I have four younger sisters, one of them (R) is always determined to be different and I respect that but sometimes I wonder if struggling against the “mainstream” is worth it or if it really makes any difference in the end. Yesterday she told me that she was going to her year 10 formal (Junior Prom for American readers) dressed as Pikachu because seriously dressing up for those types of events is apparently a “popularity contest”.
For some odd reason this made me a bit annoyed, perhaps because getting dressed up for my formal made me feel special and happy and her implication was that that feeling was vapid (which undoubtedly says more about how I feel than her). Or perhaps it was based on my inner bullshit detector that told me that dressing up as Pikachu was a way of participating in a popularity contest of its own kind, it’s still a statement and it’s still a fashion choice.
I tried to explain to her that I don’t disagree with her choice but that if you dress as a Pikachu you still ultimately participate in the “game” of popularity and that you can never really opt out, all you can do is become comfortable enough with yourself to accept what you do and don’t like and how you look.
Then I called her a Hipster and frankly the gloves were off. I started composing a song, my favourite line of which goes “Crazy Pikachu Hipster, plays vintage twister” which I sang to her over the phone. She told me that my song was so bad Kanye would be singing it which seems unnecessarily harsh.
I’m not 100% proud of where I went with that and R if you are reading this I love you and always will for a million reasons, one of which is that you go your own way. I was a freaky little outcast when I was a teenager so I know how that feels and all I ever wanted to hear was someone say “I got your back”. I totally have your back and here is a picture of a super cute Pikachu to cheer you up, this is a graphic representation of how excited I am to be seeing you soon. Gotta catch em all!
What do you think? Does making a statement with your clothes mean a lot to you? Is dressing contrary to expectations still a statement?