Wearing Outfits My Teen Self Would Have Hated

As a semi-adult, at the ripe age of 26 (27 at the end of the month, don’t forget), there are things I don’t like to wear and there have always been things that I don’t like to wear.

No, I’m not talking about bras and pantyhose. No one likes those and if you say you do, you are lying. (Even Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire didn’t like them. Remember that scene where they fall down on the bus? Iconic.)

Anyways, I’m talking about the styles, colors, patterns and textures that we, as humans, don’t like and don’t wear for one reason or another. The reason could also be that there is no reason and that’s totally okay.

Today I want to talk about things I didn’t like when I was a bratty tween/teen and then show you how I wore a few things featuring those things for the last four days. (I say bratty because I was bratty not because I think tweens/teens are all bratty. Wink, wink.)

So, first, I had to talk to my mom, Bonnie, the all-knowing, oh-patient one that lived through my tweens/teens with me. My mom listed off the following when I asked her what I refused to wear as a youngling:

• Dresses and skirts
• Lace and ruffles
• Pink
• Floral print
• Scarves
• Purses
• Bows
• Watches
• Belts
• Red (except for on Christmas because I am a festive lady)

She also added this sentiment, saying that I didn’t like “mostly any girly accessories,” but, up until third or fourth grade I only “wore what didn’t itch.”

And though I still go into a mild state of panic when things itch, I wear most of the things on this list now. Go me. But, there are things on that list that I am not the biggest fan of. Still go me. So, I thought, let’s make me come up with outfits that I think my young self would have hated for a couple days, or for four days to be exact, and see how I like them now.

For the first day of the challenge, I wore a pink (dare I say, millennial pink) long, kimono with floral embroidery on the back over a white tee and khaki, cargo pants. All three of these items were off the clearance rack at Target. I made my husband snap these photos of me and he almost didn’t make it out alive, so thanks for your struggle, hun.

I find that I still don’t wear pink that often, but I don’t avoid nowadays. Growing up, pink symbolized femininity, a concept I rejected. I was trying to figure out what kind of girl I was and, at the time, it was a tom boy, girl. There’s still some of that energy in me, but I like this look and I’m not hatin’ on pink.

The second day started off harder because I realized I don’t have that much lace in my closet. I thought that it would be easy to wear lace and that I would love it because I love the look of lace. Come to find out, I have a bulk of lace-accented stuff in my closet because tween me was right! Shit is itchy and I ain’t buyin’ it.

To meet the challenge, I went for this thrifted, embroidered, peasant top from Torrid with my army green pants and a long, orange, silky kimono over top, both from Target. The top was, you guessed it, itchy, so it got donated afterwards. Needless to say, I’m happy with my lace detailing.

On the third day, it was chilly, so I thought I would wear a scarf with some of my favorite thrifted, printed, pull-on, black pants and a thrifted, gray sweatshirt with a lace trim (see, detailing is good). The scarf itself is a recent thrift find with a blue and white floral pattern and tassels around the edges.

I love scarves now and wear them often in the colder months for warmth and fashion (see my Instagram for scarf fits). Not sure what teen Ween was thinking, but it probably had something to do with the fact that the cool athletes I aspired to be like didn’t wear them.

And on the fourth day of the week (I had Monday off and wore pj’s all day), I wore a dress, which I have memories of hating for their girly-ness and for, drum roll please, chub rub. We have MegaBabe for that now, so we are saved.

I wore one of my favorite spring dresses, which is light blue with orange flowers. I have been wanting to try the whole sweater over a dress look, so I put a cropped, multi-colored sweater over it. Kind of looks like I am wearing a sweater and a skirt instead of a dress, right? These things are both from Target again. Sorry not sorry. I felt good this day. Real good. (Shout out to my girl, Harley Ryan, for these shots.)

I think it’s worth mentioning the following about the honorable mentions on the list:

• Dresses and skirts (still don’t wear skirts and literally own one)
• Lace and ruffles (I’m iffy about ruffles and they are iffy about me.)
• Pink
• Floral print
• Scarves
• Purses (carry one literally everyday)
• Bows (not always, but I did wear one here)
• Watches (NEVER.)
• Belts (getting used to them, wore one here)
• Red (except for on Christmas because I am a festive lady) (still a festive lady)

The moral to this story is that it’s okay to not know who you are or what style of clothes you like when you are young. I cared about what other people thought too much as a tween/teen and I still probably do. What matters is that you wear what makes you happy, comfortable and confident. And sometimes, just sometimes, you don’t change all that much and you still don’t like wearing things that are itchy.