Wearing the thing you actually like instead of what’s trending takes more nerve than it should. Do it anyway.

Trends work by making a few options invisible and everything else conspicuous. That is why a harmless preference can cost real nerve: you are not picking a shirt, you are stepping slightly outside the agreed set. The price is almost entirely imagined and it still feels like a price. It is also the cheapest place you will ever get to practise not needing the group’s agreement.

Wear one thing you like this week that you would usually talk yourself out of. Count how many people actually say anything, and remember that number for bigger choices.