Break the rules
I'm not a fan of fashion rules. Surprise, surprise.
But I like to understand where they come from so I can break them with pleasure.
When I worked in retail, I realised how prevalent most of these fashion rules are. Many customers came loaded with self-loathing advice, clinging to restrictive commandments that held their personal style hostage.
The statements I hated the most were the ones that implied that since they were born in a specific body, they were automatically restricted from wearing a long list of things—including many items they absolutely adored.
"This doesn't suit me".
First of all, suit what? If you connect with something and you like it, it suits you. Because you are more than your body. When you express yourself, it's to show who you are, not to say, "My body looks like this, and it's all I am. The end".
Then there's the "it's not flattering on me". Which nearly always meant, "This doesn't make me look smaller", and when it didn't, it meant, “This isn't hiding something I don't like about me".
Which, at its core, is about hiding and disappearing. Not being good enough to exist because you are imperfect (which, by the way, we all are) and not matching a beauty standard that is fake, limiting, and excluding.
You exist, and fashion can be a tool to reclaim your space and take it.
When you dress to express yourself without trying to hide or conform, it doesn't only affect the way you look. This also happens:
– You stop apologising for taking your space.
– You stop seeing your body as something you have to manage but as a tool to celebrate yourself.
– You connect with your essence and validate who you are.
– You feel free to be yourself.
Instead of letting arbitrary and obsolete rules dictate how you present yourself, you can decide what looks good on you because it feels like you.
Take a look at your wardrobe and choose one item you never wear because it doesn't "suit you" for XYZ. Put it on. Look in the mirror and look at yourself. Without the critical eye of all the rules you've heard before, but with the loving gaze of someone who sees themselves as whole. And think: what rule are you ready to break?
