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.



Intermission

  

Today will be spent preparing for the next half of my project... the mainstream look. In the meantime, here are some extra pictures of the past week that didn't make it the first time. You can click on them to enlarge them.

             

                

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.

Learn ya damn subcultures people!

A shockingly irritating thing I've noticed in my short experience of this experiment so far is people's complete inability to tell subcultures apart. Often terms like "gothic", "punk" and "rock" are just lumped together and used interchangebly because they're all alternative when really they're nothing alike.

A subculture is a group of people with a culture that differentiates them from the larger culture which they belong to. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subculture) In the book Subculture the Meaning of Style, a subculture is described as a subversion to normalcy. Subcultures can be perceived as negative due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard.

What I have been doing and will continue to do is attempt to dress convincingly to represent a specific subculture.

Let me clarify some basic ones for you:

1) PUNK is a subculture that developed predominantly in the United Kingdom in the mid-70's, possibly from the music genre punk rock, characterized by distorted guitars and noisy drums. Plaid, tartan and kilts are popular in punk fashion, as well as brothel creepers, Doc Martens, leather jackets and mohawks. Punk fashion often displays aggression, rebellion, and individualism.

2) GRUNGE is a subgenre of alternative rock music, and inspired a subculture that reached its peak in the early 90's with the popularity of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It originated in the United States, predominantly in Seattle. Grunge fashion usually consists of thrift-store and outdoor clothing like flannel shirts, and a generally unkempt appearance, placing importance on comfort. Grunge fashion is messy, raw and comfortable.

3) GOTH is a contemporary subculture that began in England in the 80's. It is influenced by 19th century Gothic literature and horror films. Stereotypical goth fashion is seen as dark and morbid, and usually includes dark eyeliner, painted fingernails and period-styled clothing (all black, of course). Styles often express pagan, occult or other religious imagery such as pentacles or medieval crosses. Goth is not an all-encompassing term for alternative fashion, contrary to popular belief, and is a largely feminine subculture.

4) ROCK developed from the biker subculture and rock 'n roll music in the United States in the 1950's. It is characterized by leather jackets, leather pants, ripped jeans, motorcycle boots and motorcycle goggles. Popular rock bands include Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Runaways.

5) HIPSTER is another contemporary subculture that is sometimes described as indie or alternative, though there are subtle differences between the three. It is generally associated with independent music, non-mainstream fashion, and alternative lifestyles. As for hipster fashion, that's hard to describe, so I'll borrow this from http://thedailycougar.com/2011/02/25/survival-guide-identify-avoid-hipsters/,

"The favorite accessory of a hipster is irony. A hipster will display his or her sense of irony through an ironic tee, a ’20s style hat worn with a pair of leggings from the ’80s and a dress from the ’70s with a pair of moccasins, a bowler hat worn with a pair of thick rimmed glasses from the ’50s and a Metallica shirt under a cardigan."



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