We were dressing up for the EMU Fall Festival, which was at Parkwoods Cabin, and we started Saturday after lunch. Bekah and I were making bread, and so we went shopping for pans, stopped at my sister's house for some clothing (for our costumes), and then while we were making the bread, we worked on Bekah's hair. I straightened it, Amy did her nails, and Jamila did her toes. We searched high and low for a mini skirt for Bekah to wear, and finally decided on one from Anna on the third floor, and my teal shiny top. We borrowed earrings from Katherine, and then Bekah had to shave her legs, borrowing stuff from Crystal. Then we had to do makeup. When Bekah was done, we walked up to Jamila's room and got name tags. It took a long time to get Bekah ready, while we were doing this, I kept feeling like we were hiding who she was and making her look like every other girl in Harrisonburg going to a bar. We made her like everyone else--not unique and almost boring.
Meg wore her Tivas, a djellaba, a black scarf over her hair, and made an 'X' over her mouth, to represent that women are to be silent, women are to have their head covered, and women are to avoid showing off their bodies. She even wore jeans, although we looked up that women weren't supposed to wear men's clothing, it looked better, and when she thought about rolling up her jeans so that we couldn't see them, she said, "but my legs are hairy."
I said, "But I love you the way you are."
And so was the battle of this beauty. To represent the Worldly beauty, we had to cover up the Bekah that we all love. We took time to hide and take away 'imperfections' and made her stare at herself in a mirror, challenged to make her lips look more pouty by wearing lipgloss, to scrutinize about her eyebrows long enough to need to pluck some hairs, and to notice some unruly hairs that weren't straight. So much time was taken, to cover her up.
With Meg, it wasn't that we were covering her up. We were physically covering her up, but she could still be Meg until the 'X' was put over her lips. Because of the media we used (liquid eyeliner) she couldn't smile for fear that it would crack, and so it inhibited her from being who she really was. When we were being silly, she couldn't laugh along, or she couldn't smile while laughing.
both Bekah and Meg were costumed by physicality, and in doing so, also costumed their personalities.
All of this time, I was already in my costume. :)
Because I represented inner beauty, I was to represent myself, and I did so with great vigor. I wore a green and brown patterned dress with my pink jacket and teal scarf over it. Jamila half-cornrowed my hair, and then I braided it some more, as that is one of the things that I think is most beautiful about myself--that I can braid my hair and wearing it braided. As a finishing touch, I wore my bunny slippers, which have been making their debut for the past week since I got back from Fall Break.
So then, we went with a Pirate, a Native American, and Cleopatra herself to the Fall Festival.
We definitely got good reactions. People had to ask what we were, so we explained ourselves. Though people could see what we had done to decorate ourselves, they had no idea of the process that it took to get there, the emotional weariness that each of us carried--me for watching Bekah disappear and Meg become inhibited, and also the time it took to reach that point.
There was a costume contest, and The "Worldly Beauties (OH CODY!)" and Cleopatra won (Jamila looked FREAKING awesome, and even cut her hair for the role). Bekah and I carved pumpkins, both of them saying something--mine said, "In Her Beauty" and Bekah's said, "A Sad Story Be." I think we were both feeling our costumes.
We all learned great things about this project, and as I continue to write about my experimence with expressing inner beauty, there will be reflections of this experiment/statement.
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