Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Is 'Youth' a Fashion Category?

I was told by Ass last Saturday that I looked like I WAS TRYING to dress like a 18-year-old. “INSULT” was instantly stamped all over my kuku face.

“So... how does an 18-year-old dress HUH?” I asked very drily. And I was even nowhere near tights and leotards. A baggy shirt cinched at the hips with a belt and berms.

“Like you lo.” She replied matter-of-factly.

Ok, that didn’t help. I think she tried to make me feel better by saying that it’s a good thing later in the conversation. But... it’s a vast difference to:
1) look like you’re TRYING to dress younger than you look; and
2) look younger by the way you dress.

Ass further qualified her ‘fashion-age categorization’ by pointing out that younger teens will then dress in their long, tight, and maybe neon, tank tops with their micro shorts. I then protested, “Aunties also dressed the same way, what!!”

I guess I am really feeling old to feel this way, man. Then what should I be wearing to town on a Saturday night for my age?

We then started guessing the ages of some girls in town on a Saturday night after the conversation. Not as if we would ever know the answers, anyway.

We couldn’t tell. Girls now look rather mature for their ages. The faux lashes and thick makeup didn’t help in our guessing. When did I start using makeup? Some of these kids probably started out half my age! I saw a girl half my height and size with the bushiest faux lashes and heavily powdered face once and I wondered – won’t her parents say something if she’s a kid? But again, she’s probably just a small-sized female (working) Peter-Pan.

Probably have a better guess at the ages of the girls by observing the guys hanging out with them. But even so, boys work out and torture their pubescent bodies even before they are required for National Service.

Here I am, in my mid-20s, piling up on anti-aging creams and putting on anti-everything masks while those kids are trying to look older than they are. Isn’t it a big fat irony?

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