The Conclusion is that there is no Conclusion

I guess you could say this project started with a pair of boots. 

One day in Grade 9 I put my dad's old air force boots on for fun and then I pretty much never took them off. They became somewhat of a novelty.

People have borrowed them to look "alternative", to look cool, and to look like what society apparently doesn't find beautiful or feminine. Countless people in my art class have drawn them, some refusing to believe me when I say I actually wear them, and when I bring them to school, my teachers ask me if it's for drama class. 

People started saying things. "You can't wear boots like that with a pretty dress!" "I love your outfit, all you need now are a nice pair of pretty pumps." "You look like a mine-worker!". 

The second thing that inspired me to do this project was a comment made by someone I know. We were watching TV when a tattooed girl came on screen. "She could be so pretty! It's just the tattoos that ruin it...". And that got me thinking. 

The offending specimen

Danielle Colby-Cushman from American Pickers

I guess I don't really know what I think beauty is. All I know is that no-one should be considered any less beautiful because of dressing to please themselves. I don't believe the girl who decides to wear Doc Martens should be any less beautiful than the girl who wears heels, and I don't believe that looking different equals looking ugly. 

Someone said to me, during this project, that "having holes in your face and wearing creepy clothes is not beautiful. it has nothing to do with society's beliefs; it's not beautiful because it's unnatural. even little babies, who haven't had time to be shaped by society, cringe at the sight of people who wear creepy make-up and have a gazillion holes in their faces. they cringe (or cry) because those people look scary - not because they don't fit in with society" http://beautyandconformity.blogspot.com/p/contact-maybe.html. I was pleased that I got at least one negative comment. It gave me an idea what the worst people would be thinking. 

Do you think alternative people are unnatural? How is dying your hair purple any more unnatural than dying your hair blonde? How is piercing your face any more unnatural than piercing your ears or your belly-button? Babies are born with the inherent ability to tell what is natural and unnatural? No. If a baby were brought up in a home where everyone had "a gazillion holes in their faces", it would think nothing of their appearances. Don't be silly. 

I guess, though, that there are always going to be people who think like that. There isn't any answer really, and there isn't really a conclusion either.

As long as there are people, there will always be conformity, and as long as there is conformity, there will always be a clearly defined "IS" and a clearly defined "ISN'T". So as long as there are people that are and people that are not, there will always be "beautiful" and there will always be "ugly". 

That is all.

SIX

Today was the last day of alternative experiment, sadly. I think I should feel relieved, but when I think about the coming week... not so much. It was a fairly subdued look today, sans piercings (because I finally lost them) and with punk influences again, also a little bit of metal fashion with the waistcoat featuring some of my favourite band (Nirvana, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Ramones) badges.

I went on a family fishing expedition with my person's family, and bought some socks (see their cameo in the pictures). I also had to touch a dead baby squid.

Also, I went to church with this look. It didn't provide much result, probably because they're used to me wearing strange clothing. I'd love to be able to say this is my band, but it's actually just the worship band I sing with occasionally.

FIVE

Day Five is my second to last day of alternative fashion, and one of the best. It was most certainly goth, and luckily everyone I spoke to was able to identify that.

I wasn't that out of place though, in the midst of a friend's Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I spent the day speaking to smart and/or interesting people, and interviewed most of them, as well as other miscellaneous park-goers in Botanical Gardens.

1) A little girl told me that if she had to give me a rating out of ten, she would give me a five.

2) A random hipster (beer in hand) commented that parts of me were attractive but others were not. He said if I was trying to go for a sexy look I shouldn't wear the boots that I was, and should try to go for more mainstream make-up.

3) Something one of my friends said, which I really liked, though it is sad, is

"Beauty doesn't really exist anymore. It's all conformity. And even when you are beautiful, you still aren't really beautiful enough."



FOUR

Today was an attempt at rock subculture, and also fairly uneventful. I think I'm very much desensitized to this look now. I went out tonight to survey Durban's thriving Pavilion nightlife (not really), which wasn't very exciting.

My person and I almost saw a movie. Then we spent about two hours in a book shop reading books about philosophy and Kurt Cobain. We did see some people from our church, who didn't really respond to my new appearance. Perhaps they thought it was normal and I only dress more respectably for church.

