SELF-EXPRESSION

Like most people, I want to feel like myself, I want to curate how I (my body and my home) present to the world. This is at the root of why I buy (mostly non-essentials); it’s a form of self-expression.

There’s something beautiful and deeply human about how we groom, clothe and adorn ourselves; it’s how we want others to perceive us, the impression we want to leave behind. I struggled for a while with the idea that caring too much about appearances was shallow, unimportant. But I see now that it’s an essential part of human nature. 

Getting older (or maybe just wiser), I realise it’s not really about attractiveness or status. (That’s what’s shallow.) What we wear, how we cut our hair, the make up, nail polish, piercings and tattoos we choose can make us feel brave and confident; they can show people who we are inside; they can signal the chosen family or social group we belong to; they can be a form of rebellion, of protest.

The big turning point for me was when I turned 30. I used my birthday money to buy a) my first jewellery tools so I could finally be the artist I wanted to be, and b) a new, carefully planned wardrobe. I painstakingly replaced ALL of my clothes and shoes. This was in the wake of two long-term relationships for which I’d unwittingly contorted myself so far out of my natural shape, I felt uncomfortable just existing. I shed my old costume, and embraced who I knew I had been inside all along. I cut my hair off, lent into a gender-neutral style that gelled so much better with how I see myself.

I shucked off patriarchal expectations, eschewing that all-too-common habit of women/AFABs of playing roles that are foist upon us without our considered consent. Many of you will know what it’s like to stop centring the male gaze. I felt free to present as queer. To present as creative. To present as… myself. The empowerment and freedom I felt was instant. It hasn’t been a linear process, and I’m not fully where I want to be yet, but it was the start of a happier, more authentic life. 

Unbeknownst to me, it was also the beginning of my (neurodivergent) unmasking journey AND it triggered the hunt for gender-neutral, expressive, minimalist jewellery that led me to create the visual language of MALT Jewellery you see today.