#i love looking at other peoples pins and patches and oooouuuuuughh

[bleakbluejay]

I love the liberation in wearing what you want to wear.

Like. I don't like showing my skin. I love wearing layers. I love obscuring my body either through layers or through flowing shirts or oversized pants. I love when there's holes in my jeans, wearing tights or fishnets underneath. I find great strength in wearing cloth like armor.

But I have friends who are the opposite. Who love to show their whole bodies, at least what's appropriate to show in public spaces. Who find strength in their skin being kissed by the sun.

And I love that. I love that we can choose to wear what makes us happy, comfortable, and more in line with how we feel. And this extends to religious and cultural attire, too. I love seeing Indigenous jewelry and patterns and beadwork adorning Indigenous people with pride. I love seeing people wearing hijabs and niqabs and moccasins and thawbs and yarmulkes and saris and sarafans and evil eye pendants. I love seeing people wearing gender-affirming clothes, too. I love seeing alternative subcultural clothes on people-- the goths, the punks, the e-boys/girls, the lolitas, the metalheads, the dark academics, the lovecore. I love seeing people wear hand-crocheted sweaters and thrifted flannels and regalia that I know required hundreds of hours of labor, every hour filled with love. I love seeing clothes full of holes because they've been worn for so long, but they are so loved by their wearer that they've refused to be turned into scrap cloth or trash. All of it, all of it, all of it.

There's so much beauty in the things we wear, the things we decorate our bodies with. There's so much connection in it. There's so much expression. It's so... human.