I have never been a particularly feminine girl. I discovered the whole bra thing kind of late, and never have really learned how to apply makeup or do my hair. It was probably a good thing that I was a teenager during grunge, because that style was just my cup of tea! No makeup, no fancy hair, hiking boots, jeans with holes in them, flannel shirts, $1 t-shirts from goodwill.
Those were good times.
I had this purple Lakers baseball cap that I had snagged from one of my boyfriends. It was complete with cigarette burns (because don't you remember? smoking was cool in the early 90s)and athletic tape around the plastic adjustable piece. I loved that hat. Long after I'd forgotten the boy I used to wear it around campus after class was out for the day.* I had really long hair at the time which I used to wear in a ponytail underneath the hat, sometimes folded sometimes not.
However on occasion, this attire led to some confusion as to my gender.
Once in the library, a librarian came by to tell us boys to be quiet. I remarked that surely she couldn't be referring to me. This did not please her.
And one time, when I was 15, I was taking driver's ed and the instructor drove around with me for 10 hours on 4 separate occasions before asking whether I had a girlfriend. At first I wondered whether she was just incredibly open minded. Then I wondered whether she was hitting on me. And THEN I realized she thought I was a boy.
That was embarrassing.
I got over it pretty quickly. And actually, I didn't change my apparel because of it. At some point during my junior year of high school, I started wearing really short skirts with opaque tights and combat boots (I also had this adorable courderoy jumper that I wore with a green sweater and these wooden clogs), but that was about as feminine as I got until after I graduated from college. Plus, there was this new popular girl who was really pretty who we all idolized to a certain extent who dressed like that, and we copied her because she looked awesome.
I think I just didn't care all that much whether people thought I was a boy or a girl. And since I seemed to be able to attract boys I was interested in regardless, it didn't seem to matter at all. Maybe it was the, "I don't give a shit," vibe I exuded, or maybe it was because I spoke my mind boys thought I'd be easy. Meh. Who cares.
I wish I cared as little now as I did then.
*I was a day student at a boarding school, so I was typically on campus from 8AM until 10PM or so every day, including weekends.
4 Pearls of Wisdom:
I'm going in the opposite direction lately. In high school I was all cute and girlish. Now that I'm back in college, I'm lucky to get a swipe of mascara on.
Oh, that's funny. I had to wear a uniform through 12th grade, but I hated "dress-down" days because I wasn't allowed to wear what I really wanted (jeans and a flannel shirt). In college, I don't think I even owned anything that wasn't jeans, T-shirts (I would just buy the white v-neck Hanes 3-pack at the grocery store) or flannel shirts from Goodwill. With Docs, of course. :)
Recently I discovered that I look a WHOLE lot better with a little makeup (who knew eyeliner made such a big difference?), but I don't really care enough to spend the time actually doing it. I tried making a promise to myself that for a week, I would not leave the house without curling my eyelashes and putting on eyeliner (I mean, come on -- it takes 2 minutes!) but I think I made it 2 days before saying screw it! Luckily MM doesn't seem to care either way, but I really should try a LITTLE harder -- it certainly can't hurt.
LIVS -- That's funny, and I can totally relate to that. Maybe I will go buy some eye liner. I've noticed that as I get older I'm beginning to think a little makeup might help things. But then I tell myself that nobody would notice anyway since I wear glasses and can never be bothered.
Maybe when I take my script to the CVS I'll buy some eyeliner too.
Lol to the "I discovered the whole bra thing late" statement. Hilarious! I do remember the early 90s, though, and you were probably stylin' with the short skirt/combat boot combination. I so wanted some combat boots, but I lived in South florida and it was a little...toasty...for that kind of thing.
I feel the opposite about my appearance now...like at one point in my adult life, I used to put some effort into makeup, etc. Now, I wear whatever will be most comfortable for long hours at school and never wear makeup. In fact, when I do decide to put on a little lipstick for church, I half-do the makeup routine, skipping the foundation and eyeliner. Oops. It's a slippery slope, once you stop, I think.
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