Expressionista - Excerpt

7/30/2019 Expressionista - Excerpt

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Hillsboro, Oregon

ALADDINNew York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi

ExpressionistaHow to Express Your True SelfThrough (and Despite) Fashion

Jackie Walker, Dr. of Closetology

andPamela Dittmer McKuen


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ALADDINAn imprint of Simon & SchusterChildrens Publishing Division1230 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10020

BEYOND WORDS20827 N.W. Cornell Road, Suite 500

Hillsboro, Oregon 97124-9808503-531-8700 / 503-531-8773 fax

www.beyondword.com

First Beyond Words/Aladdin edition September 2013

Copyright 2013 by Jackie Walker and Pamela Dittmer McKuen

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part inany form.

ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is aregistered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Beyond Words is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. and the Beyond Wordslogo is a registered trademark of Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon& Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

e Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. Formore information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster SpeakersBureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Managing Editor: Lindsay S. Brown

Editor: Gretchen Stelter

Design: Sara E. Blum

Illustrations: Shannon Laskey

e text of this book was set in Adobe Caslon Pro

Manufactured in the United States of America 0913 FFG

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

TK

ISBN 978-1-58270-429-6 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-58270-428-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4424-8523-5 (eBook)


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Understanding Fashion

PersonasStyle is a way to say

who you are withouthaving to speak.

Rachel Zoe

AFashion Persona is a personal identity that is

expressed through outer appearance, but itsmore than just which clothes you pull out of the closet in

the morning. Outer appearance includes how you wear your

clothes, how you accessorize your clothes, how you style your

hair, and whether you wear makeup and, if so, how much. It

all works together and creates a total presentation.

Your outer appearance is a powerful communicator.Everything you wear gives people information about you

without actually talking to them. For example, the way you


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dress might say you are ready for sports. Or that you are a

girly-girl. Or that you denitely want to be noticed. Clothes

do the talking. You want to make sure you are sending themessages you really mean to send. You do that by staying true

to your Fashion Personaafter you know what it is and what

its all about.

e ve main, or primary, Fashion Personas are: Classic,

Natural, Romantic, Dramatic, and Trend Tracker. Every

person on this planet has a Fashion Personayou, yourmom and stepmom, your cousins, your best friend, even

your brother. Everyone ts into one of these categories

more or less.

Before we go further, lets look at brief descriptions of the

ve Fashion Personas. Well go into greater detail later.


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e Classic Persona always looks appropriatenever

too casual and never too outspoken.

e Natural Persona prefers comfortable, casual

clothing without a lot of fuss.

e Romantic Persona is girly and sweet; she loves

loads of small details.

e Dramatic Persona is loud

and bold; she wants to stand out

from the crowd.

e Trend Tracker craves brand

names, designer logos, and allthe latest styles.

ExpressionistaQuote:

Putyourpersonalityintoyourclothing.

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PERSONA

SUBCATEGORIES

Some Personas have variations, or subcategories, depend-

ing on what the current style trends are and what is going

on in the world. Take Geek Chic, for example, which is an

ultracasual, almost intentionally antifashion look that origi-

nated with people who spend most of their time in computer

labs. ink of the male characters on the hit television showTe Big Bang Teory. Nerds, as they are sometimes called,

are quite popular in some circles these days. (We love their

inventions!) eir mode of dress is now a legitimate fashion

style that is frequently copied. But Geek Chic is not a sepa-

rate Fashion Persona. It is a variation of the Natural Persona.

By the same token, the dark and spooky Goth look is asubcategory of the Dramatic Persona. Sweet, perky Harajuku

girls and many honey-voiced country-western singers are

Romantics. ey dont look alike one bit, but they share

many of the same characteristics, such as owing skirts,

small prints, and lace trims.

But nobody ts exactly into one type. As you learn moreabout the various Personas and take the quizzes, you will

probably nd that your tastes and preferences fall into two

or even three categories. ats perfectly natural. Most peo-

ple lean toward one Fashion Persona most of the time, but

they also favor others. You might be mostly an easy, breezy

Natural for school and sports but a rocker-style Dramaticin your band. ere are so many possible combinations! Its

those combinations that make us all unique individuals.


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Just like people are dierent, Fashion Personas are dier-

ent. And they send out dierent messages. Sad to say but its

human nature to judge people on how they look. Our inter-pretations arent always correct. ats why its important for

you to identify the Fashion Persona or Personas that best make

you feel like your real self. People will still judge, but at least

youre doing your best to send out the right message for you.

Can you change your Fashion Persona? Well, yes. And no.

Its a little like penmanship. Have you ever tried to changeyour style of writing or practiced a perfect signature? Its

hard. If your handwriting is made up of small, curvy letters,

and you put little circles instead of dots over the is, you can

change it to be bigger and pointier. For a little while. en

your ngers get tired, and your hand cramps, and you go

back to your regular writing style. Its dicult to write for along time in a penmanship that isnt yours.

