If you didn't care about how people perceived your look, why dress in a particular way? Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

I used to walk around with a mohican wearing beat up clothes covered in patches, but I figure I was deliberately trying to be rebellious, that and I was poor as fuck.

The whole phase thing definitely applies to fashion, I always hated the expectations, dress smart for school, play the game to live up to other people's standards, take shit for having failing grades and have your career advisor spin out a bunch of dead end jobs that would have made you miserable.

My clothing was the best way I could visually protest that whole idea, but it didn't change anything.

I ended up travelling the world, hopping country to country for the past decade knowing that trying to settle down and join the rat race wasn't gonna work out for me.

Anyway along the way I ended up a qualified surf, climbing, snowboard and ski instructor, I've ran wilderness hostels and worked at heli ski companies. Now I work as a sports photographer, can speak 3 languages and manage a ski school and life is awesome,

I feel bad visiting home and seeing people I knew in the same situation as when I left, all of them equally capable but unable to catch a break.

I always look at my time as a punk as rebellious idle time, when I didn't know what I was doing in life but knew it wasn't gonna be what was laid out for me.