Fashion Memories : 90's Tommy Hilfiger Jackets

I came across this photo on Tumblr and I had a weird moment of being transported to 1995. It was my freshman year of high school. I started a new school, with new people, that were different from the classmates I had before.  I had never been in a prep school environment prior to this. The vibe was fake as fuck. In hindsight, going to that high school prepared me for the rest of my life. It's funny how things work out like that, but I spent the next four years feeling like I didn't belong there at all.

Fashion wise, the kids at my new school wore designer stuff. In junior high, I would have to borrow basketball jerseys from guys for step team performances, which had to match with my baggy jeans stolen from the local mall. I was trying to fit in the grimy and hustling ways of some of my junior high friends. I think the lowest point of my moral compass was stuffing stolen makeup into an umbrella and trading baby tees that we'd stolen from the mall in the girls bathroom. I digress.

Anyways, back to this jacket. I had an almost exact replica of this jacket to the left. Actually, lies, it was my mom's jacket. That's right. You read that correctly. My mom bought an orange Tommy Hilfiger jacket, and me being so thirsty to fit into my new school, I would take it from time to time to feel fly. I have a very clear memory of a classmate telling me that I looked like an orange safety cone.  He even made a driving and crash gesture towards me and everyone started laughing. I mean, I was kind of butthurt about it, but I was laughing at myself too. I suppose at fourteen I took a lot of things seriously, but I wasn't mad that  I legit looked like a safety buoy.  I never wore the jacket again, and I was drawn to safer colors such as dark blue and red. I actually was able to get a dope red, yellow, and blue panel version of that jacket later in the year. I was also fresh to death with blue Nautica challenge jacket later for Christmas that year.

So back to this picture. When I saw this fly ass Asian chick rocking the safety buoy jacket of my nightmares, I couldn't help but laugh my ass off. I mean, look at her. She looks so dope, right? It's a larger lesson about fashion that I didn't realize in 1995. You don't have that confident smolder at fourteen. You have a decade ahead of awkward and character building moments.