Let’s Converse about White Converse
To be, or not to be basic. That is the question. Lemme simplify things for you, do you or do you not own a pair of white converse? One of my fellow bloggers Lisa Shaffer predicts that chances are yes, you do and so do all of your friends. And I bet that Lisa is probably right.
Now before you start taking offense, I never said there was anything wrong with being basic. I mean sure there might be a negative perception around the concept basicness, but the point I’m trying to get at is, who really cares? If fitting in with the latest trends makes you genuinely happy, then go for it. And if fitting in with the basics just doesn’t feel right, then don’t! Be unique, nobody is going to hold you back. You can choose to be basic or to not be basic, but whatever you choose should make you happy. Don’t let who you are become a socially construct concept by the opinion of others. White converse may seem like such a trivial example of basicness, but it speaks volumes. As a society we need to care less about the opinions of others because people will judge you if you wear the damn shoes or not so do what you want and screw anyone who tells you otherwise.
Let’s start things off with a brief little run-through of the evolution of the Converse. The shoe company been around for over a century now: producing high top, low top, red, and any shoe you can possibly imagine. For a while the black converse was the iconic fashion statement for grunge and anxiety teens, however, in recent years a new hot commodity has topped the charts. In case you’ve been living under a rock and unaware of the latest ~and greatest~ fashion trend among teens, it is the white converse.
There has been an absolute surge of white converse like never before. These white sneakers have become so popular that even the New York times went as far as referring to them as a global symbol of American pop culture. Last year, the Converse company was selling around 270,000 pairs of shoes a day, 365 days a year, with white converse as the main contributing factor to the spike in sales revenue. Basically, the company was making BANK. These numbers not only reveal that the company was thriving financially, but also that the trending white converse has become a staple of the millennial’s wardrobe and basicness.
Let’s get the basics straight. What does it mean to be basic? Our society has evolved the concept of basicness to have this negative connotation to it. Once upon a time, basic referenced popular trends that became fundamentally common and ingrained within our society. However, this term has deviated from its positive connotation of hip and popular to be associated with an adverse meaning. Nowadays, people often defer to the word basic as a nasty commentary or an insult. The Urban dictionary goes as far to define basicness as the lack of characteristics that make someone interesting or simply worth devoting time and energy to (ouch, that was honestly brutal for me to even type). Although some people argue that there is some truth behind this definition, let’s keep in mind that nothing about the Urban Dictionary is official. Literally nothing. I mean common, the Urban Dictionary even defines itself as a place for teens with no life to whine and babble about things they know nothing about. I am only referencing the Urban Dictionary in the first place to address that, yes, there is a very strong negative connotation to basicness, but no, that does not mean it is necessarily true.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” — Everyone’s parents
Now I’m sure everyone has heard this quote from either their parents, grandparents, a teacher, or literally anyone older and wiser. We are told this time after time, yet people still continuously judgmental of others. In the case of white converse, people need to not automatically jump to conclusions and assume that if you wear white converse, or any of the latest fashion trends, that you are brander than a bran muffin. For all you know, someone might just genuinely love being trendy and basic AND have a baller personality at the same time. For this very reason, basic needs to be redefined in such a manner that does not adversely affect those who simply just like to be basic. If anything, we honestly need to need to be more appreciative for the people out there who like to be main stream because without them, being unique would mean nothing if it was the new basic.
I also believe like nearly everything in life, there is a lesson that can be learned from every experience. In the case of basicness, by testing out the waters you might realize more about yourself than you thought you would. As I previously mentioned, you might realize that keeping up with the popular main stream trends is your thing. On the other hand, you might realize that maybe you weren’t meant to fit in, but rather to stand out. From my own personal experience with white converse, I came to a similar realization about myself; fitting in kind of sucks.
Here’s a little history about me. I bought a pair of white converse I was a junior in high school, oh the glory days. The days where everyone is compulsively obsessed with the opinion of others and only those who dare being shunned break the mold. I was insecure and self-conscious like most girls my age. Everything I did was to fit in with the crowd and just get by without standing out as different or weird. Maybe your high school experience was a little different than mine, but at Glastonbury High there were unwritten rules of the road.
- You don’t eat in the left side of the cafeteria unless you are cool or an athlete
- You only walk in the C hallway if you are a freshman or a nobody
- You only park in the upper senior lot if your car is 5 years old or newer
Really stupid stuff. Stuff that you would think only happens in the movies like Mean Girls, but it actually happens in real life. Yet, I abided by these unwritten rules like they were law. I swear it came to the point where my life literally revolved around the perception of others.
