It was a perfect spring day. It was sunny, clear, and around 75 degrees, if I remember correctly. I put on the new blue gingham dress I had been dying to wear out and put a bow in my hair. Loving how I styled my outfit I proudly headed out the door.
This was a special outing. It was May of 2021, to be exact. It was my first time going to hang out in Greenwich Village since the start of Covid. I love hanging out in the Village. I will spend hours there enjoying the people watching in Washington Square Park, walking through the charming cobblestone streets, and sipping boba while hunting through stacks of books at Mercer Street Books.
I hopped off the train at West 4th Street, went up the stairs to the street, and I immediately felt out of place like never before.
The Village neighborhood is basically a college town with NYU taking up a lot of it. I looked around at all the very early 20 somethings and their extra trendy Gen Z outfits and I, late 20s, felt so out of place.
On the outside, I was just trying to enjoy the day and do things I would do before in the Village. But inside I felt a jumble of negative emotions.
First off I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb. Like maybe I belonged more at a Charleston picnic. I felt ashamed that my style didn’t fit in more since I was a style blogger. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t just shake these feelings, love my own style, and enjoy the day.
I kept fighting with myself internally. I felt really good about my outfit when I left my apartment, but I kept struggling to stop telling myself that I should have known better.
I finally stopped myself and thought “enough is enough, let’s find a proactive way to solve this!”
The magic cure I found to break free from fashion pressure was in questioning why I was jealous of someone’s outfit
By allowing myself to actively question what it was I liked about the outfit I got out of my own head and gave myself the opportunity to further discover my style.
Discovering the method not only helped me that day but continues to help me when I get in my own head about style. And yes, just because I am a personal stylist doesn’t mean at times I don’t get in my own head about what I am wearing.
Living in very fashionable NYC I have often found myself feeling fashion pressure. It can get easy to get down on yourself.
But I have found the more I actively practice pausing when I start to doubt my own style choices and question what I like about someone else’s the less I doubt my style choices overall. This is because I’m practicing deciding what I like and not worrying about what someone else is going to think.
Want the script I use to talk myself from fashion pressure to style confidence?
