Velour jumpsuit and some slippers

Every morning before school, I obsess about my hair, my skin, my outfit, etc… I’ll gaze at myself in the mirror over and over before leaving the house, asking myself, “is my hair too frizzy, are my sneakers too white? does this purse clash with my shoes?”…
Usually, missing the bus, I arrive to school late and dash through the hallway to class…. This morning I caught a glimpse of a girl in the hallway wearing orange (prison issue? scrubs?) pants paired with tap shoes – yes tap shoes, click, click, clicking down the hallway, which brought me out of my head and into immediate joy as a huge smile stretched across my face. Last season, I saw another girl wearing yellow jeans with red cowboy boots and half her hair shaved off on one side — that also really brightened my day! I love the attitude of this generation – I really do. I love the way you dress so ironically! You’ll wear whatever your little hearts desire and not a single fuck is given. Thank you for this wonderful message you send to all of us with your fun sense of style – that outside appearances mean nothing. I wish I had the courage to give less of a fuck and throw on whatever felt comfortable – maybe then I would make it to school on time and get better grades. Maybe we all would care more about the important things in life if we spent less time obsessing over trivial details like what’s covering our bodies. The fashion industry is a cruel mistress that imposes its ideals on the masses to a degree that one can never be satisfied. To keep up with fashion can be so expensive and seems to separate people into classes like some sort of fucked up caste system. Grungers, hipsters, whatever you call yourselves, dressing a little bi-polar today: Keep it UP! I love it and admire your style. I’d love to see it taken even further. I’d love to see raincoats fashioned out of green garbage bags, girls walking around with a single curler in their hair, whatever it takes to remind us all that what’s on the outside just doesn’t matter. You are beautiful inside. —The Paper-Bag Princess

This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2013.