Teen Night Round 2

It's back!! As you may have remembered, last year the High Museum in Atlanta hosted a Teen Night -- free admission for all teens and a p[art]y that included live music, a poetry slam, crafts (not the kid kind), etcetera, and I went, of course. When they announce another one, I start planning weeks in advance. I thought nothing could beat last year's, but this one had an even greater presence (except that I unfortunately missed the poetry slam). And the teen's presence was even greater -- as I said in the last post, art kids seem to carry this artistic and self-expressive grace that you can't seem to fake. Seeing everyone interact with each other was so interesting (I sound like a Discovery Channel narrator observing two gorillas who are about to mate...). I'm glad to call myself an art kid because I like to think I have that same presence, so I quickly transformed myself into the most "art teen" I could get because soon I'd be surrounded by hundreds of others.

Sweater by Madewell. Dress by Zara. Shoes by Adidas. Jacket by Juicy Couture. Backpack by Urban Outfitters.

My new cut + color definitely worked into the art kid equation (platinum bobs are so self-expressive), so my plan for the rest of my look was to pile on a bunch of clothes and hope it would work. Kinda like what Leandra Medine does (but she does it so well), I did so in an artistic way (fitting, right). I found this Madewell sweater (very similar to this one) that can hardly work at a Teen Night meant for art kids, so I grabbed a dress to layer it over, my loudest one that started a fashion revolution and that caught the eyes of many during Montréal Fashion Week. Obviously it worked. Then I kept going -- I slipped on pair of semi-sheer tights and my Stan Smiths (who knew sneakers and tights could work?) and then [finally] tied my denim jacket around my waist, or layered it over everything when it got chilly. This is giving me serious déjà vu, back to when I had, like, ten layers of clothes on. But I basically put items that shouldn't work together, well, together, and it happened to work. That just sounds like an artist's statement in itself. 

I walked around the exhibits finding myself taking mirror selfies with the art and taking photos with Iris Van Herpen's magnificent pieces and I realized -- I'm not a true ATL teen, I'm a true ATL art teen. And how fitting is it to go to a Teen Night in Atlanta that is filled with art? That's my kind of p[art]y. Last night was definitely a way to find my "social standing" (I despise that term) because everywhere I looked, I felt like I belonged. An art teen. That sounds suitable.

Along with the Teen Night events, I finally got to see Iris Van Herpen's pieces in real life, and I had a similar moment to when I saw Oscar de la Renta's:

 

Museum photos shot by me. First two photos of me shot by my sister Kendall, third photo shot by my friend Makinsey.

It felt strange walking out those doors at 10:00 because I realized this would be my last one ever (it's a big deal, I've already been to four in my high school experience). I'll still be a teen next year, but it's likely that I'll be hundreds or thousands of miles away in college doing adult things. Growing up is weird. I'm glad that I could spend a night so close to adulthood participating in something that celebrates our youth. 

People who went last night: feel free to share your experience in the comments below!!

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