What’s the new What?  Here in Oakland California, mismatching is the new matching. 

Back when I was 11 years old and not really concerned with my appearance, a girl roasted me hard for not matching.

GIRL 1:  I bet you get dressed in the dark…EUGH... That’s why you NEVER match.!

That was all it took for me to start color coordinating my fits.  To this day I DON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT MATCHING my shirt with my shoes.  I even buy sports apparel featuring teams I don’t like, just because I have a hat, or some shoes to coordinate it with. 

But today it seems like more and more youngsters, especially girls are leaving their houses for the day and taking their whole closets with them, matching or not.  I was on the train and I saw a young girl wearing…

GIRL 2: Lime green pumps, pink spandex leggings, an electric blue top, and pink hair!!!

…which was woven into the rest of her black weave.  I saw her meet up with another loud-dressing young lass who was sporting …

GIRL 3: Flourescent orange Reebok shoes, knee-high rainbow socks, a yellow top and orange hair extensions!!

When all 7 of these young females eventually got together that sunny day, I could hardly look directly at them, because all the FLOURESCENT colors made them look like a bad pokemon episode. 

Not since the 90’s and the Cross Colors brand has random ‘colorage’ been acceptable.  The difference is, with Cross Colors, the color schemes were pro-black African and Jamaican themed with red, black and green, or green, black, and yellow palettes. 

TERONE:  People were definitely influenced so that they were proud of who they were, you know where they were from.

Now there is no political rhyme or reason to the color selection of these outfits that shout out. Help!, A highlighters just threw up all over me!
 
Girls even have a name for their bright colored rocker fashion.

GIRL 4: YEAH, It’s fruity-pebble-punk-rock!

Some say it’s the fashion of today, but I say coordination will always be key to kicking it. I told all of this to a youngster who then tried to defend his mismatched style

Anthony:  Mismatching is way better than matching blood because…I like-

BUT before he could finish his sentence I told him,
“WHAT!?”
“I can’t hear you, your outfit is TOO LOUD!”

For each edition of What's The New What our essayist provides an additonal behind the scenes look at what inspired their choice. Here's a shot of King Anyi's:

I first noticed mismatching was in when I saw seven different girls hanging together at the train station wearing 30 different colors. The brightness just about burned my retinas.

You can get the whole story at the What's The New What blog.