In 1998, I was 16 years old and my parents had very high academic and social standards for my brother and I. My mother, especially, taught us the value of dressing to impress and always said that we should look nice "from head to toe." My parents taught us to judge people based on character. However, they noted that even though we may be smart and kind, people's snap judgments based on appearance will sometimes take precedence over the content of our character.
Shopping was not a pleasant experience for me as a high schooler. Nothing fit! Shirts were either too bulky or too revealing, so it was hard for me to look stylish "from head to toe." It was more like from head to neck and waist to toe. My parents would never let their teenage daughter leave the house wearing a shirt that's busting at the seams or showed too much cleavage. So as a teenager, I was relegated to pullover shirts: tees, sweatshirts, and sweaters. I had very few stylish shirts. I remember seeing a not-too-revealing bustier in the window of a popular store at the mall and going inside to try it on. After trying on three different sizes, I exclaimed, "Why can't they just make shirts for big breasted girls!"
The seed had been planted...