Maturing Alternative Style - How to dress alternative

Let's define what is "alternative"

It’s gonna be the only way to describe it. “Alternative” is people that will have a lot of tattoos, piercings, colourful hair, like listening to Rock ‘n’ Roll or Punk or Metal, anything that sounds rough, people that dress a bit edgy. If you fit into this definition you have probably started to dress in “alternative” from the age of 15-16 and when you get older it sort of evolved and changed in different ways. Now at the point of your life where you are in the middle of your 20th or beyond (granted, it’s not mega super old) you probably have an idea: “Should I sort of maturing my style a bit? Should I be dressing more like a grown-up?” But the other part says: “Hell no, you can be still you!”

That problem is very common and a lot of people say “oh I’ve got an office job and I don’t wanna dress like really super boring”
There is the way of dressing a bit more grown-up, a bit more mature but still maintaining kind of your individuality and still looking a bit “edgy”. It doesn’t mean that we should feel like we have to grow up, though. Don’t think “oh I turned 25, I need to dress like an adult”. Just know some people do struggle with their identity when they hit a certain age. They feel “ahh I still dress like I did when I was 15” and that kind of a struggle. It’s just a matter of knowing what balance to get. So this article should help you or inspire you to try some of these other outfits.

Credit: @demontosome

Colourful hair
Colourful hair always makes someone a bit more interesting. It looks just amazing and it is something that can make you look fun and exciting. And to be honest colourful hair is becoming so popular now, it’s kinda more acceptable. It might sound like not that alternative, but in the sense, if you go to work with colourful hair it might be allowed a bit more. Time has changed.

Credit: @minervaphotography6

Leather jacket
When it comes to dressing – always go with your staples, like a leather jacket for example. If it’s not snowing or dead freezing – cool leather jacket will always help to stand out from the crowd. A leather jacket will always be associable with all those cool Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff.

Credit: @alainmvs

Animal print
Today animal print becomes something more fashionable and mainstream. You can go into a top shop like H&M and everything in the facility is animal print. But if you combine this garment with the right staples and accessories it will always look like an “old school ROCKER”. Try to incorporate animal print in some outfit in some way. That could always be something like nice pants, skirt or shoes.

Credit: @luanna

Band T-Shirt
It’s really easy to make a band t-shirt look smart. Tie it up around the waist, stuck it into a pair of jeans so it could say of you “hey I’m being smart but it’s my favourite band, it’s IRON MAIDEN 🙂 “. Band t-shirts can be worn casually.

Credit: @sammijefcoate

Trainers, converse, whatever… pair of jeans.
If you wear something like a fancy skirt or shorts – combine it up with something like satin or bodycon. You kinda really change from “hey I’m a casual snob” to “hey, I’m an adult as well, ROCKing in the office… I still look smart, though”

Layering and accessorising.
You should be quite choosy with your jewellery, belts, and sunglasses. Those things can tell a lot. You can still wear a studded belt but don’t over exaggerate. Regular belts that have small studs on steel can say of you “hey I’m wearing a studded belt, but I’m not going over the top, I don’t look like a teenager any more”. Use different materials and textures and layer them up as well.
Consider to try lace – it is quite sexy and the thing that put an accent on your tattoos.

Credit: @eric__cain

The rule of thumb should be this
Pick something from the outfit that you feel is very unique and edgy, something that shows your personality and pair it up with conventionally smart things. That’s how you can get the right balance and when you are “going somewhere… important or to a meeting” that’s how you can balance it up. It’s like “hey, I’m here, I’m ready to do some work, ready to be smart, important and adult, but I’m still gonna keep me, I’m still gonna keep my edge”
People can be quite prejudiced about all kind of alternative things which is a bit of a shame… really, because the whole thing of being alternative and edgy and “being different” is to celebrate being different inside yourself and your personality.