Saturday 9 April 2011

The Conformity Police Are Out to Get Me!

Currently I'm sat at my dining room table (although I'd love to be outside!) with Poirot on in the background - he's just getting to the whodunnit bit - and I am perfectly content. This is why I realise that, although I love being a student, I really do love homelife, the south coast and being surrounded by people that do not conform to popular society.

Within ten minutes of being off the train I was with fellow vintage ladies at the Vintage Hair Lounge, Classy Chassis and Catherine Wright from Hepwright's Vintage Emporium - I will explain why I was there in another blog, but I think it will be very exciting! And let me tell you! I have truly missed being in an environment where people are not told "Oh...that's not from Topshop, is it?" or "Why do you were that and not things that normal people wear?"! I was wearing just my Freddie's of Pinewood dungarees and black boots with my hair tied up in a blue headscarf - so the regular attire for when I can relax at home - but I was still being complimented on my appearance and did not stand out from the crowd.

At 6'+ I stand out in most crowds - except at family gatherings where I am surprisingly short - and I am really self consious about it. I was bullied as a child for being so tall and lanky and I think the damage has stuck with me throughout my teenage years, and I fear it will be with me forever. In addition to the whole height issue, I have choosen to wear clothes that are not the norm, are not usually from the highstreet, and are rarely seen worn by other people on a daily basis - who else has a rockabilly in the office?  I think other stereotypes are becoming more accepted but rockabilly/vintage is still a little marmite to society (by that I mean you either love it or you hate it). But all the comments have started to get to me and towards the end of the second semester I found myself completely giving up on vintage clothing and styling (even my rolled fringe disappeared!) and mentioning it in conversation because I was so fed up of being shot down or being told I was weird.

As well as this, maybe its the fact that we were new students desperate to find friends that we just clustered to the first people we met. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the girls I live with, but even they are judgemental on the way I dress and my lifestyle at home. I think these comments are the ones that cut the deepest because they are the people I am closest too whilst being so far from home. However, Liverpool as a city is a city that has its own independent style and anyone who doesn't wear it is a foreigner to Merseyside. It is there that I get odd looks, points, and even comments muttered under the breath and these cut me too. I know a lot of you will be screaming "So what?!" but I really am that self concious and perhaps a little paranoid of being different or judged.

I did not want this blog to be a self-pitying entry but the subject has been weighing me down. So, I will take these three weeks at home to wear whatever I like before returning to the judgemental place I call university and going undercover to protect myself from the conformity police that are coming to get me! And I truly hope they never catch me because I really don't want to be average!

1 comment:

Ria said...

Oh Hannah this makes me miss you so <3
Do these people not know that the vintage look is very much in fashion! 50's tea dresses and printed head scarves are being sold in New Look for goodness sake.
Also doesn't it say something about your friends that they feel they have to dress a certain way to fit it, whereas you are the one brave enough to step out as you are in a new place?
Chin up babe! xoxo