Oh my god it's October. I thought about all the ways I could open this post without referencing how fast this year has gone, but still emphasing that OH MY GOD IT'S OCTOBER, and that is the best I came up with, so moving on...
A new month means a new word for me to focus on. After having a BRAVE September, focusing on personal growth and generally being an adult, choosing 'STYLE' as October's word might seem like an odd follow up, but it is something I've been thinking a lot about lately.
I'm not a fashion blogger. I don't think I've ever posted an outfit post on here, and other than the odd item in my Sunday Loves list, fashion or clothes are barely ever mentioned here on A Cup Of Creative. And before you start thinking I'm going through another rebrand, that isn't something I imagine changing in any huge way, any time soon. However, while clothes might not be a big part of my blog, they've always been a fairly big part of my life (and my bank statement).
When I was little I refused to wear trousers. Not because I had any innate sense of gender stereotypes but because I just didn't like them. Where as my little sister refused to wear anything remotely inpractical, I wanted every day to be a party dress day.
And that's an ethos I've lived my entire life by - apart from a brief period in my teens when I wanted to be Avril Lavigne.
These day's I'm not so averse to trousers, and there are certain items in my wardrobe that are put aside for special occasions, but generally speaking I'm somebody who likes to dress up. I don't have clothes that I keep just for work, or clothes just for going out. I see clothes as just another way of expressing who I am.
To me style isn't about trends or fashion. To me some one who has style is some one you look at and can instantly tell what they are about and who they are. There clothing says something about them, without having to shout it. They are confident and comfortable in who they are, and when you look at them and get to know them it all just makes sense.
That's what I want. I want to be happy and confident and comfortable, in myself and what I'm wearing, and recently I have lost a little of both of those things. I've already opened up about how my body confidence has dwindled a little lately, but in some ways my wardrobe confidence has been ebbing away for quite some time now.
I used to look in my wardrobe and be happy to pick anything out and put it on. It was full of vintage pieces and floral patterns. It was bright, and happy, and just like when I was 5, still very heavily dress orientated. It fit with who I was, but recently I've felt like I've grown up and out of that style. I still love bright clothes, and vintage shapes, but now I'm drawn to, what I guess you would call more grown up pieces. Simpler, with less florals but in other ways bolder and more daring.
The problem is, that I haven't yet figured out exactly what my new style is. what is that is different about what I now want my clothes to say about me? Is it simply that floral dresses just feel a little young for me? Not that I believe clothes have an age range on them, but do I still want to be wearing the same type of thing as I was wearing 5 years, and even 10 years ago?
This month I want to work on my style, on exploring it further, and incorporating some of last months bravery into it. I want to be work out, if something doesn't quite work for me anymore then why is that? I don't want to throw something on in the morning only to regret it by lunch time, because it just doesn't quite feel like me.
Because if I don't feel like me, I can't be confident in me.
And while my body confidence can't be entirely fixed from the outside in, it can certainly be helped.
I want to take that extra 10 minutes on an evening to work out what I will wear the next day so that in the morning I don't have to worry about it. So that my morning doesn't start with me looking in my wardrobe and feeling overwhelmed, or even worse, me looking in the mirror and feeling lost.
Working on my style this month is about a number of things:
- Feeling like myself in my own clothes again
- Buying quality not quantity
- Having a clear out, because if something doesn't fit me or my body it shouldn't be there
- Working out what I want my clothes to say about me
- Knowing that even if I don't feel brilliant about myself, I still love the clothes I'm wearing
- Being a little BRAVER, to wear my big floppy hat or try that darker shade of lipstick
Yes in some ways, style, is a vanity thing. It's about appearance and clothes, and beauty, but I am not judging any of those things by anybody elses standards. I am not saying I want to become a size 8 fashion blogger, I just want to become me. Just like I want my writing, my blog and my work to reflect who I am, I want my wardrobe to too.
Plus, it's Autumn, and everyone knows, Autumn is the best season for clothes shopping.
I am also going to be challenging myself to share a little more about what I'm wearing, whenever I feel particularly like I've hit upon my style, over on instagram, and maybe even try putting together an outfit post.
Do you feel confident in your style? Is it something you've ever really thought about or invested in?
Here's to a stylish October, and feeling like the best version of ourselves, inside and out x
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