After reading and watching about the story of the Mexican-American about the Zoot Suits, I soon remember about my experience during my early high school year about committing crimes of fashion and other aspects related to it. Throughout my childhood, my parents, especially my mother held a very important role in terms of the clothing I wear. My mother was the one who always bought my shirts, dresses, skirts, and pants. I was a pretty obedient daughter who accepted every clothes she bought for me.
In Indonesia, the type of clothing that is normal for female is the one that is polite. In our culture, women seldom show even a little of their sexual parts except for those who are brave enough and of course for those who sell their body for living. In my junior high school and high school, how uniforms were worn and our overall appearance are essential as it can affect the overall grade. The blouse and skirts are all custom made, which means that every student had to be measured individually to fulfill the school requirement. The blouse has to be in a certain fit, cannot be to tight or to loose; the length of the skirt has to be below the knee. Aside from that, we had to wear very long socks that have to reach above our knee. So between the skirt and the socks, there could not be any skin revealed. Moreover, the hair should be tight up in ponytail and the bangs have to be properly clipped. The purpose of that is to create a sense of politeness and tidiness, which is how Indonesian women are known.
During my first year of high school, I began to watch an American television series called The OC, which is acted by young celebrities including Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, Rachel Bilson, and Peter Gallagher. The show is basically about the life of high-school students in California. As I started to get addicted to the show, I began to like the kind of summer clothing that Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson wore in the episodes and began to think that the clothes I had were so old-fashioned. I thought it was really cool to wear “mini” dresses and “mini” pants, especially when Indonesia’s weather is always warm all year. Since then, I demand to buy my own clothes. I started to wear hot pants, mini dresses, and not-so-polite tops. I can see that my parents shocked when they first saw me wearing these clothes and lectured me about the bad image my clothing would represent me. When I was about to go out with my friends, they began to inspect the clothes that I wore before I go. Often I went out quickly so they did not have the chance to see the clothes I wore that day. I remember when my mother always yelled at me whenever she found out that I was wearing clothing that kind of exposed a lot of skin, like I was committing a crime. I felt that just because I dressed like that, did not mean that I was a slut, or a prostitute. It was just some kind of way for me to rebel against the boring tradition that says that women have to dress in a certain way and a way for me to express my young and adventurous soul. Like in the movie, just because a lot of Mexican teenagers wore the Zoot Suit, does not mean that they are a bad person. I did not stop there. In school when I decided that I did not want to clip my bangs, I was humiliated in front of the whole students as an example of a girl who is rebellious against the rule, as if I just burned the school building.
As I grow older I began to realize that our community is formed in such a complicated way. Fashion is not just a form of personal expression; it can also express a normative value of a community. Like in the movie, I am sure that those teenagers often wear those Zoot suits because of a self-expression purpose. However, they instead being labeled as rebellious kids who had no manner and always make trouble. I personally think that people should be judged from their character rather than from the things that are considered normal, such as from their clothing.
