2009-2012 were the ’emo’ years, I spent the majority of my life in black clothes, which consisted of a band tee, skinny jeans and of course studded belts. I would be nothing without my latest Blue Banana bag, converse covered in random words and drawings from my pals and my hair had to have the life backcombed out of it, or something wasn’t right. I spent the majority of my teenage years trying to fit in with fellow people who rocked the alternative style.
Taking my main inspiration from Tumblr, and girls I met on the internet. I often felt alone in my own town with my out of the box style and my parents were less than happy with the clothes I decided to wear and when I became 16 the world opened up even further. To include the world of piercings, ever since I first saw them, I knew wanted lip piercings, the generic ’emo’ snakebites and even possibly angel bites. I knew my parents would full on rage so I decided to make a collection of piercings in my eyes, when I turned 16, until it being acceptable for me to get my nose pierced. Further through the year of being 16, I wanted to change my image more and more, I wanted the brighter hair, extensions, I fell in love with fishnets and turned to wear vests and denim jackets and still my trusty converse and despite now thinking, “oh my god what was I thinking?” I stayed true to myself and that is always something I will be proud of.
Despite everyone my age dressing in ‘pretty’ clothes I have never been about that life and still can’t even cope when wearing heels. The idea of purchasing anything from the store Jane Norman filled me with dread, the idea of wearing coloured tees terrified me, and I refused to stop backcombing my hair because it was the ‘shizz’ and I did get bullied for the way I dressed and acted, but it wasn’t going to stop me from being the real me. I have always been seen as somewhat of an easy target for this. When I left school and went to college things were easier, people cared less about my style and it allowed me to branch out to who I was. I kept some of the old parts of my style and mixed them up with a few bits of colour. When 18 hits, I knew I wanted a tattoo, but I wasn’t sure what, all of the ideas of tattoos I had have seemed to no longer interest me, it wasn’t until turning 19 I actually got my first tattoo. I went for my wrist and it is still my most meaningful tattoo.
As the years kept coming (and they don’t stop coming) I was ‘fully fledged adult’ (in the eyes of the law of course, even at 23, I am still not sure I feel like an adult) My style kept changing too, I was bleaching the ends of my hair and adding vibrant colours to it, becoming the girl at university who constantly changed her hair. I kept getting more piercings (my septum is still my favourite piercing) and even more tattoos, with this year taking the total up to 9. Over the last year, I have changed my hair colour around 5 times, and I am constantly looking for the next colour(s) to go. As for my clothes, I am known for wearing colour, but totally random pieces of clothing which others don’t like and I am a sucker for anything pink(!!) I will still go for the most alternative shoes and random bags I can find though, as the true me can’t be forgotten completely.
In 2018 my style is celebrated rather than being frowned upon my hair is always a talking point, and I get a lot of looks for it, but mostly they are good and kids love it! My tattoos are always going to be controversial, especially to my family and typically the older generations but they’re colourful, fun and make me happy so I guess that is all that matters. From everything to my photos and blog to the way I am, I love to be alternative and quirky and I wouldn’t change that for the world!
