I bloody love September.
I can’t remember how many years I have started September with a post all about the fresh start that I feel is ushered in by September. Whether this is back-to-school nostalgia, the power of clothes, or looking forward to the cosiness of autumn, or perhaps even the infamous words of Candy Pratts-Price; “September is the January of fashion”.
September always feels like a great time to offer ourselves a pause to refocus our goals.
As with so many of my reflections that I bring you, my thinking has been focused on clothing. I think even the most open-minded person can look in the mirror and place preordained assumptions or rules on themselves. I have found that I am doing just that.
Things like;
I shouldn’t show my legs unless they’re completely hairless
I should try to only wear flat shoes as it’s more realistic
I can’t wear white or cream with my body type
I have to cover my arms
The list goes on and on, and in reality, has no real bearing on how I should make my decisions. So as a sign of good-will to my own mental health, this September I am stepping out from preordained assumptions I have placed on myself.
Today I am tackling the thought ‘I can’t wear white or cream with my body type’.
It has a few meanings to me. Firstly I think I absorbed the idea that bigger bodies don’t look good in white from the crazy muttering from reality TV in the oughts - I am sure Nicky Hambleton-Jones will have drawled that whilst she made a 34-year-old school teacher (the public put her age at 49) feel horrific - and I have absorbed that. To compound that I am also the type to spill things like coffee or ketchup on myself and, white is so unforgiving. So lighter colours like white and cream have always felt out of bounds to me.
Yet to that, I say: fuck you self ideated rules.
I am using the mini reset that September brings to let myself do whatever I want, and I think I look great in head-to-toe off-white. It feels fresh, which sits so well with September. It took me a moment to feel comfortable, this, after all is the first time I have dressed this way, maybe ever, but looking back at the images, this outfit has star power.
It seems so silly that I held this back from myself for so long, and I am sure in similar ways you have done the same to yourself, so this September, say yes to what you want, and fuck you to the rules!
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