A question awaits me, one that I'm sure is not new to those surrounded by the less than fashion forward. A questions that I've hated for years, probably ever since the first grade when I began dressing myself and insisted upon wearing tights with everything (yes, even jeans). This question I have come to loathe, even though I should be used to it by now, it still really annoys me when someone asks: Why are you so dressed up?
I'm terribly unaware of how exactly to respond to this question. Many a times I have simply pretended not to hear the remark, other times I have replied (in a not so gentle way) by saying that in fact I was not dressed up and assured them that I was dressed rather casually. And obviously it doesn't help that almost everyone in my grade rarely wear dresses or skirts to school, making anyone who does stand out among the jeans and t-shirts, like neon pink in a sea of black.
Of course, I also wear jeans and t-shirts but it still stands out. Because it's all about the details. It is quite easy to dress up a pair of jeans, just like it's not relatively hard to make a skirt or dress casual. If more people just paid attention to the details.. Instead of just seeing a skirt or jeans, they see the choice of shoes, the accessories or the top. It's all in the details.
I guess I've never really had that many restrictions when it came to what to wear to school. Before, I may have refrained from wearing a new skirt to school just to avoid the dread of it all. But this year, this sentence is becoming as natural as wearing 4 inch heels:
"Everyday is a fashion show and the world is your runway."
Maybe the next time someone asks the loathed question, I can reply with a nonchalant shrug.. or maybe I'll just say, "Why are you so dressed down?"
Arriverderci,
La Femme Chic