Occasionally, people nd their Fashion Personas do natu-

rally, without force, change a bit. If your lifestyle becomes

dierent or you become interested in new activities, you

could change your appearance and style preferences. A girl

who grows up in a family with a couple athletic siblingsmight, in her early years, be very comfortable doing the same

things they do and wearing pretty much the same things they

wearthe T-shirts, jeans, and baseball caps of a Natural. But

if she channels her sports ability into competitive ice skating,

she could be happy to wear the beautiful, sparkly costumes

and theatrical makeup of a Romantic or Dramatic Persona.ose elements might carry over to home and school, or they

might not. Change in Persona is usually just a situational


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changeyou wear dierent clothing for dierent situations.

Chances are, during quiet moments at home, this girl still

snuggles up in her comfy Natural clothes. ey are the onesthat make her feel the most like herself.

Its also important to remember that most people have

one main Persona and one or two secondary Personas. So, if

your life and tastes change, and you notice that you are more

attracted to Classic styles than the Romantic ones youve

always worn, chances are good that there is a part of you thatalways was Classic. Your Personas are just switching their

order of importance in your life.

It can be tempting to change your personal style to be

more like your friends or people you admire, but it usually

doesnt work out very well. Youre better o being who you

really are. Heres what happened when Bryn tried to make adeliberate Fashion Persona switch.

Bryns StoryYou Cant Be

Someone Elses Persona

When Bryn was in seventh grade, her two greatest

pastimes were playing kickball and volunteering at her

local animal shelter. She spent her after-school hours

at games and practices. On Saturday mornings, she

walked homeless dogs to give them some exercise andattention. For her, a Natural look of jeans, graphic tees,


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hoodies, and other no-fuss clothes worked best. She

didnt wear makeup because it wore o during all her

outdoor activity, and she tied hershoulder-length hair into a pony-

tail to keep it o her face.

Bryn had three close friends,

girls she had known since rst

grade. ey all lived in the same

neighborhood and rode the bustogether. But her friends had a

dierent style. Usually, friends

like to look like their friends.

Bryns friends wore long knit

tops over short skirts with leg-

gings and boxy suede boots.ey wore lip gloss and pale-

blue nail polish. eir Personas

were a mix of Classic and

Romantic. ey encouraged Bryn to dress more like

they did.

One day, Bryn decided they were right, and shewould copy them. Her birthday was coming up, so she

asked her parents for a pair of suede boots and a couple

of skirts. ey agreed. Her older sister came home from

college and treated Bryn to a manicure and a makeup

lesson.

At rst, Bryn was pleased with her new look. enshe was late for kickball practice three days in a row

InsiderTip:

Learntoloveresaleshops(andeBayifyoureallowedtouseit)theyareagreatwaytondbargainsandan

inexpensivewaytoexperimentwith

newlooks.8


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because it took too long to change into athletic clothes.

When she walked the dogs, they wound their leashes

around her legs and tore her leggings. A puppy gotloose and ran down the street, and Bryn stumbled in

her new boots when she chased it.

at did it. Bryn went back to her Natural look, the

one that suited her and her lifestyle the best. She still

wears the skirts, just to church and to visit her relatives

now. Shes comfortable again.e bottom line: You can change your Fashion

Persona for short periods of time or for special occa-

sions. Ultimately, though, you will always go back to

what makes you feel like the real you.

THE BEST FASHION

PERSONA

Now that you know what the ve Main Fashion Personas

are, which one is the best to be? We gured youd ask that

question. e answer is: no Fashion Persona is better thanany other. All Personas are dierent. All Personas are equal.

All Personas are perfect as they arejust like people, and

people have dierent Fashion Personas.

at brings us to the two Expressionista rules of Fashion

Personas. Heres the rst: embrace your fashion persona and

love her. Dont try to be someone you are not. You will notbe happy if you do. You wont be smarter, prettier, or more

popular. You wont be a boyfriend magnet. You wont be the


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Valentines Day Princess. You will just be wearing a costume.

Everything else will stay the same. If all the girls around you

are rushing out to buy a certain tote bag, but your trusty back-pack works better for your Natural lifestyle, ne. Let it be. If

you follow the crowd, youll be spending precious money on

something you dont need, dont like, and wont use. As one

of our Expressionista friends says, Its more important to be

popular with yourself than with anyone else.

A ton of kids at school have made fun of me;if I had to give advice to other girls, I would say,

Hang loose and ignore them.Paris Jackson

Heres the second Expressionista rule of Fashion Personas:

respect the fashion personas of others. You should not change

who you are to be accepted by anyone. At the same time, you

dont want anyone to change for you. You deserve respect and

so do they. We understand that friends and families oftenwant to share the same things, but we dont have to all look

alike to prove we care. We can have strong relationships with

people who look totally dierent. Its the feelings and actions

that matter.

Respect the Fashion Personas of others, and dont take

them personally. Its okay if your sister takes too long in thebathroom because shes trying to get her ponytail straight; if

a classmate starts wearing a red Superman cape; if the new


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girl wears pretty sundresses because she came from Florida,

even though your Midwestern school style is more laidback.

eyre okay, and youre okay. Werenot the same, and we shouldnt try

to be the same.

It isnt personal. Its Fashion

Personas.

In the following chapters, we

take a closer look at each of theFashion Personas. en you can

take a quiz to help you nd yours!

Expressionista

RulesofFashion

Personas

1.Embraceyour

FashionPersonaandloveher.

2.Respectthe

FashionPersonas

ofothers.

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