WHY THINGS LOOK UGLY BEFORE BECOMING FASHIONABLE

A few days ago I saw Nigerian artist ZayLevelTen on my feed. He had a bolapsd belt wrapped around his head. 

Not a bandana. Not a durag. An actual belt.

My first thought was “Why?”  Then I kept staring. And it started making sense.
And that’s when I realised that fashion has a strange habit of rewarding the things people initially reject. Everything people copy now started off looking wrong. From oversized jeans to chunky sneakers to moustaches to crop shirts. Everything. 

At some point, every aesthetic that matters shows up looking like a mistake.

Because ugly isn’t the opposite of fashion. Ugly is usually where fashion starts.

Remember when chunky sneakers came out? People called them dad shoes. Too big. Too clumsy. Too much. Now those same proportions run the sneaker game. The shoe didn’t change but our eyes did.

Same story with baggy jeans. Same with oversized fits. A few years ago everyone wanted slim. Now we’re paying good money to look like we raided our older brother’s wardrobe.

Even here in Nigeria, we’ve seen this cycle repeat itself. Old Nollywood fashion was “outdated” for years. Now moodboards are full of it. The stuff people mocked became reference points.

Fashion doesn’t move in straight lines, it rarely does. One minute entire comment sections are clowning ASAP Rocky for wearing ballerinas, the next minute its everywhere.

Surprisingly I’ve also noticed the same pattern outside clothing.

When Slawn’s work first popped, people didn’t get it. The faces were distorted. The entire thing just felt unfinished. Some called it ugly. I won’t lie I also didn’t fully understand it but it felt difficult to ignore it.

Now you can spot a Slawn from across the room. The paintings didn’t get prettier, the culture simply caught up. It always does.

That’s how new aesthetics work. They show up before we have words for them.

Most people don’t hate things because they’re ugly. They hate them because they’re unfamiliar. 

Then a few people wear it anyway. Then a few more. Then suddenly it’s “the look”. Same object. Same painting. Same silhouette. Different story. Different reaction.

Maybe that’s why fashion keeps rewarding the rule-breakers. Not because they’re always right. But because they’ll look stupid first so the rest of us don’t have to.

The people who shape culture are usually the ones willing to look wrong before everyone else figures out why it’s right.

What’s an aesthetic, trend or piece you initially hated but eventually understood?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below.