I have switched over to pants that are relaxed fitting due to trends over the past 5 years reminding me of my childhood. I didn’t go full tilt and get any crazy wide legged or parachute pants. I got a bunch of slightly flared and tapered pants that are reasonably baggy with a high rise. I just wanted to get back to my 90s California skater childhood. The aesthetic defined my preteen years and half of my teen years. Now that I have come back to it, I feel like myself.
I also grew my hair out because I had been dying to do it since childhood. Family would always bother me into cutting it off during the awkward stage where it looked like a helmet. The pandemic gave me the perfect excuses to grow it out without backlash. My mom and extended relatives still beg me to cut it off. I find it highly offensive, but it doesn’t actually get to me. I will cut the length a little and grow it out at least one more time. It makes me feel closer to my Amerindian heritage. I am certain relatives don’t like it, because it makes me look more androgynous. I also like it for that reason. I feel the androgynous hairstyle fits my more androgynous face. After I am done with this style, I will transition into a wide mohawk that tapers at the end.
Some things seem like simple style choices, but I am not sure there is such a thing. The older I get, the more certain I am that style is very reflective of a person. It can tell us about their level of privilege, their politics, and some of their choices. I tend to see privileged people with mundane or easy styles as neglecting their actual desires on how to present themselves to the world. My style can seem subtle or normcore, but I think people who know a thing or two about sartorial matters can pick up on a lot of cues.
