CjB

I am someone who takes a good deal of care with how I adorn my body, specifically based in how I dress.  I have always had a love of clothing because I feel it is a very important form of art as expression.  I am interested in unique designs, styles and fits.  I often even alter and adorn clothing I buy from second-hand stores to create unique looks.  However, I do not have a consistent style from day to day, rather, I treat every different occasion in my life like an opportunity to wear a costume.  I am very cautious that I am respectfully and appropriately dressed for every occasion, but I like to do so in a way that also illustrates my personal style.

I developed my value of appropriate dress from my mother.  In her first job out of college, she was working for the Forest Service in Alaska.  She was young and did not have much work experience.  She was the lowest level of government employee in an office dominated by males and was trying to work her way up.  One day, she and her close girlfriend were sharing their frustrations with some of the gender discrimination they faced in the workplace.  They decided that day to use some of their savings to order two suits each from a Talbots catalog.  My mother still insists this was one of the best investments in her life.  She and her female friend and colleague showed up the day after the suits arrived in professional attire in an office full of men in muck boots and jeans.  After people got over the initial shock of their immediate outfit changes, they were treated with much more regard and respect.  My mom and her friend climbed the levels of government employment very quickly and both ended up leaving the office to go to graduate school.  This investment in herself and the way she presents herself to the world showed people that my mom valued her work and wanted to be taken seriously.

She told me this story a lot growing up and explained the importance of donating to the nonprofit Dress for Success.  Now, because of this, my mother still insists that it is always best to be overdressed than underdressed.  For events like weddings, funerals, and even things like job interviews it can be difficult to always determine what the appropriate attire is.  However, one thing you can be sure is that overdressing for the occasion will always be less uncomfortable and send a better message than underdressing.  This is because dress and appearance is integrated deeply into our culture, and the way people present themselves sends a message to other people.  By dressing in an appropriate and respectful way you can say, without words, that you respect other people, value your personal wellbeing, and that you take things seriously.

However, all that being said, its important for me to also have fun with what I wear on occasions where it is appropriate.  For example, Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays because it is an opportunity to be creative and show people another side of you.  I have always preferred homemade costumes with a funny twist to ones that are “cute”.  For example, last year I was Moes Shrute, the beet farmer brother of Dwight Shrute from The Office.  I choose costumes like this because it gives me a chance to make connections with other people who understand the joke.

Another aspect of using creativity in dress is my hobby of altering and adorning clothes.  My best friend and I have very similar values whe it comes to body adornment and clothing, specifically.  We buy a lot of our clothes from second hand stores because we both value being fiscally responsible, especially at this point in life when we have very limited financial resources.  However, just because my clothes are not new does not mean they cannot be interesting or beautiful.  I also value creativity and art and love the opportunity to integrate it into my daily wardrobe.  Together we have designed and created my own jewelry from craft supplies around our houses.  I have purchased sweaters and embellished them with different buttons and decorative trimming to make them unique and more interesting, and I have even painted old pairs of shoes to create new looks.  One snow day in high school we got together with pairs of old white Ked’s shoes and used a dye kit to create a tie dye pattern covering the shoes.  We wore them to homecoming and even created pairs of our dates.  Because we love the craft of clothing as adornment, my friends and I want that to be the focal point of our creativity and thus do not wear much makeup and often do not even paint our nails or do other typical feminine body adornments.

My style has changed over the years and has been inspired from a variety of influences from my mother’s fashion, to magazines, to old music videos.  However, the one thing that has remained constant is my love of clothing as a creative outlet and the value I place on dressing appropriately for each occasion.