Coming Of Age
Illustration by Andrea Kollar.
Yesterdays fitting was with my youngest client - 14 years old. I’ve worked with her mother for years, and now her time has come.
There is something beautiful and delicate when I work with a young girl who is just initiating her process of self discovery. She looks in the mirror with curious eyes as she starts to discover her new curves and proportions. As she tries on the clothes I picked out, there is a silent exciting energy in the room as we acknowledge she has entered a new cycle of her life. It’s her first of many.
It’s a playful process, and so delicate at the same time. A part of me wants to preserve her carefree nature by delaying her initiation into this process of self awareness and image... but at the same time I know the process has already initiated itself, regardless of me. She is blossoming on her own, and my role is simply to water her with confidence occasionally.
In theory, 14 is a tricky age. Still a child for some, young adult for others. I’m not there to dress her as I wish and impose what she has to look like. How does SHE want to portray herself to the world as she embarks in the journey of womanhood? I allow her to explore the clothes... explore her reflection in the mirror. Explore what feels right for her in that moment of her life. What feels comfortable.
Her sense of identity is still fluid, so we can play. I’m there to support and boost her self esteem as she experiences her metamorphosis. I don’t impose an image, I guide her in finding her own.
