Ever since I was a child, I liked to dress up. I was never the little kid who wanted to wear the cool t-shirts, I wanted to wear my tutus and my sparkly red shoes. As I got older, I discovered my love for pastels, Lilly Pullitzer and sweaters with button ups underneath. My style is 100% "southern preppy". However, through the course of my life, many people have called me a "prep" in a derogatory manner, and I still don't understand why they think it offends me.

The definition of 'preppy' according to Merriam-Webster : "relating to or being a style of dress characterized especially by classic clothing and neat appearance." This definition does not include: stuck up, bitchy or thinking they are better than anyone. It's a type of style. A way people like to dress. I like having my appearance together, not matter if I'm going to cheer practice, class or Walmart. That is who I am and how I have always been. It does not mean that I am fake, or that I look down on people who do not have my type of style. It simply means that I am different.

The entire time I was in high school, I was constantly referred to as a "prep" in a way that was meant to demean and degrade me. People liked to stereotype me and think things that weren't true simply because I liked to wear dresses and heels to class. The thing is, I wear what I do just for the same reasons that everyone else does- it's what i like, it's what makes me feel confident, and it makes me happy.

I am a major advocator for dressing how you want. If you want to wear cowboy boots every day, go for it. If you like to wear black everything, don't let anyone hold you back. You like to wear sweatpants and t-shirts every day, then you do you.

I have never looked at anyone as wrong or right -good or bad- simply by how they were dressed. I think that we are more than our outward appearance, and just because your style is different than mine, doesn't mean anything besides we shop at different places.

I think it's about time that we stop putting others down simply because they don't dress like us, and start realizing that we are missing out on some amazing and wonderful people when we do. Some of my best friends have completely opposite styles than myself, and I wouldn't trade them, or the way they dress, for anything in the world. I mean, wouldn't the world be boring if we were all the same, anyway?

So, calling me for what I am- a person who likes to dress a certain way- does not, and will not, affect me in any way. I am more than the rudimentary clothes that I put on my body. If you are shallow enough to not like someone because the way they dress, then you are more stuck up than I am for wearing a Lilly Pulitzer dress to my 8 a.m. class.