Insecurity is a powerful feeling that discourages even the most innovative ideas from being stated, developed, and nourished. Unfortunately, as we age from childhood, insecurity typically becomes more prominent. School systems force us to participate in classes, like math and economics, that don’t encourage creativity. When I was in seventh through ninth grade, I didn’t have any art classes so I didn’t practice my creativity. Creativity was a large part of my identity in elementary school. I valued imagination as a child and was even interested in becoming a graphic designer, but once I stopped taking classes that encouraged me to utilize my creative instincts.
Luckily I started taking art classes toward the end of high school and realized my creativity was important. During that lack of encouragement, I often expressed creativity through fashion. Magazines taught me how to be innovative in my own
way while inadvertently teaching me the value of design.
I think it is important for young adults to find an interest, such as fashion, and devote creativity to that. Keeping a journal, sketchbook, or scrapbook in relation to that interest helps collect ideas and rearrange existing concepts into something personal.
I kept a fashion scrapbook to create my own layouts and sketches based on things I saw in magazines. It is most important to keep something private in order to collect creative thoughts where they won’t be judged. During the time of its use, I would have never wanted someone to see my collage book, but it was necessary for me to visualize my thoughts.