Secondhand Wardrobe Style
I grew up in sunny southern California and always wanted to look like the typical California girl—long straight blond hair, tall, tan. Too bad that I was born with dark curly hair, pale skin and only grew to be just over five feet tall. I never gave any thought to bleaching my hair or getting on any stretching machines, but I did spend an awful lot of time trying to change the color of my skin. I guess I was successful, if you think sun damage passes as something attractive.
It wasn’t until I was grown up that I understood that style is about trying to look your best, not trying to look like everybody else. My style suggestion for the day is to figure out what looking your best means. Re-working the lyrics of an ancient song, you’ve got to accentuate the positive and conceal the negative. We all have good and not-so-good aspects to our physical selves, and it’s ok to show the good and hide the rest. But you first have to know which is which. If you don’t have a clue, get in front of the mirror and ask these questions: What is it about me that looks nice? What would I rather hide? Remember to be kind to yourself while you’re looking. Do not compare yourself to the extraordinarily tall, skinny, young people on TV and in magazines who have the benefit of stylists, makeup artists, hairdressers and airbrushing. If this is really, really hard for you, you can also ask a loved one whom you trust to help.
Back when I was a teenager, I didn’t understand that the idealized image of the California girl isn’t the only kind of attractiveness that there is. It would have been both healthier and a better use of my time to get to know my own strengths rather than trying to look like something that was impossible for me.