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azuriteI apologize to anyone who thinks my title is derogatory in any way; it's not meant to be. But I was constantly reminded by my cousin's method of dress and attitude, and I received an email today which brought it up again.
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Everyone needs clothes. In major metropolitan cities like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego (to name a few), there are hundreds of stores to get clothes at. You probably know most of them, if not by reputation, then by someone else having clothes from there, etc.
Macy*s. Nordstrom. Ross. Mervyns. Target. Forever 21.
Some more popular than others-- Gap, Niketown, Skechers, Wet Seal, Abercrombie and Fitch.
I used to read this magazine called "Jump" and their tagline was "for girls who dare to be real". Someone please tell me what is REAL about coating your face in makeup.
My cousin is the owner of the world's largest privately owned makeup collection. No lie. You won't find her in Guinness or anything, but she is. Her parents -a lawyer and a real estate appraiser- make dough faster than a chef, and she gets $20 a day bare minimum spending cash. Despite her "need" to look ultra-fem with "curly lashes, perfect complexion, and stand-out eyes", she acts like a tomboy and has the attitude of a biker or a truckie.
Yet I tolerate her. Why? She's an individualist. No one else is like her on the planet. I like letting her make me up, even if my eyebrows sting for days after they've been plucked to perfection.
But there is a fine line between individualism and being another pull-out model wannabe. I've seen girls in gaggles at theme parks, all wearing tube tops. The "in" thing. They were all at least 15 pounds overweight for these, and it wasn't just that it looked bad, but it spoke volumes about who they were, without even needing to talk to them.
That's life these days, especially for teenagers: everything is based on your brand name clothing, your hot and pricey lo-rider car, or your bf/gf. People judge before they know you, and it's all on appearance. Or by titles, like "gay", "lesbian", "homeless", etc. I've never been a 'hater' and never plan to. I admit, I have used words that have double meanings in a derogatory sense before; but I'm intelligent, and I never say them to outwardly insult someone. e.x. If I say "that look is so gay" I don't mean the look likes other looks of the same look. O_o Whatever. It's teen lingo. I have no problem with gays or lesbians.
But so many people base things off of what they see or hear second-hand, and never go up to a person, introduce themselves, and find out. Someone's "look" can destroy their reputation or create a bad one before they even say "hi".
My advice to anyone who cares is: don't listen to trends. It might be cool now, but who's to say it'll be cool three months from now. Do you need it, or can you spend $65 on something you *need*? Think about things you LIKE, and you know look good on you, regardless of trends or what other people think. Don't let cliques or magazines rule your world-- no one is ugly, no one is perfect, and no one deserves to have their self-esteem crushed by a $2.99 piece of high-gloss paper mag.
Individualism -personality- is what people look for in friends, companions, and lovers. There were some very individual girls at my school-- one always wore grunge looks, with fishnet ripped stockings, shredded jean shorts, converse shoes, and striped tanks over black long-sleeved shirts. She was the Daria of our school, and popular for it. She didn't dress "nice" for picture day, graduation, or stress over what to wear to prom. Her makeup consisted only of green hair dye and black eye paint smudged lightly under her eyes. Maybe some wild colored glitter lipstick.
She was herself, and that was all that mattered.
If a school tries to "limit" your individualism because they say "no tank tops" or "no halters" maybe you should stop and think: why would they do this. Do you like getting hit on by weird guys? Getting sexually harassed just because of the way you look? Maybe it's okay to be proud of your body, but there are others out there who don't have that kind of self-esteem, and someone who flaunts it to the point of being disgusting is ruining everything for them.
Not everyone grows at the same pace. Some people have lighter or darker skin and eyes than others. Being individual is being comfortable with who you are, but not overdoing it. It's being stable and steady in your method of dress, attitude, and so forth. It's not being the copycat of your best friend, or of the girl on page 128 of Teen.
