Recently, I went to dinner with a friend whom I hadn’t seen since I lived in Boston twelve years ago. In honor of the quasi-reunion, I found myself reaching for a skirt that I was considering giving away. A long sweeping white dramatic and heavy skirt from Calypso – it grazes the ground even with wedges. It’s something I was really into a few years ago when the whole boho skirt thing erupted and took my personal style down a new path.
I see now that I had subconsciously wanted my clothing to shield me as a sort of social armor – I was afraid of being completely seen, and I was more comfortable hiding in a corner at a party. I would wear things that fit but with full coverage, alluding to my sexual appearance in a very covert way.
I had since put all those boho peasant things together in a box on a shelf in my closet and was feeling like my current style is so much cleaner, brighter, chicer, sexier, more uptown, with less fabric and shorter cuts. Overall, it’s more me.
See, I’ve become much more comfortable these days being visible in all senses of the word. It applies to my branding of my business but extends into my personal style. I’ve gone through many style evolutions and transformations throughout the years, and I think each phase reflected how I felt about myself at the time – very much tied to something deeper than “that’s nice.”
I also went through a phase when I was searching and experimenting with my style, exercising my right to be a style chameleon from one day to the next. I’ve always found my style to be tied to an inner change or reinvention. For example, when I started to want to work with higher end clients, I catered my own style to appeal to that market. It also makes me happy to dress a bit posh but always with a dash of creativity.
In the end, I decided that wearing my boho items one last time before letting go of them was a nice way to give a goodbye tribute, acknowledging the connection and then moving on. Letting go of clothing from our past can be challenging (especially items that were gifts). That’s why having someone to witness and support you is so important while saying, “I’m not that person anymore, and that’s OK because what I am now is on a new path.”
I would love to hear about your own style reinvention. What has been hard to edit out of your closet? Please comment down below.
She helped me create not just outfits but a style statement for how I go out in the world in the morning. She’s given me a new sense of confidence, especially when I go to professional meetings