This is so awesome, I said as I began looking through a rack of clothes. I don`t know anyone else who would do this for me.
Are you kidding? I live for this stuff. My aunt beamed as she sifted through a rack of dresses. That`s one of the reasons why I love acting. I can always wear a different style than what I`d normally wear. I`ve been stuck in the same look for decades.
I couldn`t imagine you any other way. The way you dress is who you are. It`s more than beads and bangles. You aren`t doing it to be like someone else, or fit in.
I gave up fitting in years ago, my aunt said with a laugh.
That`s what my mother doesn`t understand about my lipstick and dark clothes. I don`t wear tattoos to freak her out; I wear them because I have to. It`s me.
Aunt Libby paused.
My mother never understood my inner style, either, she confessed. That`s what it is, really, she said wisely. It`s not about designers or labels but about self-expression. And attitude.
I smiled inside as well as on the outside. Aunt Libby and I dressed as differently as day and night, but we shared the same values.
It took me years to figure out who I was, she said. But really, I`ve always known who I was, since I was your age. It was just that so many people around me wanted me to be like them and tormented me when I wasn`t. Your dad grew up and blended in nicely with the establishment. But I always kept my hippie beads, Pink Floyd albums, and left-of-center ideas. I eventually found people who dug me the way I am.
That`s why it`s so cool and meaningful to me for you to change your image for one night on the town together. Well, now we`ll be more alike than ever. My aunt smiled.
Here`s a black corset, I said, taking a costume off the rack.
I wore that in A Midsummer Night's Dream when I played Helena, my aunt gushed. I couldn`t breathe for a week.
How about this? she asked, modeling a witch`s hat presumably from an over-the-top production of The Wizard of Oz.
I think it might be a little overkill, I offered.
Aunt Libby found a Puritanical high-collared black dress. We wore these in The Crucible. If I hike it up a few inches...it might be quite fabulous.
I think it would be ghastly, I complimented her.
Cardboard boxes marked MEN`S, WOMEN`S, and CHILDREN`S lined the wall underneath the windows.
I removed a box from the top of the stack labeled WOMEN`S, 9 and sifted through it. The box was full of everything from cowboy boots to tap shoes, galoshes to stilettos.
Here`s some Mary Janes. With a pair of black tights and that Crucible dress, you`ll look like...
A grown-up Wednesday Addams, my aunt said halfheartedly.
Perfect! I declared enthusiastically.
Now was time for a Raven Madison Extreme Dream Makeover. The closest I`d ever gotten to being a fashion or cosmetics consultant was when I applied pink blush to Becky when she was preparing for a date with Matt.
If I ever had my own style show, I`d tear into a suburban style-challenged participant`s closet and throw out anything pastel, floral, or rhinestoned and replace it with bloodred tones, acid hues, and morbid blacks.
Today was different from anything I`d experienced when consulting Becky. From her auburn-topped head to her lime-green-painted toes, I got to transform my aunt from a flower child to a lady of the night.
While one hand soaked in lavender water, I painted her other hand`s fingernails bat black.
So, tell me all about the date! I prompted her like a professional cosmetologist.
Aunt Libby giggled as if we were best friends as she described her dinner date with Devon.
He is unlike any other man I`ve ever met. He`s very patient and intense. He listens to everything I say.
Do you have a picture of him?
We`ve only had one date. Besides, he doesn`t like to have his picture taken.