"This is how I want to dress, but the problem is money"

People who say this irritates me quite a bit as someone who has been alternative for most of his life at this point.

Being alternative has recently become trendy online, and the rise of “SHEIN alts” has taken place, which sucks. I see many discussion posts on TikTok asking “How can I dress alternative? And don’t say thrifting or DIY.” and almost everyone in the comments recommends SHEIN. And thankfully, there are people who make this point, that thrifting and DIY are fundamental parts of being alternative. 

I feel like the real principles of certain subcultures are being lost to make way for these new people. Not understanding why being alternative means going against fast fashion, and not being involved in politics when basically every single alternative subculture stands for something political, especially punk, goth, and emo (as in emotional hardcore).

This is kind of a personal rant, but I used to definitely be the “emo” one of my friend group, but it has taken me so long to grow an alternative wardrobe (I thrift everything or buy it used online) and I finally got my first pair of authentic Tripp pants. Just for my friend to say that people who go to her school are “actually emo”… are we for real? It’s so dramatic on my part, of course, but being emo has been such a big part of my identity for so long that I feel like I’ve lost it. 

I have curly hair and I don’t like to straighten it much because I love my curls and they’re healing from the last time I bleached them. It just sucks because my lack of an emo fringe doesn’t make me emo enough, or the fact that I mainly wear jeans and a band shirt when I go out rather than dressing “emo” (essentially third-wave emo with the crazy over-accessorized with Kandi look).

My point is that it takes time to build an alternative wardrobe. Please stop buying clothes off of SHEIN, especially the ones that look DIY’d, like premade battle jackets or crust pants or things with safety pins…