Fashion Forward

I'm seeking new fashion inspiration all over the place these days, more and more so as I get older. This is a pretty big deal for a girl who has spent most of her life in monochrome. I loved every color...as long as it was black. It comes from my days of being a punk with black hair, as well as knowing that black makes you look thinner...or so they like to tell us.

A few years ago when capes were new and they weren't even on people's radars yet, I bought one. I loved it. It was a pretty marbley-grey and fit perfectly. I felt uber fashionable in it. We went out to dinner with friends and my girlfriend mocked my cape, saying it was too weird and who exactly wears a cape? Um, me, because I'm a fucking superhero. But still I felt self-conscious about it for a minute. Was I being too daring? Going too far towards the runway and too far from reality? When I was younger, I would have stuffed that cape in the closet and never looked at it again. But what do you know...fast forward to a year later, when capes were everywhere. That same friend was all of a sudden sporting a cape.

The big jewelry trend was the same way for me. I love me some big, bold jewelry, and not just a statement necklace. Right now I'm wearing a hammered gold ring that is so long that it goes from mid-hand to nearly my fingertip. I've always been really into bold accessories (maybe because my wardrobe was always black on black and the funky jewels gave it some personality?). Again, friends commented on my jewelry and how it was "too much" - and what do you know, again? Fast forward to them wearing the same stuff I was wearing 2 years before.

Yesterday I wore a pair of those big pearl double-sided ball earrings (which I love) to work and had a colleague stare at them for a good 10 minutes while we talked. I could literally feel her gaze on them. She then said, "I don't know what to make of those earrings; I think I don't like them." At some point in my life, I would have cringed and felt awkward and self-conscious...someone doesn't like something about me! Now, however, I told her that I loved them and that she would be seeing a lot more of them. I was actually happy that I wore something to work that people were sort of appalled by!

Today, I'm in a kimono at work, which I would have admired on other people when I was younger but never had the guts to wear it. Now I'm finding my own "voice" when it comes to what I wear, and wearing what makes me feel good and pretty and strong. And most importantly, I'm wearing what makes me feel like ME.

I guess I have realized that I like working trends into my wardrobe. I like seeing what celebs and fashionistas and runways tell me about fashion, and then taking those ideas and making them my own in my own way. I like not wearing all black and I like standing out rather than fading into the background. And I also love knowing that you might look at me strangely today, but in two years you'll be copying that look from me and I will be happily onto the next.