stylessed

We live our lives with every aspect of ourselves being ruthlessly scrutinised by society. Society tells us what is supposed to make us look good, it tells us what is supposed to make us feel good. So much so that many of us don’t know what truly makes us feel and look good. Its hard to process all of these messages that society shoves down our throats, so in a way it becomes easier to blindly follow trends but in the long run this doesn’t help us feel good because of one key reason…

Every single era in history has idealised a different type of woman’s body. You had slim and athletic for the Ancient Egyptians, plump and curvy for the Renaissance, hourglass for the 1950s, heroin chic for the 1990s and bootylicious for today. Let me tell you something. Our bodies are not fashion trends! However, these idealised body types dictate fashion trends, to such an extent that even Vogue said cleavage was dead in 2016.

Fashions that are inspired by a certain type of female body constantly change and consequently they don’t fit and suit everyone. Yet because its a trend many of us follow them without thinking. As much as I love 1920s fashion, it definitely would not have suited my hourglass shape. If I had been alive during that time I would have had to wait 30 YEARS until the 1950s when trends emerged that suited my body shape. The point I am trying to make is that why wait for the trends, that will suit us perfectly while wearing our ill fitted outfits that don’t suit us now. Basically, many trends lie to us and tell us that we look good and that we are supposed to feel good. However, feeling good is something that can’t be dictated to us by an external force, it is something that comes from within.

Wearing something that makes us feel bad is like wearing the clothing equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Its something that sends a shiver down our spine and lingers in our mind for hours after. If your dress is too tight, you can’t eat a big lunch or sit down too quickly in case you tear your dress. A lot of people operate with the mindset “I will dress to look good” but this is completely missing the point. Operating with that mindset means that feeling good is at the very least your second priority when dressing, when it should be your first priority.

Feeling good means to wear clothing that makes you feel good on the outside and inside.  When you dress to feel good, you are focused entirely on you and what you like, not what some random stranger likes. This doesn’t mean you have to abandon style, because style doesn’t have to mean frivolity or discomfort. Style literally means fashionable and sophisticated, that definition is pretty subjective. Your own personal style is therefore what is reflective of you. Personal style is individual it should be tailored to your needs and likes.

There are three key things that make you feel good when wearing clothes, if it fits, if it suits and if its comfortable. The greatest thing about feeling good is the changes it makes to your overall appearance. It changes your expression and it changes the way you walk. You don’t have to be the most conventionally attractive or keep up with the latest styles to be the best dressed in the room. The best dressed person is always the one who prioritises themselves first. They dress the way they do because it feels right, it makes everything come together.

Often it isn’t the clothes you wear but how you wear them that determines how you’ll feel in them. You can’t wear clothes well if you don’t feel good in them. You don’t have to ditch the fashion trends, just remember that no one is a mannequin in a store. We are all unique individuals with a wide variety of body shapes, therefore we all need to dress to feel good. It is the most important thing because we don’t need to worry about our outfits, we don’t need to wear that expression of discomfort on our faces. Feeling good means we can feel more confident and happy. Feeling good is the essential ingredient that ties everything we are wearing together. We can never take it for granted.