The Truth Behind Fashion, Confidence, & Wearing What You Want

outfit details: Chicwish INFINITE ALLURE CROCHET DRESS IN WHITE, NYX Liquid Lingerie Lipstick in Embellished 

Here on the UU I talk a lot about style. I share my thoughts on how to wear certain looks, and try to provide useful formula’s to help you create great looks that complement your busy lives. Like many of you, I used to get up at 5AM and rush to the office in what felt like a blur. I would throw on my outfit, and head out the door. More often than not, I would realize that my outfit didn’t match or was uncomfortable once I arrived at work and couldn’t do anything about it.

But when I am sharing these formulas, tips, outfit ideas and style guides I am never trying to tell you what exactly to wear. The real beauty of fashion & style is that all of your choices are really up to you – or at least, they should be. You can try trends, read guides, and be as much of a Pinterest fiend as you like – and in the end, I just hope that your style is going to reflect who you are as well as what inspires you.

It’s always been important for me to be able to express myself through my personal style. But at times, my confidence has made me wavier when it comes to certain trends or silhouettes – and here on the UU that’s the issue that I really want to tackle = confidence. Because really, all this talk about fashion, style, and beauty means nothing if we don’t feel confident to begin with.

So many of us struggle with our personal style because we feel we simply cannot “pull of” a certain look or silhouette. We hear our friends say it, and we’ll respond “of course you can wear that!” – but do we ever do that for ourselves? It’s an internal struggle that we all have had, and I for one know it all to well. While we all can try to project confidence, at times it can be difficult to find our inner Beyoncé and just rock the pieces and styles we adore.

That’s been one lesson I’ve been trying to teach myself lately = find my inner Beyoncé. While I occasionally will wear a fitted LBD, wearing a shift dress has always seemed out of the question for me…. that was until recently. I fell absolutely in love with this white eyelet shift dress, and while it was totally out of my comfort zone, I decided to give it a try. Now that I’ve worn it out a few times (as you guys know if you follow my Instagram stories!), I am so glad I did.  I changed the slip dress underneath the eyelet dress because the one that it originally came with was a bit short on me, but the eyelet overlay is so beautiful and I am thrilled to now have it in my wardrobe.

We live in a society that hides behind computer screens, and has no problem casting judgement from their comfortable chairs. There are heated debates on whether models, bloggers, and whoever else is “too thin” or “too curvy” – and then there is the whole “_____ size is better than ____ size”.  How can any of us really truly be comfortable being who we are when our bodies are always under discussion and debate? The internet scares me. The hate out there scares me. While I’ve been lucky to avoid intense scrutiny, I fear the day that it could happen – and how it would hurt me.

How about rather than focusing on the size of a person, we focus on what they’re really trying to say – whether it be about style, beauty, politics, or anything else. Maybe then, we wouldn’t worry about being able to “pull off” a look – we’d just wear what we want, ya’ know – cause we wanted to.

So… What is it that I am really getting at?

I guess what I am really trying to say is that I just hope that whenever you visit the UU that you leave feeling inspired, and excited to search through your own closet. I hope that my guides and tips help you, but never come off as hardline fashion “law”.  And, I hope in the future we all can be kinder to one another. Let’s stop the judgement, and start the fun – am I right?