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Fashion

Images via Reddit/Classic-Carpet7609

Actor Robin Williams is being hailed as a fashion icon by fans.

Robin Williams was not just an amazing actor and comedian—he was also a fashion icon. Williams, who passed away on August 11, 2014, has recently been recognized by fans from all generations for his unique personal style that often went unrecognized.

On Reddit on several fashion subforums, Williams is being celebrated for his sartorial style during his long career. "Had no idea Robin Williams had so much drip," member Classic-Carpet7609 shared in one forum, expressing their admiration for his style that ranged from streetwear to couture.

"Robin Williams was a huge weeb when it came to fashion, like several years ahead of other western celebrities like rappers, etc when it came to wearing a lot of Japanese labels," one member commented. Another added, "It was news to me too until a couple years ago when I saw that photo of him in the Issey Miyake bomber jacket. I was like daaaaamn he’s like cool cool."

Fans also are pointing out that Williams was well-versed in fashion brands. He also wore Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, BAPE, Visvim, Acronym, and Mishka, per British GQ.

His taste in fashion wasn't only elevated, but also functional, and Williams could pull it all off. "I love how versatile, comfortable and confident his looks are. You couldn’t box the man in and I really appreciate that now as an adult," another commented. "A style icon ahead of his time," another wrote. Another quipped, "Wtf multiple of these fits you could see someone walking down the street today."

However, at the time Williams' style was not making best-dressed lists. "He was RIDICULED at the time for his dress sense. Seriously. On every ‘worst dressed ‘ list constantly," one commented. Regardless, it was his confidence that continues to stand out with his fashion choices. "I think it must be the confidence. For a dude who was known to be plagued with self-doubt, you would never know it looking at him. He always looks supremely confident in himself and so when he wears, for example, a matador jacket, he pulls it off instead of looking just silly," another added.

Many fans pointed out that his sometimes outlandish fashion choices had a deeper meaning. "He was more into making statements with his fashion than he was into 'looking good'." Another wrote, "I really like his more flamboyant looks." While another fan noted, "Na honestly that's wild. He's wavy."

@therealprofessorx

Robin was so ahead of the curve #greenscreen #fyp #fypシ #robinwilliams #stylebreakdown #fitspo #inspo #mensfashion #fashion #style

Although Williams' personal style may not have been understood by others, today his boldness is being recognized. "But seriously, I somehow was not aware that he gave so much thought to his looks, and they very much reflect who he is," one fan commented. Another agreed, saying, "I did not realize until now how good of a dresser he was, wow!" One more confirmed, "So ahead of the curve!"

Most of all, Williams' fans are most in awe of his style's authenticity. "There’s a purity and realness about him that is primal. I love his self expression through these outfits," said one. Another summed it all up wonderfully, writing, "His personality was brighter than any shirt."

Canva, Wikipedia

A man shows off his dapper vest. Theo Von performs stand up.

Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III has come a long way from Louisiana, where he emancipated himself from his parents at just 14. While shedding parental supervision, he also shed most of his name, so you might only know him as Theo Von.

Just five years later, Theo became a cast member on MTV's Road Rules and subsequently appeared on four seasons of MTV's The Challenge. If you watched those shows, you'll know Theo never shies away from a funny quip, a weird take, something controversial bordering on dumb, or just plain awkward absurdity.

Theo Von,  comedian, fashion, UFC, gifTheo Von turns aroundGiphy Sport GIF by UFC

But through his now many years as a stand-up comic, content creator, and podcaster, he always asks interesting questions of his guests… and of himself. In an article for NOLA, he claimed his evolution of thought was born from having had the "frame of reference of a poor person."

Just recently, he took a stand on an extremely controversial topic: vests. That's right...that clothing item that used to be reserved only for tuxedo purposes or Diane Keaton. Brace yourselves: Theo is PRO-VESTS.

He breaks it down on his podcast. "Now I love a vest," he exclaims. "A vest is the only piece of clothing that you can look sharp and catch a football at the same time. Comfortably, okay?" He pauses for a split second as if to say, let THAT sink in. "If you wanna hug somebody and feel a little bit more of the hug than usual—THAT'S a vest."

