Fashion. Who are you and how does what you wear influence your identity?
Our hero’s hairy arm in DOOM. Would modern fashions suggest something more meterosexual?
Even the word ‘fashion’ is synonymous with trends. But for every culture there is a counter-culture. If I’ve learnt anything from my interactions on the Internet with people from around the world it is to appreciate diversity. The idea that, romantically, there is ‘someone for everyone’ seems quite trite until you stop to appreciate the sheer scale of fetish present within human sexuality. Whatever body image qualms you have, there’s a very good chance somebody else may appreciate what you resent.
[ad#adsense250]Fashions too can be about tribes and belonging. In this way fashion can become quite functional. You identify with a group, and they identify you by your garb. We are all familiar with the stereotypes. Emos. Goths. (Emo-goths.) Punks.
I want to reinvent myself. I’ve decided my body, my face, are basically blank canvases waiting to be styled. But into what? And is it disingenuous to take such a deliberate approach to such things? Would something more organic and less dramatic ultimately prove more emotionally honest? I keep coming back to wishy-washy concepts such as ‘being yourself’ (whoever that is), and, actually, that doesn’t help me in the slightest.
And what motivates this desire for change? Wanting to fit in? Wanting to be more palatable to peers and others? Wanting to differentiate myself from others? A desire for attention? Probably all these things and then some.
Writing this I am suddenly reminded of the lyrics of Sophie B. Hawkins’ Carry Me. She sings:
I don’t wanna be too smart
I don’t wanna talk too fast
I don’t wanna look too precious
First impressions never last
There’s always complications
Weird vibrations
Frustrations
Have patience
I want to fit in, I want to stand out, I want to be loved and adored – but for who I am, not because I am playing a role or appearing as a ‘type’.
In spite of everything I am basically back where I started, trying things, experimenting to see what ‘feels’ right. But I would like to have fun with it. I want to present the best version of myself to the world. I want to look good because I want to feel good, and one will have at least some bearing on the other. Here goes nothing…
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I think the only way our Doom hero would have bare arms is if he was a body builder. There’s just something too sexy about a man with a little hair.
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