Written by Elisa Peters

Photos of Desiree Daos, Nia Harrison, Elisa Peters, Ian Street, and Hannah Tom by Mindy Welland

What makes headphones an accessory versus a utility? Within the last few years, you may have seen how headphones have been integrated into fashion. Appearing in Pinterest boards, Instagram posts, and especially among students on campuses worldwide, headphones have become an important factor to consider when completing an outfit.

What headphones do I mean specifically? Any type of headphone that rejects the look of the current, popular headphone model, i.e. any sort of wireless earbuds, which makes it appear that you aren’t wearing any headphones at all due to their small scale. It’s the subtlety and discrete nature of the wireless earbuds, and the fact that they are hand-free, that make them so popular. While these features could be seen as a benefit to the majority of society, the minority fashion world poses different questions. Should headphones even be considered an accessory to an outfit? Is it absurd to buy a pair of headphones simply for fashion rather than for their inherent purpose? Can you combine the sophisticated technology of headphones today while still returning to the simplistic features of earlier models? 

It’s almost as if fashion is reclaiming the older mechanisms of headphones: the wires, the bulk, the visual identification that you are in fact wearing a listening device. Examples include any type of over-the-ear headphones and or headphones with wires. Headphones with wires are oftentimes easier to deal with, they do not require charging or managing Bluetooth connection. It’s a simple attachment and detachment from your phone; less time is spent worrying if you charged your headphones or not. Moreover, any type of over-the-ear headphone, Bluetooth or not, not only indicates that you’d like to be left alone, but can also keep your ears warm during colder seasons. For the latter reason, headphones could be seen as an accessory to your winter outfit, but also as a utility – one for keeping warm. 

Ultimately though, headphones add this unexplainable improvement in fashion. If your outfit was a composition, over-the-ear or wire headphones create visual interest, they juxtapose the cohesiveness of your clothes. Further, maybe what makes wearing headphones so “cool” is simply because they indicate a person’s interests. Whether it’s podcasts, audiobooks, or music, what we consume auditorily is a major facet of most of our lives and lived experiences. It makes sense that when we relate to each other’s music, it’s even considered to be cool or attractive. A person that is listening to something also proves that they are in tune with their own interests and have a developed sense of self – and a developed sense of self can coincide with a developed sense of style.

At the end of the day though, establishing whether a pair of headphones is an accessory or a utility is just a matter of opinion and preference. You should buy a pair that makes you happy, no matter the ever changing standards of the fashion world – it's ultimately up to you.