I love to realize that there was this moment I felt confident enough to go to school wearing something different, different then ‘the rest’.
Choosing what to wear was not always, choosing to be different or to stand out.
I guess it is for a lot of us always like this, or at least in the periods that blending in feels like the best option.
Fashion is kind of like a way to communicate without speaking. It also is about belonging or not belonging to a group.
In a way if i think about it now it is freedom, and limitation at the same time.
But not to drift off too much… I remember being 12 and just entering the big world (aka highschool). The first thing i wanted to do is blend-in. But very soon i made friends and felt at ease and i think when I was in my second year I when I felt the exact opposite, I wanted to stand out!
Every day was a ‘dress-up day’, when there was gymnastics on the schedule i had to bring a whole bag with very carefully curated outfits. There would be several layers, and perfectly positioned off the shoulder shirts and stockings, preferably different on each legg and headbands or scarfs to accessorize the whole shebang!
Our gym teacher once yelled out to us ‘this is not a fashion-show’
For me this was the beginning of playing around with ‘fashion’
It was the late 80’s and i think it was The Pasadenas (with their song Tribute (right on) that i saw wearing a handkerchief in their back pocket of their jeans. Don’t ask me why but to me, that was so cool. I found a dark green handkerchief in my fathers closet and the next day wore it in my back pocket to school.
It was me making my outfit personal.
It didn’t stop there, I wore flannel checkers blouses as skirts, cut off the collar off sweaters, and wore a rosary necklace (thank you Madonna). I was lucky to have a friend with the same shoe size so we could wear a different colour Converse All Stars on both feet!
The feeling of freedom in this case
that dressing up like this gave me,
is precious to me.
Because as I remember it is was confidence that made me do this!
When i noticed Lola was doing things like wearing her sweaters inside out
to school it reminded me of that feeling.
I love it when i see a girl on the streets wear a blazer as a dress or an granny-dress with high heels. The fact that they went out into the world wearing something that is not the ‘norm’ makes me happy…i hope when you see it, it makes you happy too!
Love, Eva
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