3-30-25 MY INSPO: devolution

 my mom was recently curious about what i'm writing in my blog. when i sent her the link, she responded that her english regressed. that, and last week's embarrassing bow tie selfie inspired me into devolution of my personal style. 

meet the girl who wanted to do the blog first, the one who used ok je ok!, croatian's teen magazine, as the holy bible. i decided to give her her flowers. this girl had more bravery in her style. mind you - these fits were worn proudly in my incredibly small and rural town growing up. also as a treat to myself, i choose some looks and wanted to see how i could reference them today. i hope you have a great laugh as much as i did while taking a trip down memory lane.

fall 2012. i was mid 8th grade, developing the hardest crushes and fangirling heavily over one direction. for the sake of people who i still love - i cropped out the old friends from this group photo. many of these people now have families and lives of their own. 

i'm wearing a chunky long sweater layered over grey (?) skinny (?) jeans and iconique off brand black uggs. i wore these out so much the sole is barely existing. the only on-brand shoes we had were converse and vans at the time (because they were gifts) - my timberland boots and uggs - both which i wore for years religiously - were off brand. 

we relied on our aunt's justice hauls over the summer for new clothes, and only got quarterly mall trips. the frugality of fashion in our household forced us to cherish secondhand and vintage items from family members, to save money and purchase iconic statement and signature pieces when we got the chance to go to the mall, and to appreciate the art of diy.

you don't know this yet, but once i start high school - my hair styles become - possibly more questionable - than my outfit choices.

 fall 2013. freshly got into high school. freshly cut some bangs and forced them into an aggressive side part. was this rebellion after my mom didn't let me have emo hair? 

incredibly wiry glasses which i shortly retired and swapped for the thicker geeky frames (god bless). wearing a justice sweatshirt (peace signs were such a motif - thank you preteen clothing stores. we mourn you and your legacy), some skinny jeans i presume, and you can't see it in the photo - but i believe i might be wearing a pair of bright blue vans to match the top. what a genius i was. take notice of the photo filter - it's got that subtle 3d to it. that's how you know i was spending my days heavily on tumblr (and weheartit). 

fall 2014. sophomore year. the hair gets weirder. this summer i chop my hair super short after watching and reading the fault in our stars and people begin to tell me i look like shailene woodley aka hazel grace. what compelled me to chop off the hair to resemble a fictional cancer patient?! in all honesty, i loved having uber short hair so much. i felt so good and weightless. the problem was i planned to grow it out - and instead of hazel grace, i became more of a she/her john  lennon. 

here i'm with my old neighbor on a walk with out parents. i'm wearing a batman t shirt (i have never seen a batman movie at this time - even now i can only remember watching the one with robert pattinson). such an era - skinny jeans, paint splatter vans, and - barely visible - my trusty owl backpack i bought over that summer. it was thee bag. i switched over to the geeky glasses around this time. the nerdy tumblr phase began. 

her posture is still just as bad. summer 2015.  i am doing my best to outgrow whatever monstrous mullet hazel grace turned into. 

i'm wearing my mom's bright pink top and some indigo skinny pants. bold bright colors - huh? i ended up tossing these pants years later because they were my uniform at my first job working at an ice cream place. they smelled like dishwasher and i hated that job so i got rid of anything reminding me of this time.

this is the time i wanted to become an instagram fashion blogger. y'all think this post would make numbers?

we end the journey in 2016 - i am a junior in high school and i was living the best time. i was very addicted to buzzfeed during this time. peep my phone case - why were we all obsessed with retro vans at this time?

i wore these overalls religiously, and i think the white shirt was something my mom gave me. at this point in time i heavily relied on secondhand clothes and adored anything that came my way. i never discriminated. if it fit - it was mine.

let's keep the fun times rolling - i chose a few more old photos and decided to see how i can translate last decade's looks into my own closet now and here:

my original look is by far so much better than anything i could find in my closet today. for some back story: i was obsessed with galaxy leggings, but my mom told me i wouldn't look good, so instead she agreed we find some wider pants but just as colorful as galaxy ones. i wore these pants so much they ended up ripping at the leg and were unsalvageable. i'm wearing low rise purple converse and a pink tank.

i can only try to recreate it using a red tank and pink wide pants. this was a field trip look from 8th grade and i had some red sunglasses too. 

this was one of my favorite ever looks - in my whole lifetime.

the swag cannot be recreated.

here i am at the movies before watching this is us - my fave band member was louis. i bought ultra red pants (pictured here) because of him, i wore sailor themed items weekly in 8th grade and freshman year. i would love to find cute red pants like the ones i had - but for now these wide leg forever 21 copper ones will do. the t shirts are super similar though!

no comment on the aggressive side part bang situation.

ok miss grunge. i was totally listening to sweater weather by the neighbourhood here. this sweater was another delivery from the far america. i'm wearing a tattoo choker and i think i might also have a pendulum necklace too. i can recreate this look two ways - i can copy the color with my ralph lauren sweater - or the design of the sweater with the white hole-y sweater. 

the bad case of stripes never left me. neither did these overalls. i diy-ed a ton of patches and pins on this jean jacket i'm posing with. i no longer have any overalls, but i can use the same striped t shirt with some distressed jeans and my mom's old jean jacket from yugoslavia. is double denim still taboo?

i hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my teenage years. i'm such a sucker for nostalgia, it is embarrassing. but i guess the most authentic reference could only be a reference of my own self.