Suzanne Carillo

We express self love via style choices we make daily.

Personal style is dynamic, ever evolving with our moods, life experiences and age.

In yoga, we ask our bodies every practice, “What do you require today? How can I make you happy?” I suggest we do the same with personal style.

When you prepare to dress for the day, ask yourself,

“How can I best communicate how I’m feeling and what I have to offer via my clothing choices? How can I honour myself in the body and life I have today through my personal style?”

Choosing what to wear daily should be a joy and not a chore. If it is a chore you should assess your closet and ask yourself some poignant personal questions, do your clothes suit you? Do your clothes inspire you? Are you unhappy with your body?  What in your life is holding you back from loving yourself, the skin and body you’re in and showing it off to the world in the very best packaging you can manage?

What would you choose to wear if you had no fear, no shame and only love for your body?

If you are waiting to be a certain size before you start wearing clothes you love STOP NOW.

Don’t waste another minute thinking you aren’t good enough, skinny enough, young enough to carry off that dress/skirt/shoes you’ve been salivating over.  The only person stopping you is yourself. Push past that. Address your fears. What is the worst that could happen? You’ll look great and feel better about yourself and maybe hold your head just a bit higher?

Clothes make us think differently about ourselves which translates into us behaving differently.

This little video demonstrates that beautifully.

If it all feels too inauthentic take a step back and make some bold choices anyway. Choose to be your best self, choose to wear what brings you joy, choose to project confidence and happiness even though you don’t feel it.  No one around you will know you’re faking it and nine times out of ten you will start to feel more confident and joyful despite your own personal doubts.

I chose this dress ages ago in this blog post but held off thinking it was made for someone taller, skinnier and most importantly, younger than I.  I was scared I was opening up my vulnerable self to ridicule and criticism by making inappropriate clothing choices for someone of “a certain age”.

Even Zoë is giving me the side-eye in this and asking, “Just who does she think she is?”

But I moved past that.

Yes, this dress is short.

Yes, this dress shows that I don’t have the legs of a twenty-year-old. That is normal. I’m fifty, not twenty. I’m not pretending to be twenty by choosing such a short dress, I’m simply choosing to wear something I love in the body I have at this stage in my life. I’ll never be twenty again and guess what? I’m never going to be fifty again either. I plan on squeezing out every bit of style joy that I can.

Wearing some flesh coloured Spanx under this dress ensured I wasn’t going to flash any of my lady bits and provided self-confidence for any extra bumpy bits.

This is going to be amazing with tights and boots for fall/winter.

 

We were born into the body we have however we can choose the clothes we wear. Don’t miss an opportunity to love yourself through the choices you make.

 

There are only two days left to get your entry in to win a Karina Dress. Don’t miss out!

 

Linking up with Visible Monday, I Will Wear What I Like, Shoe and Tell, Turning Heads Tuesdays,