I was never really a girly kid though. Hang on, what does that even mean? What I mean to say is, I was just as happy climbing trees and making mudpies as I was playing with My Little Ponies, brushing their tails until they were perfectly smooth.
When I was 6, my all-time favourite outfit was a fluorescent pink dress, made of sweatshirting, that had a My Little Pony on the front, with a diamante on its forehead. I distinctly remember wearing it with red gumboots. I was nothing if not practical.
My mother never told me what to wear. Quite the opposite, she encouraged me to wear whatever took my fancy. There were times I left the house wearing screeds of her sewing fabric that I'd tucked and pinned in a haphazard fashion to create a random top or skirt.
And while she wouldn't let me go out in anything that was overtly sexual or would have me arriving home with hypothermia, she understood that what we wear is a key outlet of creative expression.
When I was about 14, I decided to cut my long, dark, curly hair off into a short, pixie cut. Before I did so, I remember saying to my mother, "But what if I look like a boy?"
Her reply? "So what if you do? Plus, it will always grow back." Her message was perfectly clear - there is nothing wrong with looking like a boy. Or a girl. You are who you are and how you look doesn't matter, as long as you are happy.
It's a message Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are also embracing with their daughter, Shiloh, who hit headlines earlier this year for choosing to dress in "boy" clothes and be called John. The concerning part for me is that this even qualifies as news. So a 9-year-old is choosing to wear pants (I can only assume that's what they mean by boy clothes)? And have short hair? Why does it even matter what she wears? And what qualifies as boy clothes? Or girl clothes?
As an adult, I have no qualms about wearing men's clothes, though my husband does take issue when he can't find his favourite shirt because it's in a crumpled pile on the floor after I've worn it the previous day.
I've actually bought my own white men's shirt now, so I'm not constantly stealing his. The guy in the men's store was quite taken aback when he realised I was shopping for myself, not a male in my life.
Award-winning Te Puke fashion designer Steve Hall sent men down the runway at New Zealand Fashion Week in tunics and dresses. And why shouldn't he? Who is to say that a particular style or item or colour should only be worn by a particular gender? Clothes are merely a form of expression, a way to communicate our individuality to the outside world. While I applaud Ellen for creating clothes that teach our girls to wear what they want, who is going to send the same message to our sons?
I look forward to the time when there are no boys or girls sections in clothing stores. How we choose to cover our bodies has nothing to do with our gender. It's all about who we are and how we express our individuality.
