Why Fashion Is
My Therapy
You may know that I released my first book last year, entitled The New Fashion Rules. A look at how the fashion world has progressed over time and how that progression has impacted us all. How it's transformed our personal style, how it highlights the topics we should be championing and changing and most dramatically, how the internet has detoured our evolution. Although my debut release hints at many of fashion's 'rules', it's my style that truly reflects who I am and how I'm feeling day to day.
Style, most commonly defined and thought of as the way we choose to dress is someone's personal take on fashion and/or trends. Style is the choosing of clothing and accessories that holds a mirror up to the high street, the runway and also social media. For me? It's a little deeper than that.
My style is a form of personal expression. It's the way I choose to convey my feelings, both positive and negative, it's a way in which I decide to introduce myself in certain situations and it's a way in which I also dictate and transform my mood.
From comfort to colour and from trend to traditional - my style is my own personal therapy.
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The above outfit was gifted and loaned for the occasion.
Read the disclaimer here.
My style is relatively classic. I feel I put an emphasis on versatile tailoring, on pieces that have longevity in my wardrobe and on brands I have a passion for. Sprinkle in the occasional trend piece that captures my heart and a bold choice of colour here and there, and I feel like that's my style in a nutshell. But that's definitely not how I choose to dress day in and day out. There are of course more formal occasions, all day campaign shoots with clothing influenced by the brand, 12 hour days spent at home in the office and so many situations where my style evolves. But there's something that dictates my style far more than trends and dress codes - how I'm feeling and how I want to feel.
I think to a certain extent we all use our style as a creative outlet but more and more I can recognise that the way in which I choose to dress, is a measure of my mood. I don't mean that I dramatically wear head to toe black, a la Morticia Adams, on days when my mood isn't as positive as I'd like, but it definitely ends up reflected in my chosen outfit.
When I'm feeling my most fabulous, those are the days I'll reach for the clothes I know equate to that feeling. My favourite killer boots, those sunglasses that leave me feeing like a rockstar, those jeans that hug my figure and the colours that reflect that girl boss mood. When I'm feeling a little low, those are the days that I'll reach for the clothes I know will offer me comfort. My most trustworthy slogan tee, that hairband that will keep my hair sleek and chic, those trainers that are not only on trend but that I can walk miles in and that handbag I can carry my entire life in.
Equally I utilise my style and fashion to alter those moods too - it's my own form of self love and self care. Just as taking the time to pamper myself with my favourite products, taking some me time away from social media and organising my life lifts my mood, so does switching up my look. It's not that fashion helps me to fake how I'm feeling but it most certainly offers a different perspective for me and the opportunity to focus on something I'm so passionate about. Investing a little time and a little love into my outfit choice, truly feels like therapy to me. It's therapeutic to create and to style and to dress myself in the clothes that others have already poured that design and passion into themselves.
Style is truly anything you would like it to be. Allow your mind to run wild with fashion and transform how you feel or equally let it comfort you when you feel you need it most. Style can be exciting, calming, passionate, muted, vibrant, edgy, classic, fashion forward or even all of the above all at once. Style is there to be embraced however you want to and should be fun to embrace.
I'd love to know if you're like me and you reflect yourself, your surroundings and your mood in your clothes and style? There's so much to be interpreted by someone's style choices and it's something that's always fascinated me in immeasurable amounts. I think I could easily write another book just on the impacts, reflections and joy of style but I'll leave it here for now.
Happy styling guys!
Images taken during a press trip to Marrakech to watch the Dior Cruise Show 2020.
