Finding confidence to wear your style.

In my last post, I talked about why I was so drawn to vintage style. It was the clothes, the people, the films, but most importantly, it was how it made me feel. I attribute a lot of the confidence I have today to finding my personal style and learning how to own it. Even though I classify my style as 'vintage' perhaps I should just say 'vintage inspired' as I like to cherry pick elements and am honestly, not too fussed about accuracy. If wearing clothes accurate to a certain time period really floats your boat- then all power to you. But for me, it's about taking what you are drawn to, and making it work for yourself.

So you have found your style, you have started adjusting your wardrobe, and the only step left is to actually wear it. It's harder than it seem, believe me, I know. When I bought some of my earlier 'vintage inspired' pieces, even though I was madly in love with them, I didn't wear them out straight away. I would close my door, put them on, and admire myself in the mirror. This is not sad. This is not lame. It is simply adjusting yourself first to seeing what you look like, and how you feel when you see yourself like that. 

Now, you're comfortable with your style, but you are still afraid of wearing it out in public. You still opt to wear your old jeans just so that you can blend in, even though it makes you feel wretched inside. This is totally normal! Finding that confidence is so so tricky and not something you can just 'flip a switch' and have. It does take practice and time. One way, is to start introducing a piece at a time to a 'usual' outfit. For me, I would wear a long skirt, but dress it down with a casual t-shirt. I remember feeling excited to even just be wearing one thing different, even that made an impact on my overall confidence. 

But let's take a second to think why? Why do I feel like it's a big deal just to wear something a bit different? I think maybe the reason that finding  confidence wearing a fashion style is a conscious task is because society has taught us to stick to the status quo, and follow the trends, to blend in with the crowd and to focus our energy elsewhere, "don't worry about what you look like", "just wear slobs everywhere". I disagree with this. Dress for the job you want. Dress for yourself. Dress up because it makes YOU feel good. Don't waste your dollars trying to stay 'up to date'. I know especially with a style like vintage, in a world where (well especially where I live) people take little care in how they dress. Nobody dresses up to go to town anymore, make the effort! Usually people are impressed (maybe intimidated) and feel that they are in fact under dressed.

Look, confidence is a subjective thing, as is fashion. There comes a point where you just have to say, 'screw it'. Screw it! I'm going to wear this because I think it looks great, I think I look great, and I think if you have a problem with that, its a problem with yourself, not me and my style.

Fake it till you make it. Clothes are one thing, but there's one thing behind it that's even more important. You. Hype yourself up, then the clothes will represent that too.