A few weeks ago, it was time for me to pick my next challenge out from The Jar. I slipped my hand in and pulled out my next fate.

“Grunge for a Day”

Nice.

My reaction to this was no reaction. I wasn’t particularly excited, but I also wasn’t nervous. I think it’s because my style is borderline grunge as it is. I definitely have some influences- Docs, layering, black. And my new blue hair was an added bonus.

I think many people have different ideas of what grunge is. Grunge in the 90’s is very different from what can be perceived as grunge now- think Kurt Cobain, for example. Flannels, greasy hair, baggy jeans, what have you.

But now I feel like grunge is a mix of that, plus scene, emo, goth, and insta baddie. So that is the look I went for.

Thus, the day had come for me to walk around campus looking like I came straight from a TikTok. Assembling the outfit was the easy part for me, as I already had pieces that could work well. And I think I did a pretty good job.

Throughout the day, I felt a mix of self-consciousness and power. The reason why this was a challenge for me is because I’m not grunge. Yes, I may have influences, but personality-wise, it is so unlike me. I like pink, and I like sparkles, and I like cats. That is literally me summed up into one sentence. I have an Elsa pop-socket, for crying out loud, to which Harry McEnerny said “ah yes, nothing says grunge quite like an Elsa pop-socket.”

So that is why I felt self-conscious. But I also felt so powerful at the exact same time. When I see grunge outfits on my Instagram feed, I think ‘damn, they are badass.” So I felt badass because I looked badass, even if I’m not actually badass.

With that being said, there were definitely some mixed reactions throughout the day. My friends loved it so much. My friends Alex and Adrianna said they were ‘OBSESSED’ and ‘living for this!!!’ My friend Tess was literally speechless. When I asked my friend Daniel if I looked good today, he said ‘yuh.’ So that’s when you know.

But when I walked into Fireside, I got stared at to filth. Even Daniel pointed it out! And he’s used to it because he’s Daniel! So that made me slightly uncomfortable because it’s not something I’m necessarily used to. I’m like, I know I look good but you don’t have to stare. Just kidding. Kind of.

But I feel like Castleton is not really used to this kind of style. I mean, I went extra today. Even my dad said so. So it was outlandish, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad thing, or that I looked bad, it was just different.

Will I dress like this again? No. But only because my mom would kill me. But I think more people should accept their grunge badassness! Maybe then the world will be a better place.