Saturday 14 May 2016

Flower Goth Queen


 As a CIE-free summer approaches I have been thinking about changes I can bring into my life. Big, small, it doesn’t matter as all changes are welcome. Every summer passes with the promise during exam stress to make it great, unforgettable and highly productive but every time I let go of all milestones and goals, become lazy and don’t take full advantage of all my free time. Becoming a couch potato is easy too if you have TV shows you have been neglecting and need to catch up on in summer (which is why I have been staying on track with my TV show viewing throughout my academic year). This year, I’m determined to go ALL IN and be my very best self. I have been maintaining three lists- one is for all the big, important study and future related goals I plan to meet; one is just for all the creative things I plan to do this summer and one is labeled ‘All the small things’. ‘All the small things’ consists of any vision I have had for myself that needs to take place this summer. It includes meeting people I haven’t met in the LONGEST time, reading certain books, hosting certain parties etc. On this list, scrawled in black ink is ‘Dress the way YOU want to’.

Here’s news for you: I have moved on from the emo subculture I was obsessed with during my early teen years (those who were in Bayview with me DEFINITELY know) to a ‘flower child’, as described by…well, a lot of people now. It’s not just flowers that I have grown to love so much that I wish I could be a florist on an island in Turkey, but plants in general. I plan to go plant shopping with my friend Manal soon after her exams end and I don’t know why I’m so excited about the prospect. Along with the flower child label that I apparently identify with now, I have also very slowly started making fashion choices that seem scary to make because they would make you STAND OUT and that has become a frightening idea?? This seems ridiculous to me now because this stops me from putting together outfits that excite me, for the sake of not bringing too much attention towards me. Now, a vintage, embroidered varsity jacket with a raw silk camisole and a ‘Ramleela’ choker sounds like the sort of outfit that will seem like an accomplishment once I get to wear it. For now I am making small changes for example wearing purple lipstick and doing something different and slightly daring with my hair. Up till now I have tried Princess Leia buns and most recently, long pigtails that remind me of Wednesday from ‘ The Addams Family’, as pictured in this post. I strangely felt extremely confident in both hairstyles, and they looked great! Hence, I decided to subject myself to my friend Shanzeh’s camera (MODELING IS SO AWKWARD I’M NOT MADE FOR IT AT ALL). Among the plants I sat and ‘modeled’, which was me just being very wary of the wasp above my head, leading to the wide-eyed picture.







 Nevertheless, I think these pictures came out great. The lesson learnt from this post SHOULD be to wear whatever you want, however you want to. This is the time to experiment and dye your hair purple or get a septum piercing, or just wear jean jackets all the time. I personally, have decided to become a flower goth queen who will be slaying Instagram this summer, and slaying LIFE this summer as I dance in parks after dark with friends, smell like fruit constantly(Thanks, Bath and Body Works) and become the very person thirteen-year-old Mana would pin on her Pinterest board as a muse.