Style?

"BE IN MY LIFE!" is my automatic response anytime I see anything I love and want. In this case, it is applied to a discussion of style-- yes, style, but not specifically fashion or trends. Though those things may come up quite often, it is first and foremost about style, that personal embrace of an expression of self that so many of us work every day to develop.

While style may be largely influenced by whatever is hot on the fashion scene, the truth is it is not led by trends. "Fashion" is not synonymous with style. Style is what happens when you wake up every day and walk out the door feeling like what you are wearing is either a) matching how you feel on the inside or b) matching how you want to feel on the inside!

Style should be an expression. It's hard to mess up for precisely that reason; you see, style is whatever you want it to be, not what anyone else tells you to do. It is ever-evolving and limited only by, well, you. Sure, there are people who can help you develop your style and guide you-- uhh, I pay the bills doing that-- but really, it's as easy as allowing yourself to explore. Sometimes, however, having a little push from someone else helps you to say, "Hey! I do love wearing gray booties with tights and a pair of cuffed shorts!" when you would have blushed at the mere mention of such an ensemble in the past.

Style is about trusting yourself to know what is good for you. Just as in school or work, you have to put in a bit of effort to have that confidence-- how sure of yourself would you feel if you had to stand up in front of a class and give a presentation on a topic you only just learned how to pronounce? That's why you have to be willing to invest a bit of yourself into learning how to embrace your personal style. Besides, style is fun. It's like playing dress up with a much better set of options than plastic high heels or your dad's ugly ties.

And for those who want to disregard style and fashion and everything that comes along with those things as superficial: would you say that about the tribe people in Africa who use body art to make a statement? Do you look back at Japanese warriors and think, "man, they were so stuck on themselves." Painted faces and emblazoned helmets are every bit about style as our own choices for apparel, accessories, makeup, hair, and shoes. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to make those things count the way a woman who is covered in piercings in Africa does.

That really is the [tofu] meat and potatoes of this thing; style is what you make of it.

So... what are you making of it? What needs to "be in your life!"?

Those are questions worth asking and the ones I intend to explore.