Jennifer Nguyen writes about how a red dress broke her heart when she was a child — and how she's now working to heal her complicated relationship with her multicultural identity.
, I’ve relished finally seeing myself reflected in the media surrounding me. But with that realization has come another thought. I don’t want my self-worth to only be measured on how accepting society is of my identityI want to be accepting of it myself. With the painful awareness of how disconnected I’ve long felt from feeling at peace with my identity, I’m on a journey of acceptance on my own terms.
My first step was to rewrite my past and embrace what I thought at the time was a fashion faux pas, and what better way to do so than with the upcoming Lunar New Year. For those unfamiliar, rule number one for dressing foris you must wear something new , something red and an additional lucky colour based on you the year of your birth. That red qipao symbolized so much confusion in my youth, but I’m taking power from it instead of letting it hinder me in 2023.
When I look into the mirror, the red in my cheeks from embarrassment when I was younger is replaced by a bright scarlet hue proudly worn on my lips. I no longer shy away from the question, “What are you wearing?” and instead take it as an opportunity to share my multicultural outlook on the holiday. And while Lunar New Year is about encouraging luck to flow to you, I’ve found power in making my own luck and rules.
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