Hello, beauties and welcome to another issue of La Boheme.
So to give you a bit of a glimpse of how my brain works and where I get inspiration from: My brain is constantly on overdrive. I don’t believe it ever stops churning and turning except for maybe when I’m asleep (that I’m aware of). I’m constantly getting ideas from a lot of mediums around me. These can be friends, books, a situation I’ve had to face, Instagram, mandatory brain wanderings and wonderings, etc.. you get the point. For a few years now, I’ve kept a couple of notebooks and two notes entries on my phone to jot down thoughts that I get, be it content ideas for writings or business ideas. These I’ve visited multiple times after which I often get a high of inspiration and motivation just for these wonderful sentiments to plummet to the ground in an instant because of my lack of energy and my anxiety standing in the way of bringing any of these fine ideas to reality. I’ve finally succeeded with La Boheme to get something out there which is not an easy feat for me to maintain because of that constant fight with my brain on whether I have the energy to write or would rather mindlessly binge two seasons of The White Lotus.
So here I am. I’m showing up because I actually feel wonderful and full of energy after I hit that publish button and then again after I hear from friends and readers about how much they relate to what I’ve written or how that particular issue they’ve read made them feel warm, seen, heard, not alone, you name it.
With that being said, I actually would like to talk about something different, yet a bit related. I’d like to talk about fashion vs. style this issue.
I came across this post on LinkedIn last week, which I felt deeply connected with.
Among my friends, I’m known for my sense of style. I say that with a grain of salt because as much as that makes me happy because fashion and style are clearly topics that I love and I do care a lot about what I wear, but I’ve lately come to question on several occasions the way in which I define myself as a human being and how a big weight is set on my external vs. my internal.
When I say question, I don’t mean that I’ve dismissed or abandoned the care I put into curating my wardrobe and with that my outfits, but it is definitely something that I often grapple with in terms of thinking about the person behind the garments. If I had been someone who wears a uniform a la Steve Jobs or if I was someone who didn’t use garments as a form of “artistic expression” or a statement, then who am I?
I’m not going to attempt to answer this question that you’ve heard me ask probably in every single issue so far. What I’ve come to realize though is that garments and all that goes with that - think: jewelry, shoes, bags, belts, scarves, etc. - give me a space to express myself in a manner that I enjoy. They give me a voice.
My style, my voice
About a year ago, I joined a mastermind course that focused on growth. My main goal through this course which I was trying to work towards was to find my voice. On our very first session, when we started sharing why we were there, most of my reasons revolved around writing and how I wanted to work on my writing and maybe even write a book. What stood in the way is the fact that I don’t actually have a habit of writing anymore and that I don’t seem to be able to determine what I want to write about. There are bits and pieces but they’re all filaments of a bigger fabric that was/is currently unattainable. So the solution was for me to find my voice through working on my mind to allow me to share my opinion whenever it screamed at me to “shut up because what do I even know?!”.
And as difficult as this still is for me, I think that something must have worked along the way because here I am, my writing out in the open- as hard a labour as it seems at times.
Expressing myself verbally doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m one of those people who express themselves much better in written form than spoken. And to take it a step further, I probably express myself even better if words aren’t involved. As much as I love words, but sometimes even words fail me. And that’s when I resort to garments. It’s like expressing yourself through your art or dance, but in my case, it’s clothes.
No-process process
When I was thinking about this issue and trying to plan it, I thought “okay, I can talk about my process.” Queue the crickets. I had no idea what my process was. And I’m sure even my bohemian-leaning, eclectic, ever-churning brain has some kind of process in “curating” a wardrobe or an outfit, but I think it guides me on a subconscious level. All I know is I like something, be it a cut, a pattern, a color, a style, something that’s trending, and I obsess about owning it for a while until it’s absolutely necessary that I do, and then it’s mine. The obsessing period varies depending on the item but there must be obsessing, looking at the style, visualizing myself wearing it, visualizing what I’d wear it with, convincing myself that I must have it because it would be a vital addition to my wardrobe et voila!
And I’m generally quite a colorful person, but I also sometimes feel tired of color, at which point I reach to monochromes (which are still color but at least I’m not displaying all the colors of the rainbow at once) and/or neutrals, especially whites and creams. So we can deduct from this that when building my wardrobe, I need to have colors and all that comes with that be it patterns, solids, striped, etc. and neutrals.
I also care a lot about timeless pieces. I still wear pieces that I’d started owning in college in the early 20-teens. I strongly believe in slow fashion and have been trying to omit fast fashion more and more from my life because of sustainability and economic reasons. When buying new clothes, other than the style and look of it, I carefully consider the material and quality, in terms of whether it’s mostly made from “organic,” non-synthetic material and how long it would last in my wardrobe. That’s why I have no problem investing a little more in the pieces that I buy if I know that they can stay with me for a longer period of time.
As I reflect on this “process,” I can’t help but play the devil’s advocate (as I often do) and ask myself: If fashion is truly escapism for me, then isn’t that whole “obsessing” part a bit of an imprisonment? It is because of that feeling that I’m missing something without it and that I absolutely need it, whereas it’s not a need, it’s a clear want. It’s a bit of an anti-capitalistic, anti-materialistic sentiment, which I’m generally trying to adopt more in my life, but my life is still seeped in capitalism, which I’m not necessarily speaking against or for, and with that also consumerism.
Capitalistic undertone or not, what I know is that a good outfit can be a true reflection of how I’m feeling and with that either pull me up, bring me down or just help me fade into the background if I’d like. I sometimes wake up feeling a need for a pick-me-up, in which case I try and choose clothes that would help me feel more energetic or put together. I guess without really studying fashion psychology, I’ve kind always subconsciously and organically gravitated towards it. If you want to learn a bit more about that however, Pstyled is a great local platform to follow for insights on that.
With that being said, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you think about style and fashion. Feel free to drop me a line in the comments or via email if you feel like it or to tell me in person when you see me ;)
Until next time,
Have an awesome couple of weeks and beginning of the holiday season!
Big hugs,
Nolly x