Be yourself. There's no such thing as someone who succeeded at life being anything else. That's called a wolf in sheep's clothing, and we all know what happened to the wolf in that story.
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Everyone needs clothes. In major metropolitan cities like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego (to name a few), there are hundreds of stores to get clothes at. You probably know most of them, if not by reputation, then by someone else having clothes from there, etc.
Macy*s. Nordstrom. Ross. Mervyns. Target. Forever 21.
Some more popular than others-- Gap, Niketown, Skechers, Wet Seal, Abercrombie and Fitch.
I used to read this magazine called "Jump" and their tagline was "for girls who dare to be real". Someone please tell me what is REAL about coating your face in makeup.
My cousin is the owner of the world's largest privately owned makeup collection. No lie. You won't find her in Guinness or anything, but she is. Her parents -a lawyer and a real estate appraiser- make dough faster than a chef, and she gets $20 a day bare minimum spending cash. Despite her "need" to look ultra-fem with "curly lashes, perfect complexion, and stand-out eyes", she acts like a tomboy and has the attitude of a biker or a truckie.
Yet I tolerate her. Why? She's an individualist. No one else is like her on the planet. I like letting her make me up, even if my eyebrows sting for days after they've been plucked to perfection.
But there is a fine line between individualism and being another pull-out model wannabe. I've seen girls in gaggles at theme parks, all wearing tube tops. The "in" thing. They were all at least 15 pounds overweight for these, and it wasn't just that it looked bad, but it spoke volumes about who they were, without even needing to talk to them.
That's life these days, especially for teenagers: everything is based on your brand name clothing, your hot and pricey lo-rider car, or your bf/gf. People judge before they know you, and it's all on appearance. Or by titles, like "gay", "lesbian", "homeless", etc. I've never been a 'hater' and never plan to. I admit, I have used words that have double meanings in a derogatory sense before; but I'm intelligent, and I never say them to outwardly insult someone. e.x. If I say "that look is so gay" I don't mean the look likes other looks of the same look. O_o Whatever. It's teen lingo. I have no problem with gays or lesbians.
But so many people base things off of what they see or hear second-hand, and never go up to a person, introduce themselves, and find out. Someone's "look" can destroy their reputation or create a bad one before they even say "hi".
My advice to anyone who cares is: don't listen to trends. It might be cool now, but who's to say it'll be cool three months from now. Do you need it, or can you spend $65 on something you *need*? Think about things you LIKE, and you know look good on you, regardless of trends or what other people think. Don't let cliques or magazines rule your world-- no one is ugly, no one is perfect, and no one deserves to have their self-esteem crushed by a $2.99 piece of high-gloss paper mag.
Individualism -personality- is what people look for in friends, companions, and lovers. There were some very individual girls at my school-- one always wore grunge looks, with fishnet ripped stockings, shredded jean shorts, converse shoes, and striped tanks over black long-sleeved shirts. She was the Daria of our school, and popular for it. She didn't dress "nice" for picture day, graduation, or stress over what to wear to prom. Her makeup consisted only of green hair dye and black eye paint smudged lightly under her eyes. Maybe some wild colored glitter lipstick.
She was herself, and that was all that mattered.
If a school tries to "limit" your individualism because they say "no tank tops" or "no halters" maybe you should stop and think: why would they do this. Do you like getting hit on by weird guys? Getting sexually harassed just because of the way you look? Maybe it's okay to be proud of your body, but there are others out there who don't have that kind of self-esteem, and someone who flaunts it to the point of being disgusting is ruining everything for them.
Not everyone grows at the same pace. Some people have lighter or darker skin and eyes than others. Being individual is being comfortable with who you are, but not overdoing it. It's being stable and steady in your method of dress, attitude, and so forth. It's not being the copycat of your best friend, or of the girl on page 128 of Teen.
Be yourself. There's no such thing as someone who succeeded at life being anything else. That's called a wolf in sheep's clothing, and we all know what happened to the wolf in that story.
