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Stylin'

I ranted and raved, stomping my feet around the house, screaming and yelling that there was no way I was wearing a skirt. It was my picture day for Mrs. Field's class in kindergarten and my mother wanted me to wear a skirt. My favorite green overalls with the Bert patch hand sewn in the center were so rad and a skirt would be so dorky. I argued with my mom forever and that day I arrived at school in a red corduroy dress with a white turtleneck that had pink and red hearts on it and my hair in pigtails. At this early age I already had an opinion of what style was to me. This is my earliest recollection of visual media effecting my attitudes towards clothes. I wanted to wear my overalls because I was in love with Bert and Ernie from the television show Sesame street. I would watch Sesame street every morning before I left for school. The cookie monster was another one of my favorites. Any one of the characters from this show were popular with me and I was all about wearing clothing with them on it.

As I started getting older I got more freedom with picking out my own outfits and my mother no longer styled or brushed my hair. I hated to brush my hair and it was so hard for me to make pigtails. Sometimes I could make a ponytail on my own but most of the time mom would help me with the hard stuff. Speaking of hair, the next style that was popular was pigtails. My favorite shows at this time were Charlie's Angels, The Dukes of Hazard and the Bionic Woman. I thought the Charlie's Angels were the most gorgeous women in the world and did anything to be like them, my friends and I used to play Charlie's Angels on my front lawn. I was always Sabrina because I had brown hair. Kelly and Chris, Jacqueline Smith and Farah Fawcett had blond hair and they were the pretty ones, Sabrina wasn't as pretty but I still wanted to be like her. Their style was tight jeans and short tops. They had a lot of connecting jumpsuit outfits and all different types of cool high heel shoes. I made my mom buy me play high heel shoes so when I played with my friends I could wear them. I had this chillin' light purple shirt that buttoned a little low for a third grader. I believe I owned this shirt due to the Charlie's Angels influence in my life. Also I can remember my first pair of Daisy Dukes in fifth grade. I thought I was the hottest thang when I wore them. They were actually an old pair of shorts that were way too small for me and my mom hated them. I told her they were so comfortable but in reality I really just liked them because I thought I looked sexy like Daisy Duke. All these television shows and the characters' styles of dress together played a role in the establishment of my style of dress.

Sixth grade was like the stardom of Madonna. She came out with this movie called Desperately Seeking Susan. This was my favorite movie in the world. Of course directly after seeing it I had to run to the store to buy a white lace bow for my hair to wear to school the next day. That Christmas, Santa Claus brought me two black lace bows and one white lace bow. Also for my birthday my mom gave me the lace gloves. My birthday outfit I wore to school that day was strictly a clone of Madonna. I wore a white lace bow in my hair, a purple dress, little white socks, white lace gloves and my black leather jacket. This Madonna phase of my life didn't last long.

No television shows or movies had affected me as strongly after the whole Madonna fad for quite a while. I finished out junior high and went of to St. Anthony's High School. I established my own style of dress, almost revolting and dressing opposite as the clothes seen in the television and in the movie theaters. I desired to be different. The shows and movies I viewed didn't move me as much, until college, where no one has a sense of fashion and just wears whatever. Most of the time everyone looks like a scrub, at least in class they do. While I was on break from school I went to Florida with my mom. In Florida my mom and I viewed Clueless and this was my favorite movie. Cher is one stylin' chic. She has matching jacket and skirt outfits, designer dresses, purses made out of all sorts of fabrics, different types and colors of shoes and various hairstyles throughout the movie. During this movie I found myself saying, "Oh I have to get that sweater! and I want to buy those shoes!" This movie really appealed to my sense of fashion . There is a designer dress made by Calvin Klien in the movie, and once I saw it I knew I wanted to buy it. I actually made it to the store and found a similar dress but when I tried it on I thought it looked horrible on me, it was so Monet! (Cher uses this word in the movie to describe when something looks good from far away but horrible close up).

In conclusion, television and movies had a great effect on my style of dress throughout my life. My attitudes towards certain clothes had to do with my liking of the characters of these shows. Most of the time if I could relate to and enjoyed watching the character I would consider wearing this characters clothing. All the images I have viewed in these shows make up a part of my style today. Therefore I have been collecting pieces throughout my life to acquire my own style.

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