Hello, my name is Bella and I have an addiction to galaxy print.
I’m not exactly sure how it happened, one day I’m content wearing plain, black t-shirts depicting cartoon characters and the next I’m venturing into the realm of vibrant nebulae and cosmic purples. If I had to guess at where this obsession with galaxy print started, I’d have to pinpoint it back to when I was in high school. One of my friends came into class one day with these bright pink and blue vans sneakers and I remember thinking they were the coolest shoes in school. For my eighteenth birthday, I ultimately asked my parents for a $20 slouchy sweater that I found on Amazon and there’s this dorky picture of me wearing it with this big smile on my face, posing next to, of course, a Doctor Who birthday cake.
Since my eighteenth birthday, my galaxy collection has expanded. I now own two sweatshirts, have dabbled with two star-covered protective phone cases add a comma here and have recently added a bowtie to my collection. This past summer I was even given a clipboard that was covered in duct tape that had, you guessed it, a purple, celestial pattern. I’m not quite sure what I find so intriguing about the print- maybe it’s the boldness of the color gradients that make up the night sky. The brightness of the galaxies is almost a foil to my own personality- I’m not very loud or eye-catching on my own- I am far more content to quietly pass through large crowds and to avoid attracting attention to myself. But the celestial bodies are different- they force you to pay attention with their unyielding strokes of color and planets that dance across the sky and my closet.
When I wear one of my sweaters, I feel happier. I do not feel like just another face. I feel like that of a unique individual who wears the heavens on their back and is unafraid to accept compliments of, “hey, cool shirt” from strangers that would otherwise make my heart pound in panic because I’m never quite sure what to do in the case of unexpected social interactions.
So yes, often associated with the likes of alternative teens who shop exclusively in Hot Topic, galaxy print has been good to me. It allows me to express a part of myself that would otherwise go unnoticed- an eclectic fashion sense that might walk the fine line between quirky and downright obnoxious, but, hey no one would describe me like that otherwise.
