Clothing. Without it we would all be locked up for public indecency, or maybe we would evolve and grow hair. Hey, we could all just revert back to being apes, and devolve. Maybe that would easier.

Anyway this chapter isn't about evolution or going to jail, it's about our clothes. Something we use to express our character, our personality, and our own individual likes. Or that's what clothing really should be used for. But being a teenager can mean that our clothing doesn't reflect us, but what everyone else likes.

It's easy to follow the crowd, and buy the clothes that will help you to fit in yet they're not the clothes you would actually want to wear. I mean how many teenage girls do you see everyday wearing almost the same, identical outfit- skinny jeans and some crop-top or branded sweatshirt. For some people that might reflect them inside, and they feel like those clothes are what makes them happy. But you'll find some people wearing clothes like that who wish they were wearing other clothes.

I, too, occasionally fall into the trap of the mass-marketing of clothing and feel as though I to have an item of clothing. But ever since I had an epiphany one day and realised that those clothes didn't always make me happy, I have fought back against these 'trends' that I'm pressured to follow.

So yes, I do rock my orange trousers. I rock them even though they have a quite 'marmite' effect (I'm sorry if you don't get that reference, Google it), and I've been told many times that they're ugly or ghastly. I wear them proudly because they make me happy.

Clothes should do that, they should make you happy. You should feel excited to wear them, not obliged to wear them. Even if it's your ratty old hoodie and sweatpants, you should feel happy and comfortable wearing them.

Don't be afraid to stand out. Once you rid yourself culturally-imposed 'rules' on fashion, that's when you start wearing clothes that you love. Clothes you make memories in. Clothes that make you look like Joseph and his technicolor dreamcoat (I own a lot of quite colourful clothes).

So rule number one of surviving Teenagehood: Wear What You Like.