Jon Cryer, Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy on set of the film "Pretty In Pink." Paramount Pictures via Getty Images
At 9 years old, I pulled my mom’s polka-dotted turtleneck sweater up over my legs, and tied the arms tight around my tiny waist like a belt. Growing up, I often turned my mother’s clothing into weird fashion devices. I was also a natural redhead, always the only one in my class and had few ginger-haired role models. The ones I did have, like Pippi Longstocking and Anne of Green Gables, were characters who had a defining trait I recognized: eccentricity.
They had agency over their individuality. But I struggled to make mine feel like a strength rather than a shortcoming. As a child, I begged my mom to let me dye my hair blonde.
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“Don’t you know women pay to get your hair color?” she huffed. My bright hair made me stand out. What I wanted then was to blend in with everyone else.
That is, until I saw “Pretty in Pink” and began to understand the things that made me different held m
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