I love fashion, but I love MY style more….

Jan 2

`"Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends." —Kate Spade`

My love for fashion began with my parents, Barbie dolls, and Essence and Ebony magazines. When I was in elementary school, my mom would sew some of my clothes. She would allow me to pick out different patterns and fabrics. I would get so excited about the end results…BUT the end results usually never looked like how I pictured them in my mind. (FYI…my mom was an average ‘clothing designer’…so the STYLISH outfit I had in my mind never came to fruition...LOL)

Here’s one of the hideous outfits that my mom made for me. (FYI…my mom does love me, even though she made me wear this! LOL)

At an early age, my daddy instilled in me that I shouldn’t ever go out in public, not “put together.” In a jokingly manner, but also seriously, he would say, “You shouldn’t go out looking any kind of way!” This mindset has been instilled in me since I was young, so you will rarely see me out in public looking a HOT mess, although I do have my days. So…when I’m dressed down; it’s usually in workout attire or a hoodie. I am the queen for wearing workout attire, even if I haven’t been to the gym. LOL.

As a child, I expressed my love for fashion by playing with Barbie dolls. My sister and I would play for hours with our Barbie dolls. We would dress them and cut their hair based on what we considered fashionable. (Be AWARE it was the 90s…so I question our taste at that time) We would get our ideas from Ebony and Essence magazines. I would get SO excited when a new magazine would come in the mail. I LOVED seeing the beautiful different shades of melanin throughout the pages. Back in the day...WAY back there…when I was ‘slim thick’ (LOL), I desired to be a model, like Tyra Banks. I saw her in one of the previously mentioned magazines, and I have admired her ambition ever since then. I would fantasize about wearing fashionable clothes, and I couldn’t wait to become an adult. My sister and I would play in my mom’s heels often. We would pretend to be on the runway and strut our stuff. LOL. I would sneak and wear my mom’s heels SO much that still to this day, I have a tiny vein that sticks out a little on the back of my one of my legs. At the time, my legs were not strong enough to wear high heels, but I didn’t care; I wanted to get A LOT of practice. LOL.

Now that I am older, I rarely wear heels like I use to… When I first started my teaching career, as a kindergarten teacher, I would ‘rock’ heels regularly…then one day, my body said…Ummm, Girl…you need to keep your heels in the closet and save them for outside of work and special occasions. I still love heels and fashion, but now I focus on my style and comfortable pieces that I love. I try to buy pieces that are of good quality and flatters my body type. My go-to places to shop are Free People, Target, Nordstrom Rack, PrettyLittleThings, Lulus, and Belk. Now, there is one makeup/fashion influencer that I love, and her name is MakeupShayla! I really enjoy her style, and I have learned some helpful makeup tips from her. Check out her IG page @ https://www.instagram.com/makeupshayla/?hl=en

If I had to describe my style, I would say that it is comfortable, polished, bold, colorful, classic, and edgy. I like a lot of bohemian pieces, bright colors, oversized sweaters, workout gear, and classic- all black items.