I Let My 18 Year Old Brother Dress Me for a Week and Here is What Happened

I have always liked to experiment when it came to clothing. For me, the biggest style icons have always been individuals that treat clothing as an artistic form of self-expression. Madonna, Lady Gaga, Andy Warhol, Jackie O, and David Bowie all treated their bodies as canvas’ ready to be painted on.

 That being said do you know who serves the least amount of fashion inspiration for me?

Teenage boys.

The bucket hats, snap backs, chino’s, too-big jersey’s and the relatively new phenomenon of tucking the ends of one’s sweatpants into Nike socks and pairing the get up with sandals. It’s really quite disheartening.

I’m so well versed in the trends of these boys because I happened to live with one over my winter break. The teenage boy I’m talking about is my brother, TJ, and in an effort to open my mind and experience clothing from a different point of view I let him pick my outfits for a week.

To start, let’s just say that my younger brother and I are complete opposites politically, ideologically, and artistically.  He loves music that I hate, I love movies that he hates, he’s an amazing athlete and I once fractured my ankle because I stood up too fast.

You get the picture…but even if you don’t get the picture here’s a nice visual representation.

He always looks incredibly thrilled to hang with me.

Day #1

He surveys my closet. I pull out my favorite summer dress to give him a indication of what my tastes are like.

“This is a vintage, and off the shoulder, remember when I wore it for Easter?”

“I hate your vintage Sh*t” he says”

This is the moment I realize it’s going to be a long week.

For his first pick TJ decides on an old flannel I used to paint in. Comfy and warm in the 7 degree weather, thanks Teej! Next he picked light wash skinny jeans with holes in them, and a pair of grey wedges. Tj ties it all together with a grey beanie.

I really don’t know how I feel about this one. I feel like a less fit Brawny man or a teenage Nirvana fan living in Seattle in the 90’s.

Contrary to Tj’s last comment about my vintage collection, he tells me to put on a leather jacket from the late 70’s I’ve had buried deep in my closet.

Now I just feel like my mom.

“What Lipstick?”

“None!” he exclaims

Mind you, I rarely go a day without my lipstick, often-bright red. When I don’t wear it. People ask me if I’m sick.

“Kelly, boys don’t like girls that wear bright lipstick” says Tj.

I swear to God he’s like a living Clickbait article.

After a little arguing and a mini sociology lesson on how female existence shouldn’t have to be validated by the opinions of men, we settled on a ‘very’ light pink.  All in all it’s not the worst look, but I feel as though this may be the calm before the storm.

Day 2

“ I want it wear Jeans today these are my favorite pair”

I hold up my dark wash, highwaisted pants that were recently my saviors on a crazy bus trip throughout northern Europe. I could only pack very little and these babies never failed to make me feel like a rockstar.

“Will you stop with the f*cking mom jeans!” is all TJ has to say.

Ok I see how today is going to go. It’s nearly noon and TJ is still not out of bed. He was up late last night because he and his friends had gone to our local 24 hour Deli to eat “Chuck Norris” sandwiches and talk about how much The Cleveland Browns suck. After coaxing him out of bed he chooses skinny jeans (again) and an oversized cardigan because “It looks like a blanket”. He next asks where my teeshirts are. We go to a drawer and after pulling out about 9 different David Bowie t’s he says “NO BOWIE Shirts” that’s at least 70% of my collection gone.” We delve into the band teeshirts and he picks an Aerosmith crop top.

“Tj name one of Aerosmith’s songs” I say

 “Sweet…child of mine” he replies.

Wrong but I bite my tongue.

Wear your Tims They go with everything…and also put your hair in a bun.”

I recently cut off about 7 inches of my hair. My hair no longer “Does Buns” but he doesn’t seem to understand this.

“What about jewelry?” I ask

He’s going back to bed. I’ve almost lost him. As he closes his eyes he mumbles”

“Wear some sh*t on your wrist…I don’t know.”

Today was a huge struggle and I’m still left feeling like I’m wearing my Pajamas. I’m scared for the rest of the week and twice as scared that my playing of Aerosmith’s greatest hits on vinyl for him has seemingly had no impact on his music taste. 

Day 3

I’m not good at being an adult. Before I started this experiment I figured that it’s winter break and I’d have no major fashion events to really care about. How could I forget that a literal member of my immediate family has their wedding reception today? I could always lie to you guys and skip a day but I have a guilty conscience.

 Time to sacrifice my fashion sense for journalistic integrity!

I was so nervous when Tj looked into my closet.

“Will you wear pants” he asks

I shake my head.

Within two seconds he picks out a dress I’d totally forgotten I’d owned and a belt I recently bought that was lying on my bed.

I’m surprisingly relived. Not only did Tj manage to match the BELT to my SHOES, but he chose draping and flowy dress that I wouldn’t normally wear. I even convinced him to let me a darker shade (GASP) of pink lispstick.

Looks like the kid is catching on!

Day 4

The kid is not catching on.

I thought that with the success of yesterday’s experiment I could persuade TJ to let me wear a dress or a skirt. He entertained this idea but not before pairing one of my pink skater skirts with a peplum blouse that needs to be taken in about 4 inches at the waist. Now I just look like I’m wearing TWO skirts! Be careful what you wish for I guess!

Day 5

I think this outfit may be a result of Tj feeling bad for me.

Miraculously, he’s lifted the ban on David Bowie tee shirts due to the glam-rock gods unexpected death and my subsequent crazy lady sobbing over it yesterday evening. Although the death of a style icon may have inspired this look, the (ripped) leggings and too small cardigan certainly do not. I know it’s not the case but I like to think Tj picked these comfy clothes so it would be easy for me to curl up later and weep while listening to “Heros” or something. We’ll see where the day takes me.

Day 6

With the experiment nearly over something quite unique happened today. I am going paint balling for the first time this afternoon and I probably would have had to ask Tj’s fashion advice even if he wasn’t involved in this experiment!

While I have never had little plastic balls of paint shot at me at high speeds, Tj has been partaking in this activity since he was about nine. He knows what’s up.

has been partaking in this activity since he was about nine. He knows what’s up.

He’s very generously given me one oh his old shirts and tells me to put on another one under it because paint balls HURT. He asks me if I have any jeans I don’t care about and I show him an old skinny pair that I used to wear when I worked painting theatre sets. He tells me to put a pair of leggings on under the jeans and wear my tims. As a last gesture he picks out my gray beanie, which I think he’s taken a real liking too. For once I don’t have a problem with him telling me not to wear any makeup because I ended up getting shot in the face SEVERAL times with the paint that afternoon. I’m glad Tj was around to give me advice…even though the layering didn’t prevent me from getting black and blues all over my legs.  

Day 7.

I don’t know what possessed Tj to pair denim on denim but low and behold- he did. I know some people can rock this but I’m not one of them. I truly think his subconscious love for skinny jeans stems from some kind of missed calling. Perhaps lead singer in a pink band circa 2008?  

What I like best about the last outfit Tj chose is the fact that he liked my vintage jean jacket that I personalized with a bunch of pins and patches. This jacket is so cool and it was nice to see Tj liking something I liked even though we’re complete opposites. 

This week was full of ups and downs but I feel we’ve accomplished something important.

At this point I think every one know that fashion isn’t just about the runway. 

But then what is it about?

Style can mean a lot of things but at it’s core it means individuality.

Our different personal preferances dictate our style!  Although I would NEVER choose to dress like my brother dresses, it was fun to put on someone else’s shoes, or shirt in my case.

I think what we both learned through this is the way someone dresses often commands their personality and the way they act. It’s important to take this onto account and most importantly of all, keep trying new things!