Never Too Old To Play Dress Up

I believe in playing dress up. There is something magical about putting clothes on that I would never wear during my normal daily routine in the “real world”. When I slip into these different clothes, I escape from the stresses and worries of life, and I become whoever I want to be. When playing dress up I’m able to escape the different fashion rules, the do’s and don’ts that our society has created. If I put on too much make up, wear a dress with shoulder pads, or strut around in a gold metallic bathing suit with leopard print leggings, that’s okay! In a really special way playing dress up makes me feel free and youthful.

As I packed for my first year of college, I sat on my bed staring at the trunk that holds all of my dress-up clothes. I wanted to bring them with me so badly, but I kept telling myself that college students do not play dress-up. I closed my coffee colored closet doors and turned away. The decision was final: there will be no dress-up at college. I walked to my bed and tossed a few of my favorite CD’s into my suitcase. Then I reached to my right and placed my Sims2 video game into the suitcase. I stopped and just stared at the game for awhile. The characters on the front cover were staring back at me. They were all completely different. On the left was a man and a woman kissing and to the right was a girl with black hair and an orange shirt doing a karate move. In the background was a brightly colored green alien. As a stared at my favorite game I realized that if I can still play video games at my age, then I can still play dress up! I threw open my closet doors and bent over grabbed the handle on the over stuffed black trunk. I pulled it across my wooden floor to my bed and opened it up. I started stuffing my favorite articles into my suitcase.

Not even a month into college, my new friends and I were blasting the Spice Girls in my dorm room. I had just put on an electric blue suede mini dress, shoulder pads included. One of the girls was just finishing up tweezing the pony tail that sat on the top of her head. She laughed as she looked at my dress and I laughed as I looked at her lips that were the color of an over saturated strawberry. A different girl was wearing an outfit that was something along the lines of a Victorian stripper. We all danced around the room, laughing, and having fun. We weren’t worried if we looked good according to Cosmopolitan magazine.

I know that playing dress up will keep my soul youthful. I believe that I will live a longer and happier life if I know how to have childlike fun without worrying about the world around me.