When I was much younger, I never cared
about how I looked. I chose clothes based on their level of comfort, with
hardly a consideration for color combination or fit. I had no control over my
hair; my dad was strict in that regard, and mostly he required us to wear our
hair like a soldier’s crew cut: no mussing about, no fuss.
I think it was in college when I
started treating clothes as something more than fabric to cover my body with.
You could say that it was in college when I realized that life is easier when
you look a certain part: people are nicer to you, and you become more
confident. Maybe the second is a consequence of the first, which doesn’t really
matter; bottom line, life is easier.
So I started developing a certain look
that reflected who I was as a person, and which made me look more attractive
than, well, how I’d look if I didn’t do anything at all. It took a while before
I developed the confidence to start experimenting with fashion, and lately,
I’ve become much more “progressive” with my sartorial choices.
I’ve also experimented with my hair,
although I’ve developed a preference for jagged, uneven and spiky edges. I
usually put Clay-Doh (Bench) or Goth Juice (Lush) to keep the style in place;
the former, when I want a dry, matte, casual look, and the latter when I want
it to look more shiny and businesslike.
I tend to be much more conservative in
the office though, since I work in the law industry, which is an industry known
for its less than liberal point of view. I don’t mind though, since in that
context I usually just experiment with color (not too loud) and fit. My hair is
still spiky and jagged, but I’m not budging on that one.
I enjoy dressing up. Some people prefer
to wear casual stuff all the time, even when going out to dinner. I find that
frustrating, because I prefer that when I’m going out to dinner with friends,
we all look like, well, we are going out to dinner. I dislike seeing people who
look like slobs when they are in another person’s company. For me, dressing up
is a way of showing another person that you respect him or her enough to
actually make some effort.
I’m one of those people who consider
what I wear an extension of who I am, which, at first, seems superficial,
although under closer analysis isn’t really. It is part of me, in the same way
that what I write in this blog is a facet of my personality. It does not wholly
define who I am fundamentally, but it is one piece in this large puzzle I call
my life.
And to my dying breath I will argue
that fashion is art, and though ephemeral, when executed masterfully, serves to
deliver the same breathtaking magnificence embodied by the best examples of
prose and poetry. I am not its most talented proponent definitely, but I don’t
think it’s that hard to learn to appreciate its beauty.
