I woke up in the middle of the night suddenly aware of the middle school-level thinking and internal biases that are already coming through in my "fashion" writing. Oh, this WILL be a fluffy fashion blog, don't you worry, but I realized that thankfully some things HAVE changed about my thinking since my sister and I were in middle school.
First, I don't always WANT to be "typical." I am an artist (sometimes!) and (sometimes!) I don't want to be a boring old sports mom of three. I still want to be a campfire hippie (sometimes!) or an actress or a dancer or a poet (sometimes). And maybe I'll even dress like one (someday). And most of the time, I am grateful to say, what I'm wearing is truly the least of my concerns.
But, more importantly, I started to imagine what would happen if all my friends suddenly decided to "look typical," whatever that means. Shudder. I basically take it for granted that I have good friends of different races, religions, sexual orientations, body types, financial backgrounds, political views, ages, genders, abilities, and belief systems, and I genuinely love them all. And, to keep it relevant, I love the way they look and dress. (I especially adore the way the artistic ones dress, but that's another story.)
And sometimes I just want to talk with my diverse and beautiful friends about whether our butts look big in certain pants or whether we can pull off black tights in April. You know, let's discuss the little insecurities that make us all human.
So, as I continue to blog only about mind-numbing fashion dilemmas, I will also continue to explore some of my own biases, blocks, and challenges, even if that deeper-level thinking usually takes place offline.
In the meantime, I have decided to change the title of this blog to honor the beautiful diversity of my readers and the growth of my thinking since middle school:
So, (drum roll, please) this blog is now called "Do I Look Typical?" (read with one eyebrow raised and the emphasis on "look"). . . because, really, there's no such thing.