It is a long standing debate: clothes intended for fashion or function? To look nice or to accomplish a task? There’s a whole gambit of fashion answers: totally form, looking good for the sake of it; totally function, not dressing to impress but dressing for what you’ll be doing in the clothes; a little bit of both (can’t we all just get along?) and various other clothing compromises. One thing is for sure: Everybody looks good in the mean time.

A great example is safari clothes. A light cotton shirt with double-breasted pockets (conveniently sized for a notebook and pencil) and sleeve-tab closures is exactly what you need in a LandRover on the Savannah. Now however, you can find that exact shirt on racks at Forever 21, Banana Republic, et al. Function, gone over to fashion. The trend tends to usually go that way, as opposed to fashion going to function. Ah, progress.

Cargo pants are one of the trademark situations of this phenomenon. Originally used by the military so soldiers would have a place to carry all their gear, fashion designers quickly began making civilian versions of the garment which met with great success. However, this has been going on long enough that it’s almost gone full circle. Military style has adopted some of the civilian aspects of cargo pants (such as doing away with the double flap over the buttons) and modern day civilian cargoes have shrunk the size of pockets to match the tighter military look of today. In the end, it’s one well-dressed dog chasing its tail.

Fashion can be a tricky thing, but it is all about looking and feeling good. Go ahead and be daring in your fashion, but dress for yourself and the things you like and not what a magazine cover recommends for you.

You look great.