Dressing my Inner Child

My childhood - outside of school - was full of joy. 

I remember, with much fondness, as I developed a taste for style and clothes, how it allowed me to shape myself. It did, sadly, lead me to be bullied mercilessly. Non-uniform days were the best and worst times for me. I don’t think I was conscious of it, or even knew what it meant, but I was told that I looked gay, over and over again. 

When I was ten or eleven, my go-to look was what I thought was a chic ensemble: a striped rugby jersey and rainbow scarf. To be honest, it actually made me look more like an antiques expert on Flog It than a style icon, but I adored it. 

My bullies had a field day.

I learned early on that there was coding to the way we dressed, and so looking queer was anyone who stood out, or wasn’t dressing like a clone of their friends. That followed me for a long time, and after years of trying to fit in - apparently no one cares that the converse you were wearing were *just* like the ones Madonna was wearing - I ended up not caring, and embraced it.

It did mean that I cycled through my tastes quickly to try and stay ahead of the bullies. Things I loved were discarded in order to protect myself.

September reminds me of back to school, and the new season, and so for AW25/26, I thought I would revisit a perennial favourite of 10-year-old Ben, and update it for 31-year-old Ben. I never imagined that I would be wearing Polo Ralph Lauren, but I love it just as much as I did when I was 10!

Childhood should be a time of unbridled pleasure; we should never limit young people. I wasn’t able to be fully myself circa 2005, but I am trying to soothe and honour my inner child in 2025. I look no less fun, but it is giving far less Flog It and is perhaps a fresh take on a classic, both for me and in terms of style. 

If sartorial investigation is something that resonates with you, may I suggest you style your inner child, and see what emotions it sets loose...