As a teenage girl gets ready for school, her outfit consists of a crop top with pajama pants. She feels confident. But before she makes it out the door, her parents stop her, saying her top is too revealing and her pants are not appropriate for school.

As she changes into the clothes her parents prefer, her confidence drains. She doesn’t feel like herself. With her parents taking away the choice of her own appearance, she loses the ability to express herself through her fashion.

Children should respect their parents’ wishes and authority, but it is important for children to have a say in their appearance. In the years a teenager begins to navigate life, they start to discover who they are. Fashion allows teens to express themselves while showing others how they want to be perceived.

Parent.com reported teens “use their wardrobe to explore parts of their identity that they’re still discovering,” meaning letting teens accurately represent themselves is not only helpful to their confidence but also in establishing themselves as healthy, successful young adults. The development of individualism in teenagers is incredibly important, and failures in this process can lead to psychological and social harm.

Society’s perceived fashion standards and trends affect much of how a person chooses to dress, or is expected to dress. When the standards are broken, one is able to discover new opportunities. For example, the newfound popularity of bikinis and miniskirts in the 1960s that according to an article published by Elle, a fashion magazine, “signified the sexual liberation of empowered women exerting their bodily autonomy.”

Generation after generation have set standards for teens when it comes to their appearance. Instead of falling into the mindset that one needs to dress a certain way to be seen as respectable, teens should be encouraged to push the boundaries, to find their style and to understand that doing so is completely acceptable.

Whether a teen wants to wear a crop top or flip flops, as long as they are not harming anyone, they need to be allowed to make this choice, to choose how they want to present themselves. When teens are learning how to separate themselves from the crowd and become their own person, their choice in their appearance is one of many ways to help them do so. If children are taught not to stay within society’s constrictive standards, then they are being taught a mindset that will help them throughout life.