Time To Dress Like An Adult Now

by Kat Argonza

 

Yesterday, my mother and I went shopping. Not for her, for me. Business clothes.

At the ripe old age of 22, it’s time to put away the black nail polish, put away the angry punker chick t-shirts. It’s time to not just be a grown up; it’s time to look like one too.

Appearance is important—not just because humans want to be attractive, but from a marketing stand point, how you present yourself is also a message. My main blog is called Tough Girl 101. Does that conjure an image of a girl with shopping bags and stilettos with the perfect sculpted eye lashes? Or does it conjure an image of someone in running shoes and sweat pants? Or maybe a girl in a tank top and jeans? Sure, I’m not thinking about my blog 24/7, but I do care that what pictures I post makes sense for that blog.

This blog? My tag line is “A Gen-Y freelance writer and professional blogger”—what type of image would make sense for that? Particularly if I start showing up to blog conferences across the country? A writer, a young professional needs to look respectable. What I wear for Tough Girl won’t fly here, so I got blazers, blouses and pantsuits. I specifically got things along a younger, trendy line: bold colored blouses and figure-hugging suits. It’s appropriate for a soon-to-be college graduate.

I stare at my Happy Bunny t-shirts, torn up blue jeans and knee-high black boots and sigh. Fare thee well, old friends, but it’s time for me to move on and grow up a little. The punker girl look (pre-poser Avril Lavigne) was a look that made me comfortable, but now I’m older, less comfortable, and I stare at myself in the mirror thinking, “Wow, I don’t want to be one of those older girls who try too desperately to look like they’re in their teens.”

So I hang up the hooker boots and traded them for some respectable high heels.

Along with growing up and dressing up, I also need to start putting away the pizza, burgers and fast food crash diets. Healthy cooking is now necessary for this new adult body. Nothing like realizing you’re getting older and entering a new phase in your life, right?