teen fashion

All The Cool Kids Are Wearing Purple Today

So today you are supposed to be wearing purple to celebrate Spirit Day, in honor of the fallen gay teens and other bullying victims out there. If you work in a sales office, you could wear a purple Paul Smith button down. If you work at a construction yard, a purple T-shirt and matching socks would do. If you are a college student, well, leave the purple headband at home. That one is for the hipsters. But why are days like this important?

Nope, donning the color of royals won’t save a kid’s life. Not today, anyhow.

But it’s a conversation starter. It’s an education tool. Kids and adults will wonder why they are seeing crowds of people dressed in the same hue. They’ll ask a passer-by what it’s all about. And you’ll have 30 or 60 seconds to share the stories of dead gay teens, and how homophobia will only lead to more deaths, and maybe one small thing each of us can (tell your friend his gay jokes aren’t funny, for example) do to create a culture of acceptance.

Personally, I’ll be most impressed with young people going to school today decked out in purple — and explaining to their adult parents and teachers why they’re dressing for gays today.

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