Tag: style

Dressing up Neutrals: How to Wear Neutral Colors Without Feeling Boring

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Before I get into this post about wearing neutrals, I wanted to apologize to all my readers for not updating my LGBThursdays recently. I’m currently in the processing of adding autism advocacy to this blog, and LGBThursdays will switch off every other week with those posts. For now, I apologize for the lag, but I want the new addition to be as smooth as possible.

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I love color. Color is my go-to when it comes to wardrobe. Color and glitter. I’m well known for wearing all-rainbow outfits, or daring colors that draw attention to me. But I also use neutrals a lot, and I own a lot of neutrals. I wanted to talk about how, as a unique fashionista, I navigate the problem of making neutral colored clothing fun.

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LGBThursday: Is There a Such Thing as “Gay Fashion Sense?”

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If you’ve ever looked at an effeminate-looking guy with excellent fashion sense and thought to yourself, “He must be gay,” then you’re guilty of doing what I think we all sometimes do – stereotyping based on clothing and appearance. I’m no stranger to being on both sides of this, so today I’m going to get to the bottom of the “gay fashion sense” debacle, debunk some myths about how LGBTQA people dress, and discuss how my fashion style plays into my sexual orientation.

Two things that are near and dear to me often come together in the same sentence – being LGBTQA and my fashion sense. I’m openly bisexual, and most people who encounter me on a personal level know that I am. I also wear as many colors as I can in a day, and was known as “The Tutu Girl” at my high school. I never thought of these two things as connected, but it’s strange how often people ask about my orientation simply based on what I wear.

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Fashion with a Heart: Wearing to Support Non-Profits and Social Justice Organizations

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There’s only one thing I’m more passionate about than the arts – and that’s helping others. Whether it’s through donating my time or my money, I love non-profit, service work and social justice organizations that are dedicated to helping someone else. (Even if – okay, especially if, that someone is furry.)

I remember when my obsession with helping people and animals really began. I was eight at the time, and I found a local cat outside who looked hurt. His ear was bleeding, and he was scared. I suspected that his owners – my neighbor – abused him, so I coaxed him into my arms and snuck him into my house.

When my mom found me with the black-and-white ragamuffin a couple hours later, it warmed her heart that I cared so much – but she told me that we had to return the cat to its home. Fortunately, several weeks later, the wife showed up on our doorstep holding the poor cat. “Can you guys take him in, please? My husband says he’s going to drive down the highway and drop him off on the side of the road if I can’t get anyone to take him in.” The cat looked worse than before, and we instantly said yes.

We nursed our new cat, Drew, back to health and kept him safe. He was always afraid of certain things, like yelling and people raising their fists, but I was just glad that we could help him. Because of this, my love for helping animals and people alike was born.

These days, I’m known by those around me for my writing, my fashion sense, and the way that everything I do is really colorful and sparkly. Only the people who have actually spoken to me know how much I still care about helping non-profits. But the absolute best thing is when I can have the best of both – when my fashion and crafts can also be supporting causes that I care about.

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“Love Always:” Incorporating Late Loved Ones into Fashion

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I mentioned in my previous post that one of the ways I cope with losing my mom at a young age is incorporating her into my fashion sense. I really wanted to expand on how I do this, and how you can find creative ways to do this with all of your late loved ones – and maybe even loved ones who haven’t passed away, who you just adore and miss.

Incorporating your loved ones into fashion isn’t hard to do, it’s just about thinking creatively. I don’t replicate my mom’s style. I don’t think I could. On a daily basis, she wore oversized cat sweaters and Mom Jeans. She didn’t wear makeup and wore minimal jewelry: just her claddagh ring and a locket that I gave her. But I do find ways to implement thoughts of her into my daily style, and that takes creative flair to do.

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Wigs: Pros and Cons and a Discussion of “Natural Beauty”

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I wore wigs pretty much every day for 2 years. I started in May of 2012 and stopped in September of 2014. Now, I wear extensions sometimes, but a vast majority of my hair is naturally mine. In that time frame, I learned a lot about wigs, extensions, and society’s definitions of acceptable beauty.

It all started with why I chose to wear wigs. This was the most common topic/question in conversations revolving around my wigs, more likely with people who know me somewhat than with strangers. When I started wearing them, I wasn’t suffering from any type of hair loss. The only thing I was “suffering” from was a bad haircut decision – I had gotten a pixie cut that I now wanted to grow out. Research told me I couldn’t do much–clip-in extensions would never work, and the kind they attach at the salon are often up to $700 or more. Wigs were my solution.

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(Two photos of me: on the left, I’m wearing a 50% human hair and 50% synthetic wig; on the right, I’m wearing my natural hair with human hair extensions)

It was during these two years that I learned all about the pros and cons of wigs, what questions people would ask, and the way people would either be impressed or judgmental.

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