How many time have you been either walking around or scrolling on the internet and admiring someone’s outfit? Probably a good amount. Now, how many times have you been doing the same thing, but scolding other people’s outfit choices and remarking on how ugly the clothing is? Probably about the same amount as admiring it.

I’ve definitely done that, whether I am conscious that I am doing it or not. But lately I’ve come to the realization of just how horrible that is. Shows like Fashion Police and the tabloids that do “Best and Worst Dressed” are immensely popular, and also completely wrong.

Here’s the thing, we are all entitled to our own opinions, and we don’t all have to have the same fashion style, but if someone is wearing something that means that they love it. Never have I met someone that purposely wears something that they find ugly or unattractive.

I may personally not like an outfit, but it’s not like I have to wear it, so why should I care if someone else wears it? The only thing that matters is how they feel in it, and most of the time they feel great in it because it shows off their personality, their style, their creativity.

Fashion and style are completely subjective. I have friends with completely different fashion sense, and while I may not personally wear half of the things that they were, their clothing choice portrays their individuality and unique personality, and they wouldn’t be my friends without it. Granted, with friends it is different than strangers or celebrities, because we are more inclined to be outwardly harsh toward people we don’t know and will never know.

There have been so many times where we let other people influence what we wear, but why? No one else has the right to dress you or make you feel bad about something that you love. This was especially apparent in high school. Prom dress season was the worst because you had the constant whispers of the critiquing of other dresses, which is just sad because you know each girl spent so much time finding their perfect dress. And that is exactly the point, it is their dress, not yours, so why do you care?

In my junior year of high school, I wore a pair of olive green pants that weren’t skinny legged, and someone asked me If I was trying to be Aladdin. I never wore those pants again, even though I loved them. (Thanks rude high school kid, and thanks insecure high school me for listening to him.)

Now, I’ve learned to not care what other people thing, especially when it comes to personal style, but that’s not to say that the world makes it easy to do this when there is so much fashion critique online and on television.

We gain literally nothing out of critiquing other’s outfit choices, so really we don’t need to do it. Keep your opinions to yourself if they are mean and unnecessary (which they probably are), because remember, it’s not like someone else’s outfit choice personally harms or effects your life.