Growing up being the fourth of seven children and the older of two girls was always challenging. This proved to be true when it came to fashion. In some ways having three older brothers helped me. I was one fierce little girl growing up, always trying to compete and keep up with my older brothers. Most of the time, I was out of my league. Keeping up with the boys meant running home to mom with fresh bruises and tears to match.
Fourth grade was a defining moment. All of my brothers got new pairs of Asics wrestling shoes because that was the new cool thing to wear. It was love at first sight - they were sleek, black, and looking almost, as if they were hugging the foot they belonged to. It took only a brief moment to decide that I too was in need of a fresh pair. This moment in passing was not really anything to write about. What I learned as a result of these big bad shoes was a lesson that still sticks with me today.
After some thought, I orchestrated a manipulative approach to squeeze a pair from my parents. I couldn’t wait to wear them to school the next day and make the fabulous debut. Black stretch pants, purple slouch socks and my big, bad, black wrestling shoes. I was sure that all of my friends would think that I was the super fly kid in the class and they would want to run out and grab a pair too! It would be a panic trend that I started. When I arrived at school and displayed them to my friends, they all liked them and thought they were neat until… the class clown made reference that they were designed for men in the wrestling trade! That was it. My newest fashion statement was over before it even began. All of a sudden my new cool shoes turned into a steady stream of WWF jokes. I was so humiliated that I wanted to tear them off my feet and burn them. I can still remember that gray feeling of being publicly ashamed for something that I really liked. Something that was not made for women, but for wrestling athletes and my cool brothers. I’ve always wondered, if I had just kept quiet and low-key about the fashion statement would it have drawn the same reaction.
The situation did require some corrective action, though. I thought of trashing them and then realized that my mom wasn’t going to be blind to the fact that the new shoes were missing-in-action. A hard moment of truth hit me – I would have to wear them and deal with the badgering from my friends. Despite all the ridicule, my shoes were still way cooler than my friends at that moment in time. Something inside me began to resonate - if my amigos didn’t like the wrestling shoes and chose to continue making fun, then there was no need to roll with shallow people. After confirming that thought in my mind, I started to feel good about my infamous kicks and wore them with pride. I rocked those things until the soles fell off.
The best part about making a silly fashion statement was realizing that it makes no difference what other people think, as long as, an individual is happy and not hurting anything in the process. In a sense, it was pure luck to learn that lesson early in the game. A little bit of embarrassment back then has probably saved my feelings from being hurt plenty of times up to this point in life.
Fourth grade was a defining moment. All of my brothers got new pairs of Asics wrestling shoes because that was the new cool thing to wear. It was love at first sight - they were sleek, black, and looking almost, as if they were hugging the foot they belonged to. It took only a brief moment to decide that I too was in need of a fresh pair. This moment in passing was not really anything to write about. What I learned as a result of these big bad shoes was a lesson that still sticks with me today.
After some thought, I orchestrated a manipulative approach to squeeze a pair from my parents. I couldn’t wait to wear them to school the next day and make the fabulous debut. Black stretch pants, purple slouch socks and my big, bad, black wrestling shoes. I was sure that all of my friends would think that I was the super fly kid in the class and they would want to run out and grab a pair too! It would be a panic trend that I started. When I arrived at school and displayed them to my friends, they all liked them and thought they were neat until… the class clown made reference that they were designed for men in the wrestling trade! That was it. My newest fashion statement was over before it even began. All of a sudden my new cool shoes turned into a steady stream of WWF jokes. I was so humiliated that I wanted to tear them off my feet and burn them. I can still remember that gray feeling of being publicly ashamed for something that I really liked. Something that was not made for women, but for wrestling athletes and my cool brothers. I’ve always wondered, if I had just kept quiet and low-key about the fashion statement would it have drawn the same reaction.
The situation did require some corrective action, though. I thought of trashing them and then realized that my mom wasn’t going to be blind to the fact that the new shoes were missing-in-action. A hard moment of truth hit me – I would have to wear them and deal with the badgering from my friends. Despite all the ridicule, my shoes were still way cooler than my friends at that moment in time. Something inside me began to resonate - if my amigos didn’t like the wrestling shoes and chose to continue making fun, then there was no need to roll with shallow people. After confirming that thought in my mind, I started to feel good about my infamous kicks and wore them with pride. I rocked those things until the soles fell off.
The best part about making a silly fashion statement was realizing that it makes no difference what other people think, as long as, an individual is happy and not hurting anything in the process. In a sense, it was pure luck to learn that lesson early in the game. A little bit of embarrassment back then has probably saved my feelings from being hurt plenty of times up to this point in life.
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