Slicked and Snatched?

I really like pleated skirts



I am black.

There is really no changing that, I am black no matter what I do. Being black is part of me. I listen to Trap music, but also would kill to see Twenty One Pilots. I love Beyonce, but I also love BTS. I like slicked edges, but I also rather not do it all the time. I like Afrobeats but can't dance.  There is an interesting perception of what it means to be a black girl in 2019. I am going to be the first to admit that time has moved on since the civil rights movement, but there is something that still hangs over me like a plague. I am black, but I am not black in the correct way. What does that mean? When you log on to Instagram or Twitter and look at the big black influencers  I notice I don't fit in. That's not my fault and it most certainly is not their fault, but media has managed to pedal out an image that every black girl seems to have in the back of their mind. The image of the Insta baddie sometimes referred to as "bad bitches"
I of course hardly fit that image, but that can be hard to come to terms with particularly when media insists that's what successful black girls are and that's how we are all meant to be.

This was my first fashion post at 16

I like things such as anime and Kpop and  I also enjoy rock music. When I was in high school and sixth from everyone would say I dress very much like well Emmanuela, my style was very unique to me. Someone once compared me to the girl in the movie Me Before You, which till this day is very confusing because I can't decide if it's a compliment or an insult (I took it as an insult). I noticed that wasn't what was expected of me as a black girl when people from my community started making comments about the way I dressed. Sometimes I was called a clown and was very used to black girls sniggering as I walked past which caused me to become embarrassed. I tried to tone down everything about myself down and instead tried to become the hardcore Azonto warrior type girl who was sexy and cool and everything those insta baddies were. Of course, I may have lost you there at sexy because I am a lot of things but I sure as hell ain't sexy. I didn't even like being that girl, it felt even less comfortable. I felt frustrated that some black girls and boys were willing to look down on me because I didn't fit in with the "archetype". I wondered what exactly girls like me were called. I was often told I acted "white" or I was trying to be someone I was not when in fact the person I was supposed to be wasn't me. I wasn't slicked and snatched and that should have been okay. I eventually found the term for girls like me on Twitter. It was "The Alternative Black girls"

I hated it.

What was that supposed to mean? I thought it made us sound like the other. Like there was a line between us and them.  I was already going through an identity crisis, so this made it worse. I wasn't even extreme enough to even be considered an "Alternative black girl" and that was simply because there were aspects of me that coincided with the Slicked and Snatched black girl so who was I? I had no idea

This look was for one of my other blogposts
Bad and Boujee on a budget

 This had implications for me as a blogger and as someone who was and still is trying to fight for my corner of the internet. A lot of black influencers are bad and boujee and it seems companies, brands and opportunities pass up black girls who don't fit the formula. It seems we aren't valid as black girls when we don't confine ourselves to one image which is very 2-dimensional considering race should certainly not define us. Let's be honest based on my style and demeanour PrettyLittleThing isn't sponsoring me anytime soon, so I am fighting to be noticed as a girl with interests in fashion rather another insta baddie and that can be so difficult for black girls when the formula is already laid out for us.  Black girls are people who are multifaceted, we are all different and we should be allowed to express ourselves, without discrimination or fitting criteria. The media should allow all types of black girls to flourish whether they are

This was my favourite picture of myself for along time. I was very proud of this picture

snatched or not. Is there are anything wrong bad boujee black girls? No way! It's just it's not realistic for everyone

So I am going to use my little page to say it's okay if you are black and can not stand Trap but enjoy House and EDM, it's okay to be black and  hate body cons, it's okay to be black and not constantly slick your edges and it's okay to be black and not be thicc with two Cs. It's okay to be yourself. Black girl magic is inclusive.

This post was very personal to me because I didn't really know where I belonged as a child and my teen years. I experimented with many styles whilst feeling pressured to just conform to one group. I won't say I am that unique so can you imagine what others face, but like I said I don't have one aesthetic I sort of float in and out

another picture I loved for the longest time

As you can see I went through many looks many stages and looking back now I loved all of them. So be as unique as you're comfortable and enjoy everything you do.

Bye for now

Emmy xx