Identity

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been confined to athleisure or pyjamas during the first lockdown (with the occasional pair of jeans for when we venture outside). I’ve basically been living on a capsule wardrobe, because i’ve not been going anywhere, I just picked out my favourite pieces and wear those on repeat. I loved them and thats great, but literally haven't looked or even considered wearing anything else in my wardrobe since last october. However as the lockdowns continued and seasons changed, I have found myself and others really making the most of this time to really experiment with out outfits.

Now there is nothing wrong with wearing the same thing when you know it suits you and makes you feel comfortable. I think that’s why, as much as I complained at the time, I loved the ease of a school uniform. It used to take me two seconds to get ready in the morning, where as, during my time at college and short time at real university, I tried to take the opportunity to have fun with my clothes. Inevitably I fell back into wearing the same kind of pieces or just playing it safe, not really knowing how to put an outfit together.

But one woman who knows how to out an outfit together is Lynn. Now, Nanna Lynn, (who is not actually my nan) is known for her teal eyeshadow and a bold purple lipstick and has worn the same makeup look everyday for as long as I can remember... for as long as anyone can remember. No matter where she is or what clothes she is wearing she’s got her war paint on. It is an iconic look.

Sadly the shade of eyeshadow (Rimmel London’s Glam' Eyes Mono Eyeshadow - 122 Live Show) was discontinued a few years ago. Relatives started a petition, to get rimmel to sell Lynn the deadstock. Regretfully, ‘Get the [Linda] Look’ came to no avail and she is now coming to the end of her supplies.

Fashion and makeup are a means to discover your identity through a visual means. Yes it is a privilege to be able to afford those luxuries, that clothing is not just a necessity and means of keeping us warm. Fashion is an underrated endeavour in my opinion to the everyman. I think that all begins in highschool, when you are slowly starting to figure yourself out, own clothes day, was everybody's chance to shine. It’d take me days to decide on an outfit. That would always end up as black skinny jeans and a red flannel. Yes, I was that wanna be edgy kid (and I still am). The first own clothes day I remember in highschool, we were in Year 7 and told to dress as our idols. Now lads copped out in footy kits, and I remember a girl coming in with a big coloured wig as Katy Perry. I went as Avril Lavigne, I tried to piece together my own ‘Sk8er boi’ meets ‘Smile’ look, which came out as a mess! I was asked by a boy ‘why have you come as an emo?’. Looking back now, to tell kids to dress as their idol is cruel. Makes a mind field for bullying opportunities but it was so fun! I loved dressing up and any excuse be it halloween, christmas or birthdays. I love experimenting with fashion even if it will intentionally, or not, make me look a bit of an idiot.

The times I have ventured out of the house over the six months, i’ve found myself just experimenting with fashion again. Wearing things that previously, I wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing to just go the shop. There’s just an innate need to make an effort! Don’t get me wrong i’m not putting on a full face of makeup and getting out heels, more like the opposite actually. Like I wore sliders outside of the house, which doesn't seem like a shocker but I am never seen without converse or Doc Martins. I have taken claims over my dads old t shirts from the 90’s when he went clubbing in magaluf. I’ve stolen my mums old bootcut levis, I bleached my jeans, worn a fancy summer dress over a jumper to the co-op. But my piècederésistance, Is a giant maxi skirt I made, and it is the one thing i’ve been too self-conscious to wear. It took me a week into lockdown to say fuck it and cut my hair, not caring if it went terribly because it’ll grow back. Hell, I dyed half my hair at 12am cause I fancied something different. I’ve never dyed my hair by myself in my life! And yet I still couldn’t bring myself to wear a gorgeous skirt that I made! Its madness!

I love to see people experiment with fashion and have always admired people who wear clothes that are so ... out there! Who don’t care what others think because they like what they are wearing and that’s all that matters. Lynn’s eyeshadow was like an extension of her personality, it came to a point knowing her that you never noticed her eyeshadow until it was different. Until that faithful day that she ran out and everyone around her scrambled to find the last batches of it on ebay. And It wasn't until it was gone, the prospect of Nanna Lynn having to find a new shade of eyeshadow, that you could truly appreciate how iconic the Linda Look really was. I need to take a leaf out of Lynn’s book, to wear something bold and be unapologetic. To get bolder and bolder till one day, no one notices anymore and someone says ‘Oh that’s just Emily’.