better direction, make sure it's unique and exemplifies the designer's style and characteristics, rather than just their name. 

About 99 percent of the time when you look at the trend setters and fashion moguls, you have no clue what designer they're wearing. You do not see the large logo of a designer on the cover of Vogue or even anywhere inside the magazine, unless the shoot or styling is meant to convey a message and be a little more dramatic than usual.

If you're buying a purse, wallet, or pair of shoes, the plastering of the logo tends to be a little subtler and it does not look like you purchased those things just because the name can lead one to guess the price.

Be wise with your investments and make sure the big name designer pieces you are buying truly are unique and cultivate a personal brand unlike anyone else. 

Logos just simply do not foster personal style, as hard as that is to believe.

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