TL;DR - looking for help with makeup and/or personal styling
Hi everyone,
I’ve been lurking this sub for a while but decided to finally come and ask for help - I’m a bit at a breaking point.
I am a queer AFAB Black person and my entire life struggled with feeling femininity was something I could step into with a complex understanding of self. I was a “tomboy” growing up and beyond that struggled with my weight and did not want to be seen. I was bullied for being queer too so did just enough not to stand out too much. This meant jeans and a hoodie.
In my young adult life I struggled hard with social anxiety and so never really got into the rhythm of “going out” or knowing what to wear in non-professional settings. I almost always decline party invites or strategically flake on events that require non-casual clothing.
I’m now 30 and in grad school at Penn. I am out of my element. I have no idea how to dress and can’t keep wearing a jeans and t-shirt to everything. Women give me dirty looks and it’s clear I don’t fit in when I do try to attend events. This place has its own set of cultural expectations that I don’t really understand - I’m the first in my family to attend an Ivy League, and the first in my family to attend a college that isn’t something like Strayer.
I need help. Can anyone please recommend a personal stylist or makeup artist that can help me? I’m on a student budget but something needs to change. I’m tired of sitting alone at home on the weekends or not “networking” effectively in my program because I get too anxious. I can’t sustain this, living my life in a series of pause and play.
