Standing in the cafeteria, someone with alarmingly thick platform leather boots and a bold face of makeup is looking for a seat to pass the lunch period. It’s hard to make a decision with all of the noise in the cafeteria clouding her thoughts. Avoiding eye contact, it seems as if no one wants to share a table. No one seems to want to look up from their plate. She decides to bite the bullet and sit in the first empty seat she sees. Before long, the chair screeches against the linoleum floor, and a friendship begins.
The status quo among high school students’ sense of fashion doesn’t tend to involve dark monochromatic clothing or extravagant accessories. Yet some students express themselves through alternative fashion. Their flamboyant attitude and extravagant accessories are meant to catch the attention of thier fellow students. But what happens when that attention happens to be negative?
The idea of tolerance and how to go about accepting anyone for who they are might seem to be a struggle for some people. Kristen Levy, an art teacher at NHS who wears an alternative style that students may not be used to seeing on a staff member, has witnessed this bullying first-hand.
“Have I seen [harassment] in the hallway? Most definitely. It might just be them walking away and someone’s like, ‘Who dresses like that?’ or ‘They’re so weird; why can’t they just be normal?’” Levy said.
Levy says she understands what it’s like to be treated as abnormal. Yet, she encourages students to continue to be true to themselves.
“Ultimately it’s up to a person, if that makes them comfortable, then that is normal for them, you know?” Levy said.
Some students, like senior Morrison Eastman, don’t necessarily wish for acceptance. They just want tolerance.
“[I just think] ‘why do [people] care so much?’ It’s obvious that those people don’t feel a sense of individuality. Whatever way you [want to] dress, that’s fine, just don’t put down others’ sense of style,” Eastman said.
Teenagers that experiment with different styles of dress are often dismissed as just going through a phase, but Eastman has been committed to her gothic-inspired style for a significant amount of time.
“Eighth grade was when the pandemic hit, so that’s when I started dressing that way,” Eastman said. “Middle school is pretty much when nobody has a good sense of style, so when I started people looked down on me a little bit.”
Peer’s opinions may make it difficult to express your creativity through your looks. But Senior Kat Logue, who has found comfort in a dark, 90’s grunge style, knows what it feels like to be constrained through something other than her classmates.
“I’ve always wanted to dress this way. I had restrictions on how I was able to dress and do my makeup and how I acted and what I did,” Logue said. “As I got older, my parents started being more lenient and they accepted that I wasn’t gonna dress the same way forever. I started accepting that I felt more comfortable in clothes that weren’t the ones I’d been wearing for years,” said Logue
NHS’s student body is full of people with many different styles of dress. Although they find comfort in expressing their creativity through their clothing, they’re not always looking for criticism.
“We’re not weird. We’re not. We’re literally just wearing different kinds of clothing. We’re not different people. Whether you feel most comfortable in a pair of lulu lemon leggings or a pair of baggy jeans and a sweater. Doesn’t matter as long as you’re comfortable,” Logue said.