How I dress vs how I want to dress

My personal fashion journey ironically started when I decided to get rid of fashion from my life. Even though I had an idea of how I’d like to dress in my mind, I considered it useless and unnecessarily time-consuming. Instead, I decided to keep my outfits as simple as possible. A plain t-shirt or a hoodie, jeans and tennis shoes and I was good to go. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. The thing is, when I did dress up, maybe twice a year, I felt incomparably more confident. However, I thought that it was too late. I created an image of a person who isn’t interested in fashion and that makes you feel stuck in your position.

“Luckily”, the lockdown started and I had time to think it through. Decluttering my closet, I realised how much potential the clothes I owned had and how differently I’d like to dress. After ages spent on Pinterest, I came to a conclusion – I can’t really put my style into one specific category and that is perfectly fine. Retro inspired, anime inspired, alternative or dark academia, in all of those styles there was a piece of me. The point is to know what I like and what I don’t. Eventually, I put the theory into practice and started trying on those “bold” outfits.

The next big step will be the confidence to step out as a new person, which, I can already tell, will be hard. I may have to put up with the confused look in the eyes of my family and friends. I may have to swallow some teasing comments. But perhaps, it will go unnoticed. After all, does it even matter? We care too much about what everyone else thinks about us without realising that we are the only ones who we will spend our entire life with, so we might as well try to make ourselves happy. And I’m still on my fashion journey to learn that.

featured image: @calliewilson_