He continues, "If you've been drinking all day or doing drugs or whatever and you don't know if you're supposed to go to a wedding or a rave, hmm, what am I gonna wear? A snorkel? No! A vest. And that's just a snorkel for your torso, baby. That f-ing vest."

Need more proof that a vest is the best? "If you're not sure if you're gonna be doing magic later on tonight," he says as he mimes doing magic, "Vest."

magic, magician, vest, clothing, theo vonKrendl magician doing a card trick in Virginia. www.flickr.com

"The crazy thing about vests is… they remember your body shape. Not a lot of different pieces of clothing remember your body like a vest does."

He compares it to protection during intimate moments, claiming that a vest remembers your contours. "A vest knows if you're a man or a woman. A vest knows. You want to have a gender reveal party? Tie a vest up around that womb. A vest knows. A vest knows a lot more than we think it does."

Theo himself dares his Instagram followers to "name a better clothing." After many puns, including what good "inVESTment" vests are, no one in the nearly 1,500 comments can beat it.

Interestingly, Reddit has claimed the "vest" has made a comeback, as recently as last year. On the subreddit r/femalefashion advice, one person asks, "I want to buy a vest, but I really don't know if it's just for now. I know vests have come and gone through the years, but I just recently started getting into fashion."

This shockingly receives over 100 comments, with one responding, "Oh, it’s definitely trendy. It’s a big part of the 20-year fashion cycle — right now the early 00s are trendy again. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn't enjoy the trend! There’s no such thing as timeless fashion, and you should wear things that you like."

vest, dancing, clothing, cheesy, christmasA woman dances wearing a Christmas vest.Giphy

Another Redditor offers this wise cautionary advice: "Vests can be a hard piece to pull off. The popular ones right now are an easy entry point, which is cool for folks wanting to experiment with their style. But I only see these types of vests being classic staples for a small amount of folk. So the vests everyone is wearing are trends, but not the article of clothing itself."

And this person really opposes the idea: "Girl, trendy. They were hot in the mid-late 90s and we wore them then for a few years and then haven’t seen them since. You’ll wear it a few times before the trend evolves (brocade floral vests instead of oatmeal blah linen vests?) and then after that it will be gone completely for another 20–30 years. Timeless is a myth."

Theo would probably answer that with, "You know what's not a myth? Vests."


Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a woman with a nose ring.

Online culture has had an incredible effect on fashion trends. It used to take a trend about 20 years to complete a cycle: introduction, rise, peak, decline, and obsolescence. However, in 2024, this cycle has been sped up incredibly due to several factors. Trends can be quickly introduced and adopted due to social media, online shopping and quick turnaround through fast-fashion distribution. The speed of adaptation also means they can fizzle out just as fast.

This means a fashion trends we’d usually see stick around for years can come and go in months. It’s an expensive pill to swallow for anyone trying to keep up with the latest (Gen Z, we’re looking at you), but it’s a blessing for those of us who have a problem with some of today’s polarizing looks.

The bad news is you may not like broccoli cuts. The good news is that they will be gone and forgotten before you know it.



A great conversation recently broke out on Reddit, where commenters weighed in on all the fashion trends they couldn’t wait to go away. It seems that some of the most controversial styles are the work of Gen Z. Whether it’s the nose ring that looks like it belongs on a bell cow or big pillowy eyelashes, Gen Z has championed some looks that will probably look a little silly in a few years.

Here are 15 fashion trends currently “in” that people are already over.

1. Suits with shorts

"Took my cousin to prom and saw at least 30 dudes wearing a suit with shorts."

2. Anti-aging tweens

"Children (I’ve mostly seen around ages 9-13) going to Sephora for anti-aging serums and makeup. You all can hardly go to the park by yourselves, yet you’re plastered in expensive creams and makeup like you’re 20+."

"This one really bothers me. It’s pretty dark, honestly, and the parents who allow this are weird as hell."

