My New Style {SS}

{ SS } on Style

My dad tells a story about walking through downtown Minneapolis with me at age four when we saw a flashily dressed woman walking towards us. I turned to my dad and said, "Dad, I LOVE her style." Unbeknownst to me, she was a prostitute. And so, my take on style has always been a bit questionable.

{ With my Gramy {stylish beyond belief} and baby brother }

When KH and I decided to start this blog I wanted to have a clear understanding of what {style} represents to me. I knew style was more than just what I wore or how I dressed. For me, I realized style has a lot to do with self confidence. When I think about some of the most stylish people I have known the unifying characteristic amongst them is always confidence. And confidence is something I have had my fair share of struggle with over the years.

As a kid my style was fine, I mean sure I look back on photos and have a good laugh, but part of that was the time. The 90's weren't exactly the booming fashion decade and let's be honest I didn't care so much until I got a bit older.

{ I thought these shoes were so stylish }

I can safely say that I spent a majority of my high school years trying to assert my personal style by taking elements of everyone else's. This wasn't just related to clothes either, but rather my whole sense of being. I wanted to be a feminist, an actress, a camp person, preppy, political, and unique. People often told me to, "be myself", but I couldn't figure out who that was.

"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn." ~ Gore Vidal

In college I finally started to "blossom", but I was still a bit hesitant about committing to a certain "style" at first. I remember that I didn't want to wear makeup every day because I didn't want to be one of those girls who looked weird without it. That phase quickly ended however, and now I rarely leave the house without eyeliner.

So, how did the idea of "my new style" come to be? Well, after graduating college I found myself, like many recent graduates, job-less. I went back to working at a clothing store where I had worked the summer before. This is where I met KH. I was initially intimidated by her "style" but we eventually became friends. I would often come to work and remark, "Ugh, I need a new style," once I saw KH and her immaculately put together outfits. This went on for some time and became somewhat of a running joke between the two of us, "oh yeah, SS, your new style pending 2007." I'd have my good days when KH would remark, "Oh that's very NS (New Style) of you,"and then my not so good days when I would slump back into OS (Old Style).

"Fashion fades, style is eternal." ~ Coco Chanel

I began to realize that what I was trying to find all of these years was fashion, not style. I wanted to be trendy and wear whatever everyone else was wearing at the time, the "it" pants or the color of the season. I failed to notice that style truly comes from within. When you feel confident in yourself and carry yourself with a sense of pride, you can wear a pair of jeans and a white button down shirt and look like a goddess. It's not just what you wear either it's the way you think of yourself and present yourself to the world around you, it's your ideals, your opinions, your passion. In terms of clothing, once you have your own unique personal canvas of pieces that look great on you (which can be as "basic" as a white v-neck tee), you can embellish upon them with said "trendy" pieces and turn the latest fashion into your own. As I've become more confident in myself as a person, and more solid in my beliefs and values my style has just sort of presented itself. Style doesn't have to be hard or time-consuming. Style is different for everyone. Style is what you want it to be.

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world." ~ Miuccia Prada

So why mynewstyleblog, you ask? Well because KH and I love reading blogs. On one of my daily blog reading sessions I began to think that maybe I could become of the millions of others who do this crazy, somewhat self-indulgent blog writing thing. One evening when KH and I were shopping (of course) I started telling her about my idea of having a blog and how I wasn't quite sure what my subject should be. As we waled from store to store the subject of creating our New Style's without going broke came up, and suddenly, standing right by the gourmet crepe stand, the lightbulb moment hit and mynewstyleblog was born. So, here we are. We're so pleased you've chosen to read this.

 { KH & SS }

 xo, SS

"Once you can accept the universe as being something expanidng into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy."
~ Albert Einstein

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