When I saw that all of the popular kids started wearing white converse, I saw an opportunity to fit in. So I quickly ordered myself a pair. Knowing me, I probably amazon primed that shit. Because those three less days of shipment made all the difference, right? Yes, it was sad and pathetic but here I am, shamelessly admitting that I hopped on the bandwagon and bought myself a pair of the infamous white sneakers because that’s what all the cool kids were wearing. My intentions were not pure. I didn’t buy them because I needed a new pair of shoes and I certainly didn’t buy them for comfort — those flat rubber bottom soles do all sorts of damage to the arches of my feet. Instead, I aimlessly bought myself a pair of white sneakers because at the time, that’s what I thought it took to look cool.
It was a bad episode of peer pressure. It was me trying to fit in and to be liked out of the fear of getting made fun or for straying from the group. Kidshealth.org pretty much defines peer pressure exactly along those lines. I’m a big fan of this definition because I think it stresses the role of fear. People give into peer pressure out of a lack of self-confidence and the fear of the opinion of others. For me, white converse was the epitome of peer pressure. High school cultivated this judgmental environment and thoughts inside my head that if I didn’t have these white sneakers then I was irrelevant, and I feared this.
If there’s one thing that I learned from white converse it’s that succumbing to basicness and peer pressure in it of itself can be a learning experience. It took coming to college for me to realize this but fitting in honestly sucks. First of all, you think you’re fitting in, but you really never are. You’re still going to get judged even if you wear white converse or socially abide by all the unwritten rules. That’s just how life is. You need to devote your time towards gaining your own self confidence rather ataccpetance from others.
An article written by Annie Murphy Paul for the Scientific American magazine argues that peer pressure can actually be beneficial to individuals by helping to enhance learning and creativity. I have to say that from my personal experience with white converse high school I do agree with what Murphy is saying. However, of course peer pressure is very situational based. By any means I’m not saying that if your friend jumps off a bridge you should jump, too. There couldn’t be a more class example of peer pressure to prove my point that, yes, it is very situational based. It is up to an individual’s common knowledge to recognize whether the decision is acceptable or not to give into peer pressure. If it’s something such as innocently wearing the latest fashion trend, I say go for it. Test out the waters and maybe you’ll come to a realization yourself.
Of course I’m happy that this realization has finally hit me as a now independent 18-year-old women in college, but I still can’t help but only wish that it had only come a little earlier. Then, I would’ve spent less time worrying about what other people thought of me more time focusing on myself and truly embracing high school to the fullest.
I saw my chance to amend these feelings of cognitive dissonance when I returned home from school this past winter break to find my younger sister Kelly falling into the trap of peer pressure in high school. Lo and behold you can only imagine my reaction when I discover that Kelly had recently bought herself a fresh pair of…wait for it…white converse. Oh you can bet that,
“Omg Kelly you’re so basic”
“Wow classic high schooler move”
“So you think you’re cool now?”
were definitely some of the comments that came out of my mouth. But then things suddenly hit me. Number one, I was being an annoying, obnoxious sister, who thought for a second that being in college made me better her, and number two, our situations were olddly similar to each other. Kelly was a junior at high school when she got a pair of white converse, as was I. Kelly was shy and self-conscious, as was I. It was nearly history repeating itself, at the same high school cultivating an environment with the same unwritten rules and social pressures.
At first, I first I thought I was mad at Kelly for foolishly succumbing to the basics out of peer pressure just like I had, and it was my job to save her. I could be there to help her when nobody was there to help me realize that it’s pointless to obsess over the opinions of others. But then, I realized that this was Kelly’s experience, not mine. It isn’t my place to step in and make her own decisions for her. I succumbed to the white converse peer pressure, learned from it, and grew from it. I became a better and more confident person because of it, and maybe Kelly can do the same.
And with this, my perception totally changed. I began to think; this was good for Kelly. In fact, she should wear these basic shoes to experience it, go through the phase, become basic for a while, and then have her own realizations. Whether they are the same as mine or different, she will then create her own perception of herself and discover where she best fits; in or out. I guess this goes to show that it’s you can’t get through something without jumping through the hoop.
All in all, I’ve learned a lot from what many people may deem an “insignificant fashion trend.” First and foremost, I’ve learned that just because everyone is doing something, doesn’t mean that it’s cool. If anything, suddenly when everyone wears white converse or whatever the latest trend is, suddenly it’s not cool anymore. People go through all the effort to fit in when it’s only a matter of time before the next trend rolls around that you need to have to feel accepted again. We need to find acceptance within ourselves to truly appreciate and live life to the greatest extent.
To me, white converse has come to not only symbolizes to me basicness, peer pressure and insecurities, but also self-confidence at the same time. I’ve discovered a new sense of self-confidence and a way to live my life carefree of the judgment of others. I still wear my white converse with pride, but only they aren’t so white anymore. Now I wear my white converse because they serve a purpose to me as my dirty frat shoes. I wear them because I want to and because I don’t feel the need to disdainfully destroy another pair of shoes with party-sludge again.
