She skips down the hallways of LHS wearing rainbow skirts, neon tops and stickers on her face. Many in the halls might ask, “who is that girl?” She’s bubbly, loud, colorful and passionate. She is Serie Hall.

Hall is a voracious fairytale reader who can quote “Once Upon a Time” episodes almost completely by memory. She describes herself as a theater girl and hopes to be an actress someday in her future, preferably a Disney princess voice actress. Her hobbies are very clearly portrayed in her whimsical and fairy-like japanese Decora Kei style. 

South Dakotans are more than likely not used to seeing Decora in this predominantly conservative state, so their curiosity is not unfounded when they see Hall in a tornado of children’s section clothes and Claire’s accessories. This curiosity sometimes urges people to comment on Hall’s fashion choices, both positively and negatively.

However, Hall never fails to laugh at the rude comments she gets from those who might not understand her apparel.

“I get lots of comments, but they’re honestly really funny to me,” said Hall. “I get asked a lot if I’m color blind, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it sure is amusing. My favorite, favorite thing anyone’s ever said to me is ‘Are you, like, white? Because you seem Japanese.’ [That question] lives rent free in my brain. That was a few years ago, and I still haven’t figured out what it means. In case you want to know though, yes I am, like, white.”

Hall has not always dressed how she truly wanted to. In middle school she was shy and laid low under the radar. She remembers the last day of eighth grade when her teacher went around the room talking about the memories they had with each student. When the circle came around to Hall, the teacher could not think of a memory and told one of Hall’s brother. 

“I remember coming home and crying because I knew I was just forgettable, boring and shy,” said Hall.

She turned to her online friends for support and came back the next school year with a whole new look, one that embodied her.

“I loved decora for a long time, but I never had the confidence to dress in it,” said Hall. “I was talking to my online friends one day and, not that I condone this, I lied and said that I dress in decora every day (because that’s who I wanted to be). They believed the lie and told me to send them pictures. So naturally, I dug through my whole closet to find the closest thing to decora as I could and did a little photoshoot. They actually thought it looked really cute, and that gave me the confidence to wear it to school.”

People continue to give Hall weird looks and critiques about her style; some call her childish simply because of her clothing. 

“Childish is not really how I think of myself,” said Hall. “I think judging someone for liking hair clips and rainbows is far more childish than being the person who likes those things.”

Judgement is something that all high schoolers experience. Hall agrees that South Dakota is not the best place for going out of the norm, but here at LHS she is comfortable being herself, especially in LHS’s Alt Community.

“There aren’t many of us here at Lincoln, but I know enough people with strange fashion senses,” said Hall. “Even with people who are way different than me, we have this mutual understanding that we’re just being ourselves and having fun.”

Hall is proud to be undeniably herself. She makes people smile and lights up people’s souls with her fun style, positive attitude and sweet personality. She leads by example and encourages everyone to feel free in discovering and uncovering themselves in this world. 

“The hard part has never been being myself,” said Hall. “It was figuring out who that is and how to show her to the world. Once I did that, it was easy peasy.”