As a sit this morning at my coffee table next to the window watching as the snow trickles down to I try to reflect on how I dress and customize myself. Right now at home I’m wearing an Oregon sweatshirt, black yoga pants, long gray polka dot socks, and slippers all just to keep myself warm. During the weeks of school I typically wear one of my blue jeans, with a nice sweater with a scarf usually, I always wear some type of boot that I own either knee high, ankle boots, or UGG boots. I typically wear my hair down, it’s the one feature that most know me by. I always wear makeup when at school; it’s become a habit of mine over the years really. As for accessories, I always have to wear earrings even though at most times no one can tell I’m wearing them because my curly hair gets in the way. Another piece of jewelry that rarely comes off is a butterfly ring that was given to me from my mom for my fifteenth birthday. In my culture turning fifteen is a major stepping-stone; the ring is a constant reminder of my culture and how important it is to me.
I make the choices I do, first to feel comfortable in my own skin. It has taken me time to accept my body and be happy with myself. What I wear is just another way to express myself; I love color so you’ll always see me with a pop of color. I don’t wear clothing that is too revealing, I was once in that stage in high school where I thought that showing skin was a good idea. I thought that I needed to impress people, but as I have gotten older I realize there is no need for that and the only person to dress for is myself. I try to look presentable everyday especially since I work in an office setting I never want to walk-in looking unprepared. As for wearing makeup, I feel the most comfortable with it. When I was younger I had skin issues and was always self-conscious about it, so when I was allowed to wear makeup I used it so I would be happy at looking myself in the mirror. Over the years I have changed the way in which a dress, it wasn’t until high school that I began to wear my hair down. Before then I hated my curly hair because I didn’t look like every other girl. I always had it up but in high school that was when I realized that it was fine to not look like everyone else and that my curly hair made me unique. I also wear contacts, all through elementary I wore glasses and I hated it so once I was old enough I got contacts. To this day I still wear contacts everyday, I never liked how I looked in glasses and I hated that I needed to wear them. It wasn’t until this year actually that I started to feel more comfortable wearing them in public.
One of the strongest values we hold as a family is being a hard worker. My parents have worked since they were little, since they had to provide for their family. During the week you would never see my parents dresses up, they were always in the work clothes. Usually their old tshirts and jeans, my dad worked in the woods cutting down trees so he would always come home covered in debris and dirt. Now he works as a construction worker and he always comes home with something all over his clothes. That’s how we know he was as at work. On the weekends my parents would dress in their nicer clothes. Weekends were when as a family we would go out. Saturday night we always went to church so we always would dress up for that, my mom always made sure that my brother and I looked nice.
Most of my friends dress as any other students. None of them have tattoos, but they all have ear piercings. One of my coworkers has tattoos on both of his arms, and he has always expressed how he will eventually want a sleeve. I find it quite interesting since you won’t necessarily think of him having tattoos. How my peers dress or any body adornment is in some way difficult to determine just what their beliefs and values are. While what you wear is another way to express yourself there is also so much more to what you wear and what body adornment you may or may not have that defines you.
Even though I put thought into what I wear, and how I wear things I am constantly thinking of how people perceive me. For me it’s difficult not to care, I’ve always had people criticizing me about how I look and such. So I know what it is like to be judged and categorized by what you wear, based on appearance alone. I’m not saying that I don’t do the same to others but I try not too because I know the feeling.