I think it's just one of those "formative years" things. You start being less controlled by your parents, and then you want to make your own choices about how you look and how you act and so on. I was the only kid in my econ class who was willing to admit that I owned pretty much everything used--or anything used. I'm also the only person I've ever seen walking around in Chinese blouses.
These choices may all be more "me" than various alternatives, but I can see how my stubbornness to be true to myself has caused me a lot of troubles over the years. It's caused advantages--for some reason, professors seem to universally think I'm kind of neat--but also disadvantages, because my peers can't get past the wrapping to see what's inside. It's like... if there's a village, and for some reason, it's a prime raider attack site. It may be anti-military, but at the same time you can see the reason to raise a militia to protect itself.
I could go buy T-shirts, or I can go along with my plan of learning how to sew myself some old-fashioned blouses, vests, and trousers. I could let my foundations of knowledge stagnate in hopes of talking a bit less like an encyclopedia, or I can struggle on. Superficial choices, to be sure, but they're still choices--and now is the time to choose.
Been there, done that.
Learned from the experience and decided to stick to my true self.
But well, everyone should decide for themself, how they want to live.
Oh my, I thought metaphors were there, to make things easier understandable.
Took me several attempts as a non-native speaker to understand it (or maybe I'm just slow)
From what I've experienced, it's a waste of time to conform with people, who are not willing to look past your appearance, as they are not interested in what's behind it.
Of course, I can't (yet) speak for surroundings like universities, where you have a completely different level of education.
I had several occasions where people told me to wear/buy something, because I would "look good in it".
When I give in, I get this constant feeling of insecurity, like if I was denying who I really am.
Same goes with the way I speak.
I'm constantly using "High German", up to the point, where I feel weird, when trying to use slang.
Even if it sounds silly, I see my identity (which includes the way I dress, as well as the way I talk/behave) as a shield and feel quite defenseless if deprived of it.