Personal Style Outfit-Giving Thanks

In high school, Seattle's Kurt Cobain grunge look infiltrated my school's style sense as all of my friends spent hours at Tommy Hilfiger and West Seal stocking up on flannel shirts and wide leg Mudd jeans. I wanted to get in on the fun but Mom disapproved the messy tomboy look (but Mom, that's the whole point!) and forbade me from amassing my own stock. Never one to give up on fashion, I bypassed her restrictions by shopping my Dad's closet as flannels and Chinese Fathers inexplicably go hand in hand. In the mornings, I'd sneak the shirts inside my navy Jansport backpack and put them on the moment I stepped foot on the lawns of Arcadia High. Oh the euphoria! I was beating the system and achieving fashion freedom. Mom: zero. Jenny: flannel.

I thought I could keep up the jig for at least a season but two days into my fashion con, I got caught. Dad came to pick me up from school fifteen minutes early and saw me in his red and black flannel shirt. When our eyes locked, my face turned as red as the flannel. I got in the car. Sheer silence. Then, he broke out a small grin that turned into amused chuckling. He said to me, "You like my clothes? Cool." That's the day I discovered my Dad was cool.

So, I'm taking the Thanksgiving holiday to thank my Dad for handling the flannel incident like a cool Dad and for being forever amused by the silly fashion antics of his daughter.