Tomboy: Not a Fashion Statement, But a State of Mind

Baggy jeans and oversized tees weren’t always a part of my wardrobe, and they aren’t anymore, but I’ll forever be that little tomboy my parents knew. Kindergarten was full of frills and lace, but somewhere between then and second grade I stopped caring about being cute. Maybe it had to do with the weight gain, but boy clothes were just where I felt at home. I didn’t step into a pair of girl’s jeans until sophomore year and I was surprised to find that it felt nice. It was the first time in my life people complimented me on something other than my hair. While I started to wear girl clothes, it was only jeans and nothing more. This lasted throughout college, and only in the past few years have I started to feel at ease going into stores like Forever 21 alone. That’s because no matter what I wear, being a tomboy is just a part of who I am.

The idea for this article came to mind after passing the usual done up girls and noticing they were trading in their feminine attire for a more laid back look. You can’t just put on ripped jeans and an old tee and all of a sudden become a tomboy. What makes someone a tomboy, in my opinion, is the fact that fashion doesn’t define us on the inside. We’re not choosing our old, tattered Converse to make a statement, we’re just not comfortable in heels. In my case, my huge feet make shopping for anything other than sneakers quite a task that I don’t want to take on. It’s a little offensive when people who are usually girly post a shot in an outfit you’d wear on the regular and hashtag it #tomboychic. First of all, there’s nothing chic about it. Little girls who would rather rough around than get a manicure aren’t doing it to be cool, it’s just who they are.

Today I no longer feel like an alien when I enter a place like H&M because I’ve grown into who I’m supposed to be. I’ve found the line between feminine attire and my tomboy roots and that’s where I like to stand. A cute dress and Chucks all day because no matter how old I get, I’ll always have that little rough and tumble girl inside of me who looks at the makeup section of the store, scrunches her nose and thinks, “If boys don’t have to cover their blemishes, why do I?” Yes, I’ve always been an anti-makeup girl and that just goes back to being raised by-you guessed it-a mother who was also a tomboy growing up.

When I saw girls tagging their photos with #tomboychic and even saw the trend popping up in fashion blogs on the side of my Facebook I just couldn’t handle it. Fashion is a form of self expression, but when you’re expressing something you aren’t then it loses the “self” part and you just become a covered shell of a person. In the end, dress in whatever makes you comfortable, and don’t worry about the so called “message” it sends.