3. Limp Biz-kids

"I'm a high school teacher and a surprising number of the boys dress like it's 2000 and they've got Limp Bizkit's 'Nookie' on repeat. There's one kid that looks like he's from 1977. Puka shells, feathered hair, big, open collars. I like that kid."



4. Botox

"Excessive Botox in young people. I’m so tired of everyone having a frozen face. It’s not pretty. It’s just weird."

"I swear there was a coordinated effort by some industry to convince girls in their 20s that they need to start Botox now because it’s preventative. That’s the reason given when I ask these early 20s girls why they use it. “It prevents future wrinkles” like there was a peer-reviewed study showing it does or something."

Patricia Wexler, MD, of Wexler Dermatology in Manhattan, told Vogue that getting preventative Botox injections at a young age can lead to more wrinkles. “If you do too much Botox on your forehead for many, many years, the muscles will get weaker and flatter,” Wexler says. This means that surrounding muscles do more work when you make facial expressions. “If one stops using their forehead muscles, they may start squinting using their nose and have wrinkles along the side of their nose," she continued.

5. Teen boys with alpaca hair

"I used to work reception at a salon and it was always fricken hilarious when these kids would come in to get a perm. They'd come sulking in behind their mommies, sit for 2 hours with curlers and stinky perm solution in their hair looking like cats being forced to take a bath, then prance out thinking they were the shit with their new poodle cuts lol."

"Some of them are definitely embracing their natural curls, which is awesome! But a good chunk of them, especially the preppy ones with rich parents, are getting straight up 80s style perms. It's great."

6. Laminated brows

"Eyebrows that are brushed upwards. That's the only way I can think to describe it. I can't see anything else when looking at someone who has that style brows. I just don't know why people like it."

"Almost every eyebrow trend ends up looking kinda silly. Let's just all work with the eyebrows we have. Sure, clean it up a lil bit if you feel like it."

7. Over-the-top fake eyelashes

"The ridiculous false eyelashes. I get it. I've got no problem with the ones that at least have a semblance of being natural. But the uber thick ones that look more like fur are just...pointless.Someone I deal with at work wears them. And it's so weird, because most of the time she dresses down in sweatshirts, jeans, sneakers, etc. And doesn't pay much attention to her hair. But she's got those stupid wooly caterpillar eyelashes in. They just call attention to how un put together the rest of her is. I know that everyone should just dress for themselves, but it's just weird."



8. Barrell jeans

"The barrel jeans have got to go. They’re the ugliest effing things I’ve ever seen. And people keep lying to these women about how they’re flattering and I’m like no! You look bowlegged!"

9. '80s moustaches

"Weird '80s moustaches, I've seen good looking guys made to look like Ned Flanders. Ages them instantly, which I guess is the plan, but ages them past 20s to married with kids approaching teenage years."

10. Crocs

"I thought they were hideous when they first came out almost twenty years ago, and they’ve never gone away."

"We always made fun of them and then suddenly everyone was wearing them. I don’t get it!"

How did Crocs go from the bargain bins to becoming one of the top footwear brands in the U.S.? The big reason is that comfort became more important during the pandemic than aesthetics. They were also quite a statement for people who wanted to rebel against traditional beauty standards. Add celebrity endorsements from Justin Bieber and Post Malone and Crocs came back in a big way.



11. Long nails

"Super long acrylic nails, they seem really impractical."

"Especially the pointed ones that all the Hollywood people wear like claws. You look trashy and high maintenance."

12. Grunt style

"Patriot clothing and beards. Grunt style, nine line... all these fools dressing like they're special forces, their entire identity tied to 1776. It's embarrassing."

13. Hair parted in the middle

"Middle parts. You need an almost symmetrical face to be able to pull it off, which is pretty rare. Side parts all the way."

"Middle parts look so harsh and unflattering on everyone. Side parts are a million times better."

14. Nose rings

"That nose ring in the middle. Just doesn't look good to me. You do you. But just think it doesn't look good very often."
"They always make me think of cattle."

15. Political clothes

"Political attire as someone's entire main wardrobe, no matter the side of the spectrum. You got more personality than that!"

