In late November, I heard about this campaign called Dressember. Both men and women decide to dress up every day for the entire month of December to raise awareness for human trafficking. I decided to partake in this campaign, and here is what I have learned. But first, let me show you my outfits from the first 20-ish days of Dressember:
1. Women who wear heels every day are magical.
I have these black boots that I wore almost every day of Dressember because they just go with everything. They have a tiny heel on the back, but everyday when I got back to my room, the first thing I did was take those dang heels off! I don't understand how some women can wear heels all day long all week long. I did, however, love walking around campus wearing those boots. The little click-clack made all the difference in the world. I walked more confidently, and I felt taller.
2. Wearing a dress without wearing makeup is okay.
At the beginning of the month, I made some rules for myself. One of these rules was that wearing a dress without doing any makeup was okay. I usually wear at least a little bit of makeup every day, and I knew waking up in the morning and putting on a dress and boots was going to be hard enough, so I didn't want to burden myself with makeup. Don't get me wrong; I love doing makeup. It's fun and actually kind of relaxing for me. I just didn't want to feel like I had to wear makeup in addition to wearing a dress.
3. No one cares.
The first few days of Dressember, I felt extremely self-conscious about what I was wearing. As I walked around in the cafeteria, I felt as if everyone's eyes were on me. Turns out, they weren't. No one cares about what you're wearing; they're too busy being in their own heads. This was both comforting and discouraging: comforting because I didn't have to worry what other people thought about me, discouraging because I wanted people to notice I was dressing up for a cause. People that know me fairly well and know that I love wearing hoodies and yoga pants did recognize that I was dressing up a little bit, and they asked me about it, and I got to share this awesome campaign for a cause with them.
4. You have a voice.
Everyday, I would post a picture of my outfit on Twitter and use the hashtag #Dressember. I knew other people were seeing it, and I could see others' pictures. It was encouraging to know I wasn't doing this alone. Wearing a dress every day for a month doesn't seem like a big deal. But because of what I was doing it for, it became a big deal. By wearing a dress, I was celebrating my femininity in honor of those women who have had it taken from them due to human trafficking. I felt like I was taking part in something that mattered. I had a voice that was shouting "This is important to me!" and people were listening.
I would like to close this article with a quote from Blythe Hill, Dressember founder: "As kids we grow up believing that anything is possible and that we can change the world. But years go by, and somewhere along the line we start believing that we're powerless to change anything. We stop believing that one person's choices can create big changes. Because we believe we can't be super-advocates, we stop advocating at all."
You have a voice. Advocate.
