I went to a 65th birthday lunch party at the weekend. It was fancy dress & the theme was Hollywood because my friend is a big film buff. Looking round the big gathering of people in the cinema, which was the venue, it was quite surprising how varied the costumes were & the effort many people had gone to.
It does make you think about the different attitudes to dressing up. Some hate it, some resent having to do it, some make minimal effort, (lots of men in their Tux's or Dinner jackets), some simply won't do it, & some go the whole hog & really get into the spirit of the thing. It can't just reflect how outgoing & confident people are because it is possible to hide behind a different persona - Many actors are very shy or lacking in self confidence. Sometimes people who take any opportunity to be the centre of attention are masking a deep seated difficulty in feeling at ease with other people.
I was dressed as "the girl with the dragon tattoo" simply because it was relatively easy to do. I now feel comfortable enough in my own skin to not care too much what other people think. It did create a bit of a problem because I went swimming in the evening & people I know by sight were obviously surprised to see a 67 year old suddenly sporting a dragon tattoo & purple hair! My 6 year old grandsons on the other hand weren't fazed at all by seeing their granny so outageously attired. I didn't realise how difficult it would be to get rid of the tattoo, finally nail polish remover did the trick. Could never be tempted to have a real one.
I enjoyed the party, & appreciated the huge amount of effort & planning which had gone into it. More importantly, I think the birthday celebrant enjoyed it too. My only problem nowadays is that I simply can't hear what people are saying in big gatherings with a lot of background noise from conversations getting louder & louder. I haven't managed to learn to lip read yet, so run the risk of misunderstanding what has been said & making a completely inappropriate reply. Given that there were some interesting people there it's a shame I often couldn't hear what they had to say! My other problem is that I can't stand upright for a long time without being very uncomfortable. Drink doesn't help either!
Maybe we should all try being someone else occasionally.
It does make you think about the different attitudes to dressing up. Some hate it, some resent having to do it, some make minimal effort, (lots of men in their Tux's or Dinner jackets), some simply won't do it, & some go the whole hog & really get into the spirit of the thing. It can't just reflect how outgoing & confident people are because it is possible to hide behind a different persona - Many actors are very shy or lacking in self confidence. Sometimes people who take any opportunity to be the centre of attention are masking a deep seated difficulty in feeling at ease with other people.
I was dressed as "the girl with the dragon tattoo" simply because it was relatively easy to do. I now feel comfortable enough in my own skin to not care too much what other people think. It did create a bit of a problem because I went swimming in the evening & people I know by sight were obviously surprised to see a 67 year old suddenly sporting a dragon tattoo & purple hair! My 6 year old grandsons on the other hand weren't fazed at all by seeing their granny so outageously attired. I didn't realise how difficult it would be to get rid of the tattoo, finally nail polish remover did the trick. Could never be tempted to have a real one.
I enjoyed the party, & appreciated the huge amount of effort & planning which had gone into it. More importantly, I think the birthday celebrant enjoyed it too. My only problem nowadays is that I simply can't hear what people are saying in big gatherings with a lot of background noise from conversations getting louder & louder. I haven't managed to learn to lip read yet, so run the risk of misunderstanding what has been said & making a completely inappropriate reply. Given that there were some interesting people there it's a shame I often couldn't hear what they had to say! My other problem is that I can't stand upright for a long time without being very uncomfortable. Drink doesn't help either!
Maybe we should all try being someone else occasionally.
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