A close family member said to me recently “Oh god, you will never believe what Samuel L. Jackson wore the other day.” Intrigued I asked what. “A white suit! I mean talk about ‘Ooh everyone look at me!’” “Maybe he just likes white.” “Oh come on! Of course he just wanted the attention!” “I think he probably gets enough of that just from being Samuel L. Jackson.” “No! No! It’s the same with that silly Bonham Carter women who dresses like an 80’s bag lady.”
This made me think for a moment before I carefully replied “I wear some fairly alternative stuff sometimes and have my hair bright colours, do you think I’m some attention seeking missile?” “Obviously you want people looking at you.” “Ha! Whaaat!? You think that’s why I wear stuff that I just happen to love? To get attention – seriously?” Slightly more uncertain this time she replied “Well…I’m not saying you crave the attention but you are obviously really confident to wear things like that.”
This made me really sad because I realised she had no clue about how I feel around 70% of the time and had somehow missed that I’ve battled with confidence issues my whole life. There are some days where I would gladly steal the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter so I could get around unnoticed…But I’d still be wearing teal dip dye jeans and patent 18 hole Dr Martens underneath though.
I also got to wondering wether other people judge me as quickly as she judged the 
celebrities. Over the years I’ve known several people with alternative styles including my boyfriend who used to wear a mixture of punk and hippie clothes. It certainly wasn’t for attention, in fact if they had tried to change their style e that would have felt fake to them.
I have to point out that I don’t have anything against people who like attention and want to make a statement and I don’t think my relative does either. She’d just prefer they did it in a ‘suitable way’ whatever ever that is. Personally, if someone wanted to walk along the street singing and balancing a pineapple on their head (I have witnessed this) it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.
Actually I should say it wouldn’t rile me because she seemed genuinely annoyed that these celebrities were dressed like this. Full of scorn and judgment yes, but also pretty miffed. I think I know where it stems from but I’m not going to go phsycho-analysing my relative right now.
Basically it made me think two things….
Wouldn’t it be great in 2016 if we could put aside our own emotional baggage and hasty assumptions and judge someone on their actions as a person, rather than some animated mannequin?
Wouldn’t it be great in 2016 if we try our best not to worry about other peoples shallow assumptions and just dress how ever the hell we want – even if that means accessorising with a pineapple.
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You aren’t alone if the words ‘animated mannequin’ are now playing on your mind and giving you chills lol
Chrissie xx
Vamp It Up 