Hello everyone! It’s nice to be back and blogging again! I know, I know… I’ve been gone for a while. But, I’m back! And I’m here to stay!
So, I thought I’d kick off my first blog back by revisiting the foundation of all of this – where this blog started, why it started, and what it means. To do that, I asked myself two things: What is this thing we call fashion? And why does it even matter?
I did some soul searching and this is what I came up with…
You’re probably thinking to yourself right now saying, “I know what fashion is. Fashion is just clothing. Purely a commodity. Just another thing in this world that makes people fake and materialistic.” But I urge you to think deeper. See past the price tags and allow me to explain.
So you say fashion is a material object that people use for social gains and blah blah blah. We know. People like to look good – to put on an outside appearance and play their character. If this is how you feel, I’d say you are partially correct. All of this is true. It’s true because of first impressions. Have you ever heard the saying “Nobody falls in love with your personality at first sight”? Well that’s because first impressions are everything. And your first impression of someone starts from the moment you see them cross the room. Back up – you SEE them first. How they look, what they are wearing, this is your very first impression. And this is the reason why people value outside appearances like you said.
But like I said, there is much much more to fashion. I’ve never found anything more true than the quote, “When you look good, you feel good.” It sounds silly, but it’s the truth. Now I’m not saying you have to look good every day of your life to feel happy. That would be ridiculous. What I am saying, is that when you put on your favorite jacket or your favorite pair of shoes and you walk into a room, you act more confident. You act more confident, because you ARE more confident. You are proud of yourself and of who you are. It shows on your face – and on everybody else’s too.
But that is just the beginning. For me, fashion matters because it has taught me countless lessons:
Fashion has taught me how to feel confident. Yes, it started from looking good on the outside, but it has evolved into embracing who I am even when I’m wearing a t-shirt.
Fashion has taught me how to budget. Girl you know clothes aren’t cheap!! But part of my love for blogging is finding the best sales to share so that you don’t have to break the bank! Or using one item to create two totally different outfits that you don’t recognize.
Fashion has taught me humility. Just because you have a more expensive wardrobe, doesn’t mean your life is better. It doesn’t fix your problems. And it certainly doesn’t give you a reason to put yourself on a pedestal and look down upon others.
Fashion has taught me that you don’t learn everything in school. When we started this blog, we didn’t know anything about blogging. Seriously. We had never heard of Liketoknow.it or influencer marketing or Facebook ads. In the real world, there is much more complexity than “do this and you’ll be successful.” You don’t know everything – it takes more research, hard work, and trial and error than you could ever imagine.
Fashion taught me who my real friends are. The people over there that look at you funny for taking pictures of yourself, they aren’t your friends. Your real friends are the ones that congratulate you for putting yourself out there. They like every single picture you post. They refresh your site everyday just because they hope it’ll give you more views. Keep those people around.
Fashion has taught me how to problem solve. We started this blog on Blogspot (or maybe Blogger? lol it’s been so long I don’t really remember). Since then I have built a website – two if we are really keeping count – with no knowledge of coding. I didn’t know a single line of HTML before this, but I figured it out. I’ve learned how to solve problems that I didn’t even know existed. And for that, I am proud.
Fashion has taught me how to run a business. As many of you know, we launched Core Collection, an online boutique, in October 2018. Being an entrepreneur has many challenges, but learning how to overcome them is one of the greatest feelings of all time. I won’t sit here and name everything I’ve learned from being a business owner, but I’m sure you can imagine it is a heck of a long list.
I could go on and on with the lessons I have learned from fashion and blogging over the years, but my point to you is that fashion is so much more than just wearing some new clothes. From here, I hope you’ll change your perspective of fashion. Take this lesson and apply it to the rest of the world. Try to look deeper than your initial reaction if something or someone. I challenge you to change your mindset. Find a friend and push each other to find the deeper meanings. Go shopping, put on clothes, and remember what fashion really means and why it truly matters.
You may have thought that fashion was a tiny, irrelevant commodity – but I hope you know now that it is endless life lessons and learning how to follow your dreams.