Once many of us get to college, we spend time trying to figure out how we truly want to outwardly express and present ourselves. This is especially true for us LGBT+ folx that didn’t get as much of an opportunity to do so in high school. I know from my own experience in Catholic school that growing up in a uniform makes it hard enough to understand what your style really is when you never got to have one. But figuring out what your style is when you don’t fit into heteronormative fashion trends? Yikes. There’s also the task of balancing how you want to dress and letting your classmates know you’re gay so that you aren’t single forever. Now that I finally found out how I want to express myself, I want to share some tips and tricks that helped me along the way.
- Find your style icons
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For me, this meant looking at which women I thought presented how I wanted to present. In this first step, be sure to take your time and think about what you like on yourself versus what you like on others. It took me all of freshman year to realize that just because I liked crop tops on other women did not mean I liked them on myself. Just be patient with yourself as you figure out your style. What I found most helpful was creating a Pinterest board of these icons for reference when I worked on crafting my new wardrobe.
- Don’t be afraid to switch up sections
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If you want to wear something from the clothing section of another gender, do it! At the end of the day, clothes are just clothes. Here’s a way that helped me to get over that fear myself: I thought that the “men’s shirt” I wore would now be a “woman’s shirt” because I’m wearing it and I identify as a woman. If you feel nervous about doing this in physical stores, online shopping can be a great way to ease your way in!
- Thrift shopping is your best friend
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I don’t know about you, but I’m on a college student budget. I only work part-time with school and can’t afford a brand new luxury wardrobe. But, what I can do is shop secondhand to make my style dreams come true. I have had great success in stores at places like Plato’s Closet and Savers, and online success at places like Depop. Depop also doubles as a way to sell the old clothes that you don’t want to wear any longer.
With all this said, remember to just present how you want to look, not how you think others want you to be. There is no wrong way to do this because there is no wrong way to be LGBT+. It’s all about finding the balance of what makes you comfortable and what makes you happy.