The Off The Shoulder Shirt Trend Needs To Die
Every time I leave my apartment and enter the public sphere, I see at least three women wearing off the shoulder shirts. I don’t hate the apparel for what it is, but I do find it problematic when everyone on planet earth looks exactly the same. That’s also why I’m not a racist.
I blame Kendall Jenner.
And Olivia Palermo, who continues to be famous, though we all don’t know why.
A photo posted by Olivia Palermo (@oliviapalermo) on
Even Man Repeller, the style blogger who’s probably responsible for the whole trend in the first place, knows it’s time to retire these tops.
She wrote an article — a whole two months ago — entitled, “The Spark Is Gone: What Comes After The Off-The-Shoulder Shirt?”
In it, she unintentionally touches on one of the exact reasons I can’t stand this trend anymore.
“Lucille Ball, Brigitte Bardot, Natalie Wood and Grace Kelly — the original collarbone queens! These women collectively proved that a parenthetical swoop of fabric from shoulder to shoulder could magically make your décolletage look like the best thing since sliced Wonder Bread.”
They do look good on literally everyone, but you don’t need to wear stuff just because it looks good on you. Would you hook up with any guy, just based on the terms that he’d hook up with you? No, you wouldn’t.
Anyway, her article also offers a number of other options that all of us should consider, including some some one-shoulder numbers, bow-tie straps, and a return to long sleeve shirts.
Keep your off the shoulder shirt for special occasions, or for when people least expect you to bare your shoulders. Like when you babysit.