Why Retro Style Is Overrated

Be honest, it sucks.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It's 2013, yet dressing in a brightly-colored tank-top or the "greaser" look aren't distant memories. People are enthralled by "retro" fashion and all of its possibilities to dress like a character that existed before they set foot on the earth. It might be vintage basketball jerseys, dressing like your favorite movie star from the black-and-white film days, or even pretending you're a miner toiling away in a West Coast town pre-1900. Whatever the case may be, you need to bring your personal style up to a modern day standard—and quick.

Your affinity for everything yesteryear might make you look like everyone else, force you to spend all of your time at a thrift store that smells like piss and mold, or, even worse, get you mistaken for a hipster. While it's OK to mix in "timeless" pieces or the occasional throwback to when you grew up, dressing head-to-toe in clothes that make you look like a character, instead of yourself, is always an awful proposition. To assure that you don't leave your house dressed like a walking punchline, we've assembled the reasons Why Retro Style Is Overrated. Hopefully, not too many of these scenarios will apply to yourself.

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Thrifting is usually more trouble than it's worth.

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People will quickly label you a "hipster."

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Wearing obscure, retro items doesn't actually make you any cooler.

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Don't wear old clothes just because you're afraid of change.

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You'll never know how good it feels to put on completely brand-new gear.

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It's better to be yourself than to imitate someone else's style.

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Vintage clothes come with a laundry list of condition issues.

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Vintage shops charge hefty finder's fees.

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Wearing badass clothes doesn't automatically make you a badass.

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Too much of one style and you'll turn into a caricature.

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It's not appropriate for every situation.

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Some old trends are better off dead.

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It's not unique if everyone else is doing it, too.

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Old clothes aren't cut for modern tastes.

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No one wants to explain why they dress the way they do.

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