"I have a bro-in-law who wears American flag t-shirts almost exclusively. He must have hundreds of them. And not the tasteful kind with like a little flag on the sleeve or chest. I’m talking about the most garish kind. The kind with a gigantic waving US flag along with a menacing bald eagle flying dramatically over snow-capped peaks. We like America too, Dan, but can you try to wear at least a polo to Grandma's funeral?"

This article originally appeared last year.
Unsplash

There's no need to feel self conscious.

Body dysmorphia really knows no bounds. We tend to think of insecurities as focusing on things like the flatness of our stomachs or the size of our noses. But perhaps the thing that people are most self-conscious about is the thing we actually talk about the least.

According to one study, about 30% of men are "dissatisfied" with the size, shape, or appearance of their penis. That number is even higher when it comes to how women feel about their vaginas. A survey done by Refinery29 showed that almost half of women had "concerns" about the appearance of their vulva.

The numbers say anywhere from a third to a half or more of all people think there's something wrong with the way our private parts look. Which begs the question: If we all think we're weird, is anybody really weird at all?

A fascinating Reddit thread recently polled experts on this very topic—people who tend to see an awful lot of genitals in their line of work: Waxing technicians or estheticians. The responses were oddly inspiring.

The prompt asked, "Waxers, how often are you surprised by how a clients genitals look?"

Professional waxers chimed in with their stories and observations. As did doctors, nurses, pelvic floor therapists, urologists, and lots of other pros who work closely with people's unmentionables.

Here are a few of the best responses:

Laura Woolf/Flickr


"Gonna chime in as a doctor - and I would imagine it’s the same for professional waxers. WE. DONT. CARE. And in my case I would be surprised if you’d show me something I’ve never seen before." - feelgoodx

"I use to be very self conscious and insecure about my genitals. I honestly thought I had a weird vagina. But working in this industry has taught me that every one is a snowflake. I’ve seen it all and nothing surprises me. Just clean yourself before coming in." - Wild-Clementine

"Not a waxer but I am a labor and delivery nurse. I see a vulva every single day I work, often multiple, and frequently about 3 feet from my face with a spotlight on it lol. Not much surprises me. Most are out of my memory by the time they're clothed or covered up. When it comes to genitals you want to be unremarkable." - tlotd

"Very, very rarely. Shaved, not shaved, lots o’ labia, no labia, etc—it’s all the same to me. I’m just here to work." - Important-Tackle

"never. i have seen it all. scars, hyperpigmentation, unevenness; none of it surprises me. just please wash yourself before coming to me." - pastelmorning

"Nothing surprises me, I'm mostly just focusing on the hair, but i do have a client who has a tuft of hair on the underside of his shaft near the tip of his penis we call his downstairs soul patch." - noorisms

Two big takeaways:

First, outside of obvious mutilations or pathologies, nothing stands out to people who are extremely knowledgeable about genitals. Differences in size, shape, and structure are totally normal and barely even register on the radar!

Second, no matter what you look like down there, good hygiene is always appreciated. A solid tip that extends far beyond the borders of the esthetician's office!

Being embarrassed, self-conscious, or even ashamed of the way your parts look doesn't seem like a big deal, but it can be.

gourd and white tape measure on blue surfaceEmbarrassment about the nether regions is normal, but it can be harmful if not checked. Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

It's bizarre and tragic that unrealistic beauty standards actually effect the way we perceive our own nether regions. Pornography, media, and inconsiderate past partners all play a role in people developing anxiety about the way their genitals look.

Both men and women can have their sex lives negatively impacted by bad self-image and anxiety over the way they look naked. When the shame is really bad, it can hold them back in relationships, or even stop them from seeking them in the first place.

Fear of being judged or humiliated can stop women in particular from not just going in for a wax, but from going to the gynecologist or asking potentially-embarrassing but critical and life-saving health questions.

If you've ever been a little self-conscious, take it from the experts, from the people who have seen hundreds if not thousands of genitals up close and personal, in the most unflattering lighting and from the worst angles possible: You're totally normal!