What It's Like to Be a Beatlemaniac and Vintage Enthusiast in 2017

I was 13 years old the first time I saw The Beatles movie, Help! Before sitting down with a good friend of mine to watch this zany film, I had only been a casual fan of the Fab Four. Sure, I knew all the songs off of Abbey Road and Let It Be, but doesn't every kid whose parents were born in the 1960s? Regardless, I have always been a pop culture fanatic and 13-year-old me was no exception, so I was eager to see the film. As I laughed at those four Liverpudlian lads, really seeing their faces and not just hearing their voices for the first time, I started to feel the rumblings of what would go on to become a lifelong love affair with music and the 1960s.

I've always described my Beatles fascination to be much like Alice falling into the rabbit hole; I wandered around for a bit slowly finding my way through different songs and the cliche photos of Beatles, my interest growing stronger with each step before... BOOM! Down the rabbit hole I went, and there was no coming back. I suddenly needed to know every song, to know all about John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I wanted to emulate the style of their wives and girlfriends, I wanted to learn guitar, I absolutely had to have Beatles Rock Band, and to cover my room ceiling to floor in pictures and posters. I was entering that stage of teenage adoration that most people experience, although for my generation in 2011 the subject of most teen girl's affection was Justin Bieber. To me, my fascination with this 60s British rock band was totally normal, just another one of my interests. But to a lot of my classmates, and even some teachers, I was acting a bit weird.

My first two years of middle school, I was totally unmemorable. Nothing about me really stood out, and if I'm honest I probably couldn't even pick myself out of a lineup from back in those days. Yet upon entering 8th grade, I was definitely beginning to stand out. I found that I couldn't ever help myself from telling absolutely everyone about my love for The Beatles, whether it was in the classroom or on Facebook. People started to see me as strange, calling my fascination an obsession. I was bullied and teased for awhile, but nothing I couldn't eventually move past. Of course, what laid ahead of me was much more exciting than any middle school bullies.

By my freshman year of high school, I was beginning to discover my own unique style as all kids do at that age. I had started experimenting with makeup only a few months before, and I was absolutely determined to transform myself into Pattie Boyd, the woman who has remained my style icon for nearly eight years now.

With her big cornflower blue eyes, long legs, and near perfect 1960s hair styles, Pattie Boyd was the epitome of sixties fashion for me. I still remember the first time I wore Boyd's style of mod makeup to school, absolutely stressing the entire day worrying that someone would comment on the bold cut crease eye shadow. While I did receive a few stares here and there, I tried my best to ignore them and pressed on. By the end of my freshman year I was wearing mini dresses and skirts, button up blouses with sweet bows tied round the neck, sixties style boots, and oxford shoes. I was basically living in 1966 in 2012.

As high school continued, my own personal style evolved and as each day passed I was more firmly cementing myself into a sixties lifestyle. By this point, everyone seemed to be cool with my eccentricities and I had an awesome group of friends that always had my back. My junior year of high school, I decorated my binders so that one had images of sixties models and the other was a collage of silly pictures of John Lennon. I owned every one of Lennon's books by this point and would read his silly stories to friends during class trips. I owned all of my favorite Beatles records on vinyl and was quickly building my collection of other vinyl records. I saw Almost Famous for the first time that year as well, a film that struck a chord within me and spoke to my soul as a fan of rock music. I had 4,000+ followers on tumblr and everyday I would share my tips on how to look vintage as well as my thoughts on each Beatle. Things seemed to be pretty cool for me; I was finally feeling as though I was at a happy point in my life and that while some of my obsession had calmed down, I was still having a fun time living the sixties dream. But as we all know, sometimes life likes to throw a rock in your way.

You can probably imagine that living life as if it's 1966 is a bit isolating when the rest of the world is living in the 21st century, and as high school drew to a close for me it became clear that the outside world was growing increasingly different. One of the things I had always admired about the 1960s was that it seemed to be a time when people were not scared to question authority, a time when minorities and women were speaking up for themselves and progress was being made. I had always wished that the current generation could be more like that, and now I see how it is a burden to be socially conscious...even if it is more than necessary in the end to be so. I found myself being drawn in by the changing social climate, and distancing myself from my old sixties lifestyle. There was some strong urge within me to suddenly conform, instead of staying myself while also investing my time in modern politics and culture. To this day, I still don't know exactly why I changed, but it happened.

Maybe it was for the best, to take a break for a year or two. Maybe I needed to have a taste of another lifestyle in order to know for sure that my love for mini dresses and Kink's guitar solos were never ending. But I can tell you one thing for certain; when I abandoned The Beatles, Zeppelin, rock music as as whole, and fun colorful clothing... I was miserable. After high school I cut my long hair, a length that I had spent all four years growing out, into a short Taylor Swift circa 1989 bob. I felt like myself, after all I had been planning to trim my hair that short after high school for years. But with that change came many more. I ended up not going straight to college, I stayed home for a year and worked my butt off, then I went to college and kinda learned that it wasn't for me. All the while, I wasn't myself.

Now, I feel as if I'm coming back and it's in a burst of psychedelic shades. A few nights ago I listened to the soundtrack to Almost Famous and played the guitar instrumentals over and over, thinking to myself "it's all happening..." because finally, it is. Living in 2017 with an affinity for Beatles tunes and 60s clothing can honestly be a little isolating at times, but it is possible to stay in touch with the modern world and also happily admire things from the past. These days it's become much easier to live this kind of lifestyle as well, as dressing vintage is quite the popular trend on social media platforms like Instagram and Tumblr, and people's minds are much more open now then they were in 2011 when I first started getting into this culture. Through everything, I have learned that I absolutely always have to stay true to myself. The 1960s were a time when everyone was staying true to themselves, discovering new avenues for art and music, dressing in wildly cool colors, and fighting to change the world. I see a lot of the 60s in the millennial generation...we're very concerned with social justice issues, we love wild clothing, we love to make life a party, rap and hip-hop is seen by many as this generation's rock 'n roll etc., etc...

To be a Beatles and vintage enthusiast in 2017 is to be so inspired by the past that you somehow want to take part in it, to feel connected with an era other than your own. It's being an "old soul" and gushing over 24-year-old Paul McCartney. Sometimes it can be hard to balance that out with keeping in touch with your own time. Yet as I move on into my 20s, I can now rest assured that the culture I fell in love with nearly eight years ago is never far behind...and if I ever feel alone and need a friend, they're all over at the record store.