My Eras of Hyperfixations
Maybe she's born with it! Maybe it's ADHD and a slight shopping addiction.
After my most recent trip to Japan, I went down a really deep rabbit hole of upping my collection of CDG and Yohji (I went from 0 pieces to 6 in like 2 weeks)… I then realized I tend to have hyperfixations that define my wardrobe for a pretty large amount of time. Now that I’ve touched on my current one, I thought it would be fun to revisit my past ones →
1) Thrifted everything and a bit of Everlane-
This is how my style was in college. It was dominated by thrifted jeans, and lots of flannels. At the time I was in upstate New York and was able to make weekly trips to Amvets and the Salvation Army to look for new things. It was also a time when I didn’t have a job and $4.99 jeans were all I could afford without breaking the bank.
2) Hypebeast (Adjacent)-
This was right after starting my first real job. This time was primarily defined by lots of Aime Leon Dore, New Balance and Nike. I waited for sneaker drops, tried to get raffles, bought and sold some on GOAT and StockX. I loved the ALD 550’s- I still think they are a great pair of sneakers. This lasted for like a year and a half- I suddenly got tired of losing Sacai Nikes to resellers who flipped sneakers they didn’t even have on hand. This era honestly haunts me because I wore nothing but sneakers and light wash jeans.
3) NYC Based Asian Fashion Brands: PD, Sandy Liang, Commission-
The pieces I purchased during this time really played a huge part in defining my style. A good pair of loose/straight jeans and an oversized button down became staples for me. It all started with Peter Do- I actually came across the brand in 2019 when they first launched, but this was before I had any money to spend so I guess I put it on hold for a little bit. In 2022 I started shopping designer secondhand as well as became a very savvy shopper when shopping new. I refused to pay full price for anything.
I loved finding pieces that were not too out of the box, but had a fun details. The Commission shirt above is a blue striped button down, but has a collar split down the middle in the back. A plain black pair of Peter Do jeans has a white stripe down the side, and the brand embroidered in the waist band. The attention to detail is what really sold me, not to mention the construction on the pieces that small brands produced was noticeably nicer than what I was wearing before.
I still wear a lot of these pieces today so I guess you could say that this, along with the next 2 are kind of lumped together…
4) All in on jewels-
I started posting on “jewelrytok’ in 2023 and was exposed to many independent artisans, many of whom I started shopping from. I also started making some jewelry myself. During this time I didn’t really buy any new clothing- most of my fun money went to building up my jewelry collection. I’m really glad I went a little wild in 2024 and 2025- the prices of everything that I bought during this time has risen quite significantly and I definitely would not have been able to afford them now. While the PD era was really defining for my personal clothing style, this was really important for my jewelry styling. I bought and made some of my signature pieces, and I learned what I did and didn’t like for my accessories. I’ve also formed some of my most cherished relationships through this space.
5) Down the Japanese rabbit hole-
Post comedown of my 1 week shopping bender in Tokyo (which you can read about here!) I’ve been on a mission to find secondhand Japanese designers- mostly CDG and Yohji. In Tokyo I picked up 2 CDG pieces and 2 Yohji pieces. When I got back, I picked up 1 pair of CDG pants and then another paid of Y’s Shorts less than a month later…
Something I appreciate most about these designers is that they have fun with silhouettes- they might be a little ugly to some but I think they look good and I don’t feel goofy in them. Unlike the some of the more common drape-y but still very normal shapes that I was used to wearing, I came to appreciate weirdly shaped shorts and pants. They work well with existing things in my wardrobe too- above I’m pairing CDG bottoms with a Sandy Liang and Commission shirt. Now that I’m almost 30, I think it’s time to have a little bit of fun with my wardrobe. I think Japanese designers are really great at offering said fun.
My mom might disagree a little bit, because when she saw me wearing those pants she said with a raised eyebrow, “Interesting pants. You look like Aladdin!”
I’m now on a mission to incorporate more fun into my wardrobe- I’m feeling a wave of spring cleaning coming. I might even start to incorporate color, but that might take a little bit of time.
I love revisiting the way my style has changed over the years- even the ones that scare me a little bit. Thanks for following along!
All the jewelzzzzzz
wait im still in my everlane era oop