36 LOVE COLUMN
Love, the Globe:
Yes, it is a big deal Editor Isabella Bamnolker reflects upon their longtime love for fashion and the comfort and community fashion offers.
ISABELLA BAMNOLKER | PAGE EDITOR
T
here is something about fashion that captivates me. Ever since I was a child, I loved to arrange clothes together that mismatched and contradicted each other. To me, fashion is the blueprint for the highest points in my life. When I pick out an outfit to wear, my body is a canvas, each fabric and stitching is a brushstroke. I could talk about how freeing it is, to wear something you could never see yourself wearing the night before, but walk down the hallway as if you had full confidence the morning of. To me, clothes are a transcending experience, they become the framework of my creativity. Clothes bring comfort. A stormy day is otherwise intimidating and tumultuous, but with the heather gray sweatshirt that I wore during those cold nights, the feeling of warmth and familiarity engulfs me back home. It was those times of invisible suffering, that a slightly frayed hand-me-down worked as crutches, reminding me that the people who had it before, had grown too. I grew an appreciation for my loved ones because their clothes represented their own individuality and strength. When I got to middle school, I had an idea about how people wanted me to dress, and what the “trendy” clothes were. For me, fashion was a way to get back at the tiny little annoyances that made me feel insecure. In a world ubiquitous of pretentious fashion snobbery, I broke through the windowpane with a sewing machine, stitching together an outfit that would ignite a domino effect of gasps. I fondly look back on my different phases; my artist phase, my tree-hugger phase, dress over jeans phase, and most lovingly my longsleeved over short-sleeved tee phase. Growing up, I remember the trips to Goodwill with my mother and the window shopping in the Central West End. I remember the first time I came to Clayton, and suddenly questioned my family’s socioeconomic status.
I never paid attention to what brands I wore before. If I liked the color and style, then what was there to lose? I wish I could go back to the past and tell my younger self that my zest for fashion shouldn’t have been destructed by so-called fashion constructs. When I look back at pictures of my middle school days, I regress back into the line between shying away from or being my true self through fashion. I wish I could go back to middle school and try again. Because my child’s creativity or passion for fashion shouldn’t have been hidden so secretly. Now, I am a junior in high school, and I am embracing the vitality of my youth. Dressing up in bright colors and eccentric patterns gives me an outlet to channel whatever emotion I feel. If it wasn’t for fashion, life would be mundane. Now, I want to give younger people the inspiration to channel their inner artists. Everyone has an inner spark, our environments are the key players that can decide if we express it or not. My love for fashion and art stems from the luminescence of perspective it gifts me. Everyone expresses their individuality differently, and when we open our eyes to new ways of expressing ourselves, we can seek greater community. Art has given me the opportunity to redefine what it means to wear something. Whether in a small moment or a momentous event, my confidence shines better when I take advantage of something I am passionate about. Fashion has brought me closer to friends with who I lost contact. Take social media, for instance, having a medium to show my zany fashion pathways, is better than any love story I ever dreamt about. My greater message to you amazing readers is to not lose passion for something that is marked as insignificant in your environment. If you truly are passionate about something that brings you utmost joy, trust your gut. When I discovered that art made me happy, I subconsciously loved myself a little bit more.
PHOTOS BY ISABELLA BAMNOLKER | PAGE EDITOR
