Persona

Person, from the greek “persona” means mask.
Actors needed it to show and explain their character to the audience.
Shakespeare said that the world is a stage.
And still today we say not to judge a book by its cover (actually in italian this works better: we say that a suit doesn’t tell the monk, but actually in middle ages monks were distinguished among themselves because of what they wore).

Anyway, were am I pointing to with all these premises? To a fundamental distinction, but also to a useful mix, and since these riddley intros are no use, I’ll get to the point.

You can have a fantastic, amazing style, as detailed as flemish paintings… but be as interesting as a linoleum tile.
Or you can wear your usual jeans and tshirt, but be flamboyant, the most interesting person ever.
I don’t think it’s useful to stress on appearance if substance is null, I know it sounds strange after a plethora of posts about how to find your own style… but let me take you back to teenage years, for a moment, those years when everyone could be labeled with but a look at their shoes or bag: “She’s wearing All Stars, she’s a punkrocker” “He’s wearing a bomber, he’s a gabber” “She has a studded belt, she’s a goth” “He’s got an Iron Maiden’s patch on his backpack, he’s a metalhead”. Finding a subculture and fitting in is perfectly normal, it’s a need to belong to somewhere/something, and it’s part of the individuation process. I confess I always had a tiny bit of envy for those who could relate 100% to a “type”, to me it looked like they had no more need to question themselves, like they finally felt at ease and well accepted.
Then you grow up.
Some get stuck there, some look like they’re moving forward, but they’re always stuck, and there are those who “evolve” by trying, experimenting. Actually by having a personality (indeed)… we’re not just a label, a pair of shoes or a favourite band, but this is old news… I hope 😉

Enough with memorabilias, it’s 2011 and you’re standing before your open wardrobe wondering “What can I wear today?”.
Again, if you have nothing to say I highly doubt that a jacket will do the talking for you, but! Since you’re hanging here I know you are an interesting person (I KNOW it, I don’t hang out with linoleum tiles, ok?), so we can call in that “useful mix” I mentioned before.

Have you ever felt like you were wearing a knight armour all day long? Or one of those moments while you’re walking down the street, Rammstein start playing in your ears and you feel like you could smash things just by walking through them? And then some days where you would have liked to feel so powerful and invulnerable, but in the end it was only -lonely- you?
Ok, this is why I’ve written all this stuff till now, because of these moments where you would need a shiny armour to walk up to your boss and ask for a raise, or to face a teacher making him believe you’re fully prepared… and stuff like this.
Once I thought it meant to be double faced, never genuine… but then I’ve realized that I don’t talk to my mother the same way I talk to my friends, that everyday we wear multiple masks, depending on the occasion. So it definately worths the while to use this at our own advantage!

Apparently, the majority of showbiz people have a lucky charm (best match unwashed underwear, grandma’s little wooden giraffe, saying “s**t s**t s**t” all together, something green, a jinxy gesture), so why not apply this to a smaller scale, daily?
I’m not suggesting you to turn scaramantic, listen: you don’t need me to tell you that most of the time we dress accordingly to our mood, now let’s try and do the opposite: let’s try to influence our mood thanx to what we wear.

Choose your mask, you’re character’s costume, and step onstage.

 
Hey, Shakespear wasn’t stupid.

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2 thoughts on “Persona

  1. Siobhan Hanlin

    There is something to putting on seperate masks (job interview mask, meeting the other half parents mask, give me the last muffin mask), but you are right in that it needen't be ungenuine either!

  2. Euforilla

    Yeah, this is a hard topic, but I truly believe that sometimes *knowing* that you CAN wear your armour, activate that incredible device to turn yourself into your "super self" is so relieving!!!

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