Author Spotlight
Peyton Moore
Strutting through the East hallway like it’s the Hollywood strip with “In Between Days” by The Cure blaring in his AirPods, sophomore Charlie Kitten can faintly make out a group of kids laughing and staring at his four-inch platform leather boots and fishnet tights. Without a second thought, he keeps walking — unphased.
“They’re just fans,” Charlie thinks to himself.
With Charlie’s recent style revamp from East’s stereotypical Lululemon joggers and Nike shirts to black leather skirts and fingerless skeleton gloves, he’s used to the judgement from others. Instead of letting it drag him down, he uses it as a building block of confidence, reassuring himself of exactly who he wants to be.
“I really don’t take anything offensively,” Charlie said. “Everyone has their own opinions and honestly, I just don’t care enough. They take time out of their day to notice me, so in some ways I feel famous.”
COVID-19 hitting last spring was Charlie’s saving grace. Before school went virtual and quarantine began, he had little confidence dressing the way he wanted and just tried his best to fit in. But lockdown helped him experiment with his look like he’d always wanted to.
“I think if we never had quarantine this probably would never have happened,” Charlie said. “Surrounded by people at school everyday, I never had the chance to change my look. Since I was at home alone for three months, I just thought, ‘Hey no one is going to see me, so why not just play around with it?’”
At first his new style consisted of wearing black band t-shirts to bed, then slowly throwing in spiked necklaces, pleated skirts, knee-high pants and chains as his everyday quarantine-fit. Seeking inspiration specifically from the 1976 British rock band The Cure, he devoted quarantine to sampling this new style and it just stuck.
“At first I was like, ‘I wonder if he is ok. Is he depressed?’” Charlie’s friend and sophomore Vivian Riehl said. “And after some time I realized that he is expressing himself, and I am all for it.”
As virtual school came around in the fall, hiding behind the screen was easy. All anyone saw was Charlie’s freshly dyed black and purple hair, along with the occasional accessories.
But as hybrid school approached, Charlie was nervous to let the world see his newly found persona. Showing up on the first day wearing ripped jeans layered with black fishnets and green skeleton fingerless gloves, paired with a vampire-fang mask, he strutted into the building and immediately loved every second of it.
Charlie knew people would have a lot to say about his new look — “You’ve changed,” “What happened to you?” “Are you okay?” Some of his peers even thought quarantine had turned him crazy.
Family dinners, shopping at the mall, going to restaurants — Charlie stands out everywhere according to his mom Deborah Kitten. Maybe it’s his jet black eyeliner or his ripped skeleton zip up. Regardless of who’s giving him the up-and-down looks, Charlie carries himself with such confidence that all the stares don’t make him slouch, but rather make his grocery store walk a little more powerful.
“I think [his new look] has definitely made him a little more bold,” Deborah said. “And maybe that is because it takes some courage to walk out the door. Sometimes wearing things that aren’t as accepted in every environment can be hard, but Charlie is empowered by his new style, and I admire him for that.”
Charlie has not only stood out at school and in the community, but he’s also started to get noticed online. With 18K followers on Tiktok and multiple viral videos reaching just under half a million views, Charlie knows that just because people in his community aren’t always accepting or appreciative of his newfound style, there is a community that is.
Deborah knows her son hopes to get out of the suburbs of Kansas and find a crowd that can fully appreciate and relate to him. Whether he ends up on the East or West coast, Charlie has always known that he’ll find his true community somewhere outside of the Midwest — where people aren’t so quick to criticize.
Although Charlie’s newfound style attracts more stares and whispers, he knows that his confidence is more important than any eye roll from a classmate. Through fashion, he’s found who he is and who he wants to be.
He has met new friends with similar fashion interests, dove deeper into the gothic music world and scored a job at Hot Topic in Oak Park Mall where he can be surrounded by people with common fashion taste everyday. Charlie no longer hides behind a stereotype he never associated with — his style has allowed him to express himself and find his community.
“He may look physically different, but at the end of the day Charlie is still his peppy, kind, funny self,” Vivian said.
Charlie didn’t just change his wardrobe. He changed his outlook on life and has learned to love him for him. ‘Freak,’ ‘weirdo,’ ‘loser’ comments push Charlie to walk out the door with more eyeliner and taller boots the next day, empowered by the haters.
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