There is this other type of pressure that I have discovered in this country, and it has come down on people without them noticing it at all, with no pressure, and it looks voiceless, yet the presence is so strong. I have seen it all over the places before people tend to interact with you or approach you. Though they say we should always dress in the way we want people to address us.
But is this always right, or is the rule for the poor? I have seen different looks on people's faces in church on how they look at each other, like they are in a dressing competition even though they show fake smiles. I notice this sometimes, most especially if I wear my plain printed material shirt one of my tailors made for me to some places, either to get something or check on someone. Some will be looking like I ran out of clothes in my wardrobe.
The shirt was fine, no doubt. I went to the cloth store to get the fabric myself, a bit expensive though, and I gave it to my tailors to sew it for me. But that question landed on something I had quietly been carrying whether the fear that my personal taste and choice of color was not legible enough to earn respect.
Fashion over here goes beyond clothing. It is how people will interact with anyone even before they open their mouth to talk. Though not everyone. The shallow person is the person chasing trends. And this is why most of them always find every means possible to manage the way they are looked at in places where being mislooked has big consequences. And I personally know that so well before I judge it.
What changed personally for me was not something of a big deal. I just simply got fed up with dressing for interpretations or approval I could not control. The plain material shirt I talked about is still in my wardrobe. And I wear it sometimes when I have to go to some ordinary places that are still real, and I do not feel like giving any explanation about myself to anyone before I arrive.
Thank you for reading.
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