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Hermit Crab Essay 005: How To Discover Your Style

By Callie Feyen 1 Comment

leopard print discover

Discover Your Style

“To uncover your personal preferences, you first need to do a fair bit of experimenting.”

This advice comes from Anuschka Rees in her book, The Curated Closet. The word “uncover” is active and bold. It suggests courage and strength, and a willingness to be surprised. “Experimenting” tells us we must try. It suggest things will get messy. Like the end of a winter Saturday afternoon when I was standing in a pile of clothes— skirts and pants and T-shirts—that I personally preferred but that no longer preferred me.

“If I were a little more….”

“If I were a little less….”

“If I could just…” I said, bartering with what was crumpled at my feet.

“It’s not your fault these clothes don’t fit,” my husband Jesse says, handing me a bag to put what I wished to keep inside of it.

This will be an experiment in not keeping; in letting go. It will be an experiment in uncovering a style from what I can no longer hold on to.

//

Synonyms I personally prefer for “try”

  • fling—the clothes no longer wearable on the floor
  • struggle—to walk in high heels
  • crack—open what it is I’m keeping safe; what it is I’m keeping
  • essay—on my desk, a giant question, waiting

//

“If this is too much,” Anuschka writes, “try this.”

For example, let’s say you want to try a leopard print. Pants, a shirt, shoes, and a headband could feel like too much once you see yourself, and upon reflection think, “No, no. I’m not the LSU women’s basketball coach. No, no. I have not been asked to try out for a reality show.”

No need to stress out, just try one item at a time. The headband could be cute with a white T-shirt and black jeans. And unless you are going to help coach the LSU women’s basketball team, I think you should get rid of the pants.

I wore my leopard print flats with a hot pink skirt, and a navy sweater with a hot pink flamingo—its eye a fake diamond—on the first 74 degree day we had in Michigan. It is 30 degrees and then it is not. The wind is a steel blade and then it is a butterfly delightfully figuring out her wings. The day it is 74 is also a day we’re under a tornado watch. In the morning though, the weather is soft, the sun glows orange through the cracks in grey clouds. It is as if the weather has no idea what she is capable of.

//

The difference between a watch and a warning:

A watch means the conditions are right to, let’s say, wear a bathing suit. The sun is out, the pool is open, sunscreen is on sale at Target, Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” is on repeat on the radio.

A warning means it’s happening. You’ve put the bathing suit on.

//

Feeling out of your comfort zone has nothing to do with your personal style, and everything to do with your confidence levels.” 

—Anuschka Rees, The Curated Closet

Synonyms for “confidence”:

  • courage—I put on a larger size; see the beauty in what remains
  • daring—I show the picture of the haircut I’ve wanted and I say,  “Do it.” “Shorter, shorter,” I say and scissors snip and my hair falls to the floor
  • pluck—I take the Zumba class—the one where the instructor turns the lights off and turns the disco balls on—the one where I dance in sparkles
  • spunk—I wear Converse with dress pants; a graphic tee with a blazer. I luxuriate in the paradoxes of my life.  I tell myself not to be afraid of what’s changing. I try to relish in it. I see what I can do with what I have—with what I have become—with what I am becoming.

Try It: What to Keep Prompt

This week, try your hand at a Hermit Crab essay about what to keep or what to let go of, regarding your life or personal style. Alternately, write a poem using the Hermit Crab essay technique of hiding one meaning within another.
What’s a Hermit Crab Essay?

Photo by Travel Local, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen.

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Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.
Callie Feyen
Latest posts by Callie Feyen (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Courage to Follow - July 24, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Being a Pilgrim and a Martha Stewart Homemaker - July 10, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Monarch Butterfly’s Wildflower - June 19, 2023

Filed Under: poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompt, writing prompts

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About Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Comments

  1. Bethany says

    April 10, 2023 at 11:00 am

    Great piece, Callie. “The day it is 74 is also a day we’re under a tornado watch. In the morning though, the weather is soft, the sun glows orange through the cracks in grey clouds. It is as if the weather has no idea what she is capable of.”

    Reply

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