4. the pressure to be aesthetic and how i deal with it as a gal

Edit: had this in the draft and wanted to finish just to realise, I already finished it long ago.
So just hit the post button now.

 Long long time ago...

there was a time, where a girl was a gal.

And this gal made a series of yapping posts about the knowledge she gained over the years of being a gal.

Now, this girl is not a gal anymore and the series ended up in drafts..

One day she picked up the titles and realized, but wait...

This can still apply to me in some sense...if I just leave out the word gal?

So she started yapping again...

-

lmao Hello Darlings..

yes, a little continuation of the almighty yapping.

This whole "aesthetic" thing is not just limited to gyaru style.

It practically exists in all scenes and corners of fashion.

Literally people advance and value cohesion at some point, so they create moodboards and visual representation of what they want.

It certainly can help, I do it too and yet there is a little danger of this practice.

It is ending up limiting yourself and creating a fake persona, a picture you mold yourself into.

I believe there is a difference in picking up same aesthetic stuff because you like it, and picking stuff up because you believe "this will fit in".

We are not moodboards, we have plenty of moods and different occasions.

Not every style fits every occasion or every mood, so we need to allow ourself to be broad.

Social media takes a huge part of this dilemma, without it we are not limited to one page.

So I ask myself, is it that bad if I am not coherent in total? I wear different styles every now and then, depending on my mood. I still wear clothes that are practically not my color palette. I only make the one outfit cohesive, not myself as a whole. I allow myself to change and grow.

I personally held Sakurina as THE idol and role model when it comes to this issue. 

Rina did EVERYTHING, from girly to gothic to glamour.

It's almost like she was her own doll to dress up. Her outfits were bomb and also creative. She managed to do it on budget too and not use too many expensive brands.

Like when there was a page everyone shared their favourite makeups etc. Hers would always be the "cheapest" in total. 

We lost that skill totally, we are not creative enough to have a broad horizon or create looks without brand. 

I try to take clothes from different sections to avoid this.

To not go over limit with my budget, I got myself a ton of AliEx or Shein, but I like to look at Lolita shops, local stores, metal shops or even (yes) xxx-stores. You would be surprised how much you could actually find in that section. Especially when doing Rokku.

Another example would be the gals, that also wore lolita. They did not tell themselves, I am gal, I cannot wear lolita.

If you like multiple looks, allow yourself to. Sometimes having multiple aesthetics, is your aesthetic.

It also might just take time and experience over the years. You will notice the difference between "I think this looks cool" and "I like to wear this". Sometimes both gradually overlap a bit.

Have you ever worn an outfit that looked amazing the mirror but you didn't dear to go out with it, or you kept fixing the skirt, something poke into your skin and hurt you?

Then you probably forced yourself into an outfit that had the sole purpose of being aesthetically pleasing.

There are a few things to ask yourself to avoid this:

-Do I genuinely like this or feel like it "fits"?

-Do I feel comfortable wearing this?

-Do I need it?

-Do I know where to wear it and how to match it?

-Why do I want to get it?

-Would I still get it, if it was more expensive? 

It might help thinking rationally of clothes instead of impulsive buying stuff you don't truly want, just to mold yourself into a look.

xoxo rinmero