SIX (or, Yeah, my Deep Etching Sucks)

So the final day of this experiment is finally over - I'm excited to be back to my normal self. I went to church last night looking like this, which spark a perfect set of reactions.

As soon as I walked in I was greeted with a chorus of "You look so pretty!"s, and "Oh my gosh!"s. My friends from church don't know me, or nonconformity, as well as my school and other various location friends, so they were a perfect tester group for reactions, because they could judge my appearance without linking it to my character.

1) A well-meaning generic-aged woman told me "You look glamorous tonight!" and when I began explaining it was for art and that it wasn't permanent she nodded enthusiastically and drowned my words with a few "Lovely! You look lovely!"s.

2) A friend of mine said that although I was wearing a lot of make-up, it looked very pretty, and that I should do it more often.

3) Someone else said they prefer this girly look on me that my usual look, and definitely preferred it to my look last week.

4) When asked what my person thought about my look, he replied, "It's not that I don't like the girly-girl, but I'd rather have the Courtney girl". Which is nice, but also irrelevant.

Now it's time to kick back and get this documentary done. This won't be my last post, though, so stay tuned (that sounded terribly cliche, didn't it?).

FIVE

It's almost the end of this tiring week, and I spent my second to last day at yet another semi-cultured location - the I <3 Market. It is a lovely place, but it seems to have evolved into one very large ridiculously expensive vintage clothing store. I saw a pair of brothel creepers I would've sold my soul for, but they too were ridiculously expensive.

Again, I recieved somewhat strange and resentful looks from the cultured crowd. Another interesting observation: alternative males pay little to no attention to mainstream girls, which is expected but still a little irritating.

I can't wait to get out of these fussy clothes. And to feel my face again once all this dreaded foundation is eradicated.

THREE

This is definitely a new experience for me. I'm really not used to dressing like this at all. I'm a bit of a hipster, usually, but mostly I just dress in a way that makes me feel happy. I usually take about 20 minutes to get ready and do my hair and make-up, at the most, but these days, getting ready to go out takes about an hour and a half, which is valuable time that could be spent reading or watching anime. I've also never left the house with a full face of make-up on before. I'm wearing so much foundation that I'm scared my face will crack if I smile too widely, and I'm wearing glitter on my lips. And my eyes. There's even glitter in my moisturizer.

I went to Pavilion today, which I thought would be embarrassing because I would see a lot of people I know there, but it turned out to be quite uneventful, except for a few wayward looks from the occasional boy and plenty of dirty looks from other girls. A particularly dirty look from a lovely rebel in black lipstick, ripped tights and an obscure band t-shirt.

As soon as I stepped out the car, pink lipstick and lip gloss applied, I ran into a group of boys smoking outside the skate park, which made me want to run away and hide but I gritted my teeth and made my way through. I’m finding it harder each day to go out in public like this.

It's not so much the actual look as it is the feeling that I'm misrepresenting myself. It just makes me feel like a fake. I hate feeling fake.

                             

TWO

The beach again for day two. Today was kinda fun though, as I replaced my false nails with pink nailpolish and high heels with tommy takkies. I also, however, replaced my normal one-piece with a Billabong bikini. Let it be noted that until this day I had never worn a bikini in my life.

I must have really looked the part, with my top knot, pink headband, pink nails and bikini, tanning and fiddling on "my" Blackberry.

Attention today was minimal, understandably, as I blended in fairly well. They seem to suspect nothing. I noticed a slight increase in male looks. Females, however, are still giving me dirty looks. I think I very much prefer the amusement and disgust of last week than these belittling, sizing-up glances I've been getting all day. I'd rather be too alien for them to relate to than almost-just-but-not-really-the-prettiest.

Another friend I saw today, however, reacted with a mix of shock and horror. "It just keeps  getting worse," she said, as I pulled a pink floral towel and a pink Blackberry cover out of my bag. My person begrudging slathered me with sun block. And agreed to be seen with me. The only part he liked was the bikini.

   

ONE

Today was my first day in my mainstream look. I tried to dye my hair blonde yesterday but my natural colour is too dark so it just came out kind of yellow-ish at the roots. I also put on some fake nails this morning and then picked them off, one by one, because false nails are the most hideous things in the universe and are an invention of Satan.

I went to The Collective, Ike's Bookshop, a little second-hand place called Nuggets and Gems and Wakaberry today with a friend, who laughed at me for approximately five minutes before she recovered herself and said "you look irritating". My family are also cooing over me at every opportunity telling me how pretty I look. I've been getting some attention today, obviously not as much as last week, but it's still there. Funny enough, I'm still getting mostly dirty looks from girls, and of course, a lot more male attention. A girl had to smack her boyfriend today when he looked at me as I walked past.

Also, I have stumbled upon a theory. I think the reason "preppy", or girly girls are always so irritable and catty is because when you're wearing the Pretty Disguise, everything is irritating.

- The wind irritates you because it messes your hair that you've spent at least half an hour washing, blow drying, straightening and styling.

- Your hair irritates you because it keeps getting caught in your lip gloss.

- Your lip gloss irritates you because you have to re-apply it every time you eat or drink.

- Food irritates you because it can possibly get on your carefully chosen clothes.

- Your clothes irritate you because you have to constantly worry that they are in place, that they are not too tight, that your barely-there skirt is not riding up.

- Your feet irritate you because they've been painfully shoved into high heels.

- Your bangles irritate you because of that stupid sound they're constantly making.

No wonder those girls always look so grumpy.



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.

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.