An ordinary afternoon in Alabang, polluted and dusty air, heavy traffic, men and women walking here and there, construction sites from left to right, I was on my way home when from the jeepney I was riding, I saw two young men wearing some sort of extra-large shirt and pants. I was wondering, aren't they feel weird about what they are wearing? Oh wait, could they possibly be?
As I was searching something new about Jejemons, it happened that these pictures caught my attention. both states the common things a Jejemon may wear. Let's enumerate it one by one. Cap, of course I already told you that their cap was a snapback one with vertical rainbow design at the back which is usually worn or should I say put at their head at different angles. Their crowning glory, hair, which is usually long side swept and dyed with mahogany or blonde. Shades or sun glasses which are optional. Oh what a nice way of wearing those, could you imagine them wearing shades just below their eyes? Hmm. Next is a fancy bandanna covering up mostly of their face. Face towel placed on their napes? Yes because Philippines is a tropical country. Oh yes, the overly-sized t-shirt or jersey tops which looks like they borrowed it from someone who’s a lot bigger than them. Looks like their shirt has double purpose, it’ll be a great jacket too, right? In some cases, some Jejemons wear bright colored shirts with Angry birds or other mainstream games as designs. And yes, their outfit would never be complete without the accessories. How can one forget those big blings worn in their necks and the baller or PowerBalance worn in their hands? In addition to that, weird, peculiar hand signs will never be left behind. What can be seen on their other hand? Of course, it’s none other than their weapon, mobile phones. For their bottoms, voluminous baggy pants shelter their limbs. Big buckled belts are optional, some want them as accessories but some prefer their pants to almost fell off and see their underpants. Matching their outfit is either an enormous shoes or Havaianas, Sandugo or Crocs Class A imitation slippers or sandals. It's their fashion.
Fashion is a great factor for us Filipinos, it is a social symbol. It declares one’s financial capabilities and lifestyle. Being too much curious of things, I started to dig things up. I wanted to know what fashion really states. What factors affects one’s fashion, and does fashion really is matters.
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| a) Season |
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| b) Color |
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| c) Media |
An article entitled "Factors that Affect Fashion Trends" by Sarah Turner found in the site ArticleRich, states that one’s fashion is influenced by mainly three factors. First is the season wherein one considers the changes in weather. An example of which wearing a basic undershirt or muscle tee for a hot summer here in the Philippines. Next is the color where one should come up with variety of shades to match one’s structure and complexion, and of course, to win the people’s attention. Last on the list is the influence of the media. From celebrities’ pictures in the billboards, music videos, catalogs and such affects one’s perception of what look goods and what is not. This article also states that everyone wants to look great and make statement and should take advantage of combining things to achieve near perfection.
Having read the article I realized that my topic, Jejemons, is not a part of those people who consider the second factor. Basically, because they wear varsity jackets or sweater during the days of summer here in the Philippines. They would wear such stuff and suffer from the hotness of the sun rather than wearing muscle tees which are more comfortable. But since I’m not that interested in the second point, I focused my attention to the last factor, influence.
From the site philStar.com Lifestyle section, an article "Fashion. Youth. Philippines." written by Nik Juban talked about the fashion trends of the Filipino youth during the year of 2008 wherein people start those fashion trends such a wearing large shirts, gladiator shoes, baseball shirts and such. Based on his article, fashion of the Filipino teens is highly influenced by media especially its music. Young adults exposed to this are subject to wear fashion by those icons such as the Western celebrities. According to the article, it is the reason why young men wear jacket or sweater at summer and so as the young women wearing too much skin-showing clothes like Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears. And the young would choose to wear like this because they wanted to be noticed. They wanted to be different. They wanted to show others that they stand out. It is because fashion is the way to show one’s personality. It shows one’s creativity and personal sense of style. The article also gave tips what to clothes wear and what to keep in one’s closet since fashion is changing fast paced.
Getting the gist of the articles, I, myself, consider it the greatest factor and found myself a victim of influence. I remember the years 2008 up to 2010 were the years wherein emo fashion was viral. It is because during those years when the emo genre, those of the acoustic and mellow songs are also viral. I once wore those overly large black shirts and of course I had my bangs cut back then. Those geeky glasses for ornament and sometimes wearing my white gladiator shoes were the proof. I never realized that having those made me part of the mainstream fashion. I remember I would listen to Secondhand Serenade and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus songs played by my cousins and friends which somehow influenced me. Black shirts mostly made up my closet because John Vesely, Secondhand Serenade’s lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist, would wore always especially in his music videos. Because time flies and everything changes, emo fashion was sort of fading from my closet, because currently I would imitate the Pretty Little Liars star, Lucy Hale, since I found her fashion sense casual yet sophisticated. I also realized that it is greatly affected by the environment we are exposed to. And yes it matters. Hence, both articles only suggest that fashion is very subjective; it’s an expression of our internal feelings so as music we are listening to.
Since Jejemusic is a complex whole of emo, punk, pop, rock and hiphop genres their fashion are more likely to be mixed. Their side swept, sometimes dyed, hair is excerpt of an Emo phenomenon, their tops can either be from emo, punk or pop and their bottoms are either from hiphop or thug's. I just realized that wearing voluminous pants are awesome since my legs can move freely unlike wearing too tight ones. Dyed hair isn't also a big deal since I got mine dyed too and it makes m personality bolder. Shouldn't we be proud of the Jejemons since they were able to combine different things into a single one? Well, their creativity for me is big thumbs up. Fashion is about being creative and comfortable. So stop the hate. If being Jejemon is wearing a cute bright colored Angry bird tee, I'd consider myself one.
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