Monday

Becky aged 16- 26


The summer of 2014 has been a biggie for me in terms of looking back over my life. When I cast my mind back, there is an almost visual divide in the summer of 2004, which separates my life into two distinct parts: Before and After. If you read my password-protected post a couple of weeks ago, you will know the event that created this divide, but it was also a product of leaving secondary school and finding solace in rock (by which I mostly mean emo) music. It was also the summer that the final episode of Friends aired but I don't think that has any significance. I really think that summer was the time I transformed from a child into the person I would become later in life, so it's been quite emotional to suddenly find myself ten years down the road and I'm honestly very proud of the way I've turned out, even though my life is far from perfect at the moment.

With this in mind, and with all the reflection I've been writing about lately, I thought it would be interesting to look at how my appearance has changed over the past ten years, mostly influenced by the subcultures I was interested in. I should also mention that, by coincidence, another blogger posted something very similar but she has kindly said she's happy for me to go ahead with my post. Unfortunately, I've completely forgotten who it was. I thought I knew but when I went back to check, I couldn't find the post. So if it was you, please do let me know so I can link you. 

July 2004 (16)

This was a couple of months before The Thing happened. Marie and I were each other's prom dates because we were rebels like that. My dress was from Monsoon and my stepdad's mum had managed to straighten my hair somewhat. You can clearly tell that I don't really have any sort of style at this point. I'm just a fairly average teenager. 

December 2004 (16)  
My emo transformation is beginning. Although I'm wearing a top and jeans from my pre-emo days, I've attempted to dye my hair bright pink (I didn't bleach it first) and I'm so alternative with my devil's horns. If you look closely, you can see I've started wearing winged eyeliner, which will become my go-to for the next 10 years. 

August 2005 (17)
More blooming devil's horns. Stop it, Becky. This is an odd photo because I'm wearing such a brightly coloured top. I was on holiday in Exeter at the time and remember it well because I refused to wear anything other than all black with fishnets and Converse when we went to the beach. You can see hints of my usual emo style from the thick eyeliner, black nails, multiple ear piercings and badly dyed black hair.

November 2006 (18)
My transformation was well and truly complete! This was actually my Myspace profile picture: I felt like a female Brendon Urie in my red corset and top hat. Red eyeshadow is smudged down to my cheekbones, and my friend Steph had drawn three little stars on my right cheek. In the days before thick-rimmed glasses became cool, this was the closest I could get to the nerdy specs I wanted. 

June 2007 (19)
As you can see, I'd chilled out a little by this point. That's my friend Steph, who drew the stars on my face in the last photo. Although I'm still wearing black, I've now moved to liquid eyeliner and nothing else, in an attempt to look more sophisticated. The braces are also finally gone. Hooray!

November 2008 (20)
Following on from my ideas of sophistication in 2007, I threw myself into the vintage scene. With dreams of looking like Dorothy Gale, I dyed my hair red and perfected my victory rolls. Red lipstick was an every day essential along with, of course, the eyeliner.

July 2009 (21)
In 2009, I decided to go one step further in my dreams of looking like a 40s starlet and got my tailbone-length hair chopped right off. Every night, I would put it in pin curls and bought a pair of vintage cat eye glasses on eBay. This is also the year that I got fat for the first time!

November 2010 (22)
Holy terrible webcam quality, Batman! In 2010, Laura and I discovered A Very Potter Musical and became a little obsessed with Team Starkid. This panda hat reminded me of a photo I'd seen of Joe Moses, so I snapped it up and named it Joe Moses Panda. By now I'd got bored of the whole only-vintage-and-red-lipstick deal.

July 2011 (23)
The year I lost a lot of weight. Honestly, other than that, nothing changed this year. I still had short hair, I still had the same glasses. However, at the end of the year, I decided to start my blog.

July 2012 (24)
By now, I'd decided to let my hair grow out. I began to straighten it every now and then, and I discovered I could create a pretty mean beehive when I wanted to. After a few years of experimenting on and off, I discovered continuous-wear contact lenses, meaning I could finally wear sunglasses!

May 2013 (24)
Other than this being the year I got fat for the second time, not a lot has changed. My hair is longer but it's still straight and my make up has not changed at all.

July 2014 (26)
These days I wear my hair down a lot and it's really very long. After a long while with my contacts irritating my eyes, I wore some form of cat eye glasses most days. Luckily I've now worked out that the irritation was caused by a reaction to my moisturiser, so I'm wearing contacts again. 

It's crazy to look back and see how I've changed over the years. I think I retain an element of my style from each year, such as piercings from my emo phase and cat eye glasses from my vintage days. Then, of course, there's the eyeliner that has been a constant for the whole decade. No wonder I feel so naked without it! 

11 comments :

  1. I'm 100% with you on the cat eyeliner! This is such a nice post idea, though I'd prefer not to relive my awful teenage years haha they were horrific xxx

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  2. This is such a cute post idea. I love looking back at old pictures and how I have changed over the years. The 40s scarlet hair is amaze and where did you get the glasses in the last picture? xx

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  3. I love this, it's so cool to see how much you've changed over the years. I still have days where my teenage emo self tries to creep back in again. x

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  4. I loved reading this! You've managed to retain you cute quirkiness in all stages lol Well done!

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  5. It's really cool seeing how you've changed. I love that the eyeliner has always been there pretty much, also I think I totally had that red corset top (you rock it much better).
    As much as I hated being a teenager, I kind of want to go back and look for old pictures now. It'll be interesting to see how I changed.

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  6. This is incredible! I love it! I'd be mortified to post pictures from the time when I was sixteen...I applaud you for your courage! It looks like you definitely tried out a little bit of everything ;) haha And yes, wouldn't it be lovely if we could just go back and tell our younger selves, "NO NO NO?"
    ~ Samantha
    samsamcherie.blogspot.com

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  7. It's quite an interesting style span, I've seen a few of those from other bloggers and kind of regret that I can't do that myself, having very few pictures of myself and none of any kind of style whatsoever until I started uni where I finally got to experiment with clothes and makeup so thanks for sharing. I love that July 2009 picture, you look spectacular in it

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  8. That bottom photo of you is just gorgeous, Becky! You are so lucky that cat eyes suit you! I want a pair, but they make me look weird. I love your vintage phase! I went through similar phases to you, and I think I'm currently in between a girly, vintage phase and a be achy, boho phase, but that's no surprise as its getting hot here! xx

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  9. Great idea to show people a little of your life... I wonder if I could rustle up some old photos now!

    I'd be naked without my eyeliner... It's been this way for almost 10 years too!

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  10. This has made me want to take a look at myself over the years! I don't think I've had any major changes though. It is really interesting to see how someone can grow and have their own style evolve over the years.

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  11. This is such a beautiful post Becky! I love learning more and more about people and seeing snippets of their lives. We would definitely have been emo bezzies (...lezzies?) <3

    Claire xo

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