Fashion Day is celebrated in many parts of the world on July 9 every year, but it is a holiday that originated in America. According to National Today, the day is a culturally significant one as it is marked to commemorate the "unique aesthetic sense" of identity that everyone can express through apparel or accessories. In countries with diverse cultures, gender and age norms, fashion is also a meaningful way to observe and carry forward tradition from one generation to the next or even serve to break from tradition to express individual or new communal identity. 

History Of Fashion Day

The first-ever Fashion Day is believed to have been first celebrated in 2016 on social media. Since then there are about 4.67 thousand posts filed under #fashionday on Instagram alone. Little else is known about the origins of the holiday, but since then it has been seen as a "kind of public revolt" against high fashion, mainstream fashion trends and popular styles conceived by fashion houses and corporations that have sidelined or excluded representation of certain communities. It comes as no surprise, then, that this holiday is popular among LGBTQIA+ groups and underrepresented communities who, on this holiday, feel free to wear what they want "without fear of criticism or judgement."

ALSO READ: Grab These 6 Celeb-Inspired Heels And Get Rewards Up To 10%

How You Can Celebrate The Holiday

1. Find Your Authentic Style 

If you're unsure about your authentic style or are due for an upgrade, help is at hand. From haute couture magazines or avant-garde fashion publications to YouTube videos of fashion parades or even anti-fashion parades, there is much to explore and be inspired by in the fashion world. You can even turn to Pinterest for inspiration. Then, create a mood board or a vision board that best describes you using images and words from your research. That can make a workable style map for your future. If you get stuck there are plenty of quizzes online that can help you uncover your authentic style.  

2. Get A Fashion Makeover

This is the most obvious one, but if you are a thrifty shopper, you can celebrate today by grabbing that one apparel piece or accessory or even a whole wardrobe full that you feel best represents your style and individuality, but fear will lighten your wallet a bit too much. So what's different today? You can sign up with NDTV Big Bonus to save big at thousands of stores across India. Your favourite brands are very likely on there. All you have to do is sign up, link your cards once and shop away to get anywhere between 5% to 20% off on all your purchases. You can download the App Store or Google Play.

ALSO READ: Top 5 Celeb-Inspired Shirt Styles To Add To Your Summer Closet

3. Give Your Old Clothes A New Lease Of Life

If there's one apparel piece that best represents your core identity but is the worse for wear then, instead of throwing it away, you could chop it up into more modern designs or patterns and sew it onto a plain coloured garment. That way you will never rid yourself of what feels like you. You could also get a tailor to help if stitching is not one of your skill sets.

4. Host A Swap Party

You may have besties but do you have a style buddy? That's a buddy whose style you connect with and who is your go-to for all things fashion. You could host a swap party with this buddy and invite your other friends. Swap parties are all about finding those clothes and accessories that you have outgrown or evolved from. You can even take your Swap Party to the next level by giving it a theme that works for all of you.

5. Pay Tribute To A Style Guru Or A Fashion Icon

There are more than a few ways to do this. Pick a designer or fashion icon whose style you admire most and spend some of your time celebrating them. Watching a film or documentary that features them, reading up about them, buying some of their iconic designs or even buying cosplay modelled along the lines of those designers, all count as paying tribute. There's no one way to do this, remember this day is about doing it your own way. 

ALSO READ: 6 Celeb-Inspired Summer Sarees You Need To Get Your Hands On