How do I look?

Ute had a recent post about fashion that made me ponder a bit.
Inspired me to write this.

Go read it. I'll wait.

Oh good, you're back.

I had suspenders, too. Rainbows. I wore them with a black shirt and HASH jeans. Remember them? Star on the back pockets? $30.00 in 1970's money?

I liked the way they looked and I liked the way it made me feel to wear them, but that was really my only foray into what was trendy.

My family did not have the money for me to indulge my tastes anyway. I was lucky to have two pairs of pants and two shirts to mix and match. I saw what the other girls were wearing, and all I could do was wish and try to blend into the background. Once a year, my grandparents would send me something really nice from Colorado, and right after Christmas, I would feel totally different when I went to school. I held my head up. I felt just like everyone else. I usually wore the outfit out by March.

::sigh::

What I wore, or more importantly, what I did not have to wear was very meaningful to me. My whole identity was tied up in it. I figured I could be the person I admired... that everyone admired, if I only had the right clothes.

I have pondered this topic from time to time as it applies to Lyssa. We have an agreement. She can wear whatever she wants as long as I can afford to buy it (which means that we shop at Goodwill most of the time) and as long as it's not what her dad and I would consider too revealing.

We had an amusing discussion about this a few weeks ago. For years we've had the same agreement, and it's never been a problem.

For some reason I told her that as long as she's not stinky or showing any cleavage, (either upper front, lower front or rear.. and didn't we giggle over that one! ) that I really don't care what she wears. And she said, "But it's okay if my cleavage is stinky?"
She's a smartass.

ANYWAY...

She wears things I would never consider putting on her. She chooses colors I wouldn't wear. She has a hat (you've seen it more than once here.. and she made a similar one for a friend) and often wears goggles when other people would wear sunglasses. She has two dog collars that she actually wears around her neck. Lots of bracelets and necklaces and stuff. Bright green Converse high tops. Lots of black and dark blue t-shirts.

People look at her, especially when she's wearing her hat and goggles.

She likes jeans with all kinds of embellishments. Occasionally we find some in a department store on clearance and I buy them, otherwise, we get those at Goodwill, too.

I'm not telling you this because I don't approve of her choices. They're well within the parameters we've set forth, and we're fine with it.

But what gets me, what makes me smile, feel great pride.. is her confidence. She likes what she's wearing all the time. She holds her head up, she's outgoing and friendly and funny, and I think her ability to express herself through what she wears is wonderful.

She's never been subjected to the Jury of What's Cool that I found in school.

She doesn't care what anyone thinks.

I still haven't fully developed that state of mind, and I'm 48.

She totally has it.

She's 15.