Long time no post the 52 Weeks Challenge!
Today's topic is: "How strangers react to my clothes, and how I react to their reactions".
As it says "strangers", I will not mention my family's reactions or their close circle of friends.
Well, people usually react in a very good way to my clothes. Usually or their don't care or they think it is cute (and sometimes ask a little bit about why I am wearing such clothes and what they mean). In the last months I got asked by the shop girl at the drugstore where I bought the lolita dress I was wearing that day, and she got a little disappointed when I said I bought from Japan ;-; .
I also receive very good interactions with old ladies and children in general, they are usually very lovely and sweet.
I must confess that I haven't got any bad interactions with men in real life in the last years, maybe because I am always with my husband near? But even when I am alone, my biggest problem is with moms. I had a mom once pulling my backpack back with so much strenght that I almost fell down, just because she wanted me to take a picture with her kid, and her kid seemed like he didn't wanted to take a pic at all. That's very common: the mother wants them to take pictures with the strangest person they meet on the street, and the poor kid gets so embarassed. Two weeks before Easter, I got a mom harassing me on the subway station, screaming out loud not just for her kid, but for everyone, repeatedly, that I was an Easter Bunny. I wonder why do moms can get so annoying. Poor kid was without understanding anything while her mom screamed multiple times "lOoK tHe EaStEr BuNnY". No, ma'am, no Easter eggs for ya.
I usually don't pay much attention to what people are saying or looking, unless it passes the point of curiosity and becomes harassment and touching my body, then in these times I can get very unfriendly, especially if people touch me without permission. Wearing different clothes is not consent. Luckily, there were very few times it happened.
The most special thing, that makes my heart more warm, is when people trully enjoy what I am wearing. Once in Carrefour, I was going down the aisle, and an old lady said such nice things about my clothes and said she wanted her granddaughters to have that freedom to dress like they want, without caring for what others would say. Also, when my husband tells me, already inside the car, that the supermarket cashier was looking to my clothes with eyes sparkling of admiration, and I am like, "really? I don't even realized she was looking at me", that, my friends, is when I remember how I felt in love with this fashion in first place. The beauty in lolita do not rest only in each detail of one's outfit, but also how it makes us realize that we do not put that much passion when we wear mainstream clothes. Clothes are not just pieces of fabric and thread; clothes are a way to show how we feel, how we perceive the world. The question is not "what is the special occasion", but "why don't you consider every day a special occasion". Every day is a special day in our lives, so dress accordingly.
And you, how strangers react to your clothes and how do you react to their reactions?
i don't wear lolita, but i'm a cosplayer and i have the same problem with moms. And usually they aren't even that old that they don't understand that they can't just grab a person by the and drag them around, because they want a picture with their child. Mothers should understand that just as they wouldn't want a stranger to do this to their child, they shouldn't do it to anyone else.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I can't understand why they do that.
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