Oh! An amazingly cool and coincidental thing was this fun, interactive promotion for Rock of Ages outside the movies, where you can stand on a cardboard stage and interact with a cardboard Zakk Wylde-esque guitar. It also gives you a little lyrics screen to "I love Rock n Roll", even thought I'm pretty sure Joan Jett and the Blackhearts isn't in this movie.

Whatever. It was fun.

THREE

It is day three, and I tried out something grunge today. I had to pitch my design concept to a boardroom of scary Vega invigilators today for a design competition I'm taking part in, and while at first I was nervous about appearing in front of them like this, expecting someone even to ask me to take out my peircings, they were surprisingly unfazed. One even commented, "Oh, she's an artist, leave her". A photographer did, however, make me pose for pictures with the product I had designed. If I win anything or get put in promotional flyers it'll be with metal in my face.

I met up with some relatives who haven't seen me in years, and who appeared shocked when they saw me. Once I explained my art project to them, they were incredibly relieved.

Two boys of generic appearance and adolescent age found me apparently fascinating. One began approaching me but thought better of it, making a vomiting motion to his friend when he thought I wasn't looking.

I found a book called "Barbie be my Stylist!"... No wonder our youth is in the state it is

TWO

Day two and it's the beach today!

It wasn't as fun as yesterday, mostly because my look today was sort of frumpier than yesterday's one, and I suppose in the presence of the beautifully tanned bodies exhibited in barely-there clothing, it isn't difficult to feel frumpy.

I noticed something curious about the reactions of the different sexes of my age group. While girls express mainly shock, amusement or disgust, boys have only two: total apathy (I think this might be because I don't look like enough of a girl for them to pay me any attention) or curious interest (I think this is because I'm just something different and they don't have to imagine dressing like me).

What was different about today was that I actually spoke to people directly about what they thought of me, which was rather fun.

1) "Evil" was an adjective used three times by seperate people.

2) Two thirteen-year-old boys thought I looked very cool, and commented that I look like I'm "going to a rock concert, you know, like, heavy metal".

3) A little girl in a pink dress refused to speak to me, hiding behind her mother even after I tried to coax her out.

4) Someone said I looked "freaky" and "belong in Hallowene". The same person said he's often seen "goth-looking" people come out of a club near Davenport, and reccomended I go there, rather than the beach.
5) "It's very different. It looks cool, but... I wouldn't dress like that".

ONE

                     

   

                                                                                          
Today was my first official day in my alternative gear, my attempt at punk, and it's been the most fun I've had in a long time. The responses were varied, but mostly amusing.
Accompanied by a friend and my camera, I exhibited my appearance at Gateway, a popular shopping centre in Durban.
1) A little black boy with a big bald head and huge eyes stood in the passage for about 2 minutes to stare at me until his mother pulled him away.

2) A woman pulled her hand-bag closer to her body as I walked past.
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3) A tentative up and down look and finally an approving smile from an alternative-looking boy.

4) Various giggles from various primped-up tweenies and 'fashonistas'.

5) "That girl has holes in her stockings!" from a concerned old lady.

6) "Woah!" from a random preppy couple.

7) I think almost everyone who saw me today at least gave me a second of their attention. Eventually I started pulling faces at them.

8) I asked a little girl I know if she liked my peircings and she said "No, they didn't look nice. I like you when you look normal. Not when you have peircings and things in your face". Harsh, but refreshingly honest.

Ice cream time is all the time

Oh, and we got stopped by the mall popo! I was stopped and questioned by no less than three "mall cops", asking why I was taking videos in the centre. However, I do believe they might have been slightly less aggressive if I looked more acceptable. This is a permit I had to go all the way to the secret management floor to get.

Heavy Boots

These amazing boots belonged to my dad, who was in the air force. These are (for want of a better word) his "show" boots. The real deal. The ones you polish to death because if you don't you'll get kicked in the face by your commanding officer. Or something. 

They aren't very comfortable, but they do make you feel like you could kick someone's face in, if you wanted to. They're also rather heavy. Cold War Kids would have been proud.