We Never Go Out Of Style

The older you get, the more you realize you need a handful of good, close, tight friends. It’s hard to tell you who has your back from who has it long enough just to stab you in it. You see, true friends are like diamonds – bright, beautiful, valuable, and always in style.

 When I started out this blog, one thing that I made sure of was that it was to focus mainly on style. I have said it countless times in interviews and magazine features... but it never actually became as clear to me as it is now. Yves Saint Laurent once said, "Fashion changes, style is eternal." Rachel Zoe once said, "Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak." Anna Wintour was quoted saying, "Create your own style… let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others." Diane Von Furstenburg said, "Style is something each of us already has. All we have to do is find it." Even Ralph Lauren had a few words to say about style: "Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever." Everywhere I turn, it seemed, a lot of the fashion industry's big leagues and well-known personalities had something to say about style that I could probably make a book containing my favorite all time quotes and anecdotes of various people regarding "STYLE." 

PS: Scroll down for my funny rendition of Style as it makes its debut... haha! 
(Self deprecation at its finest!)

Now a common question I also get during interviews and fashion features is on how to define my personal style... Back then, I thought it was all about fashion and shopping and clothes so I would usually reply with something along the lines of, "I can't quote define my personal style into one category or type. I am very bipolar, I can wear a studded leather rock star ensemble one day and then a feminine pastel tulle tutu the next day without having to think about it." Of course, that was then and this is now and having spent a couple of years situated front and center of the industry and learning a few life lessons in and away from it, I must say I have a very different perception of style. See, I always associated the word "style" to fashion which was, to be honest, quite silly as it encompasses that and is actually a whole lot more than just that and while people ask me what I do for a living and I would respond that "I am actually Executive Director of an Educational Foundation..." which of course always seems to make everyone pleased to hear that I am such... (I don't know why...) then I add, "Oh... and I'm a part-time fashion and lifestyle blogger." Their gasp of shock over the incongruous paradox that is my life is something I expect and so far, I've had a 99% chance of predicting the blank stares followed by the question, "Oh, so how did you get into that?" as if to save me from humiliation over their very obvious state of shock. I don't really mind it. I have this thing with doing things that I want to do just because I want to and totally ditching those that I don't want to do. I find that it's a damned if you do and a damned if you don't kind of world so I might as well go along with it laughing and strutting in my 6-inch heels. Despite my paragraphs of random musings, ramblings and having an opinion or a reflection or realization or a commentary on practically everything in the world... allow me to remind you, in case you forgot because I've talked too much to the point of no memory, that THIS IS STILL A STYLE BLOG. Seriously.

Break-Up Birkin

I had no idea it would be this much. 

I had no idea I could handle it.

I had no idea how beautiful it all actually is.

A lot of people have been commenting on how my aura is radiating of positivity recently and though I hadn't really done anything drastic, I don't know why this has been the main compliment I have been getting from people...Not that I am complaining. I don't actually know how to describe it except for the fact that I have decided to be unapologetically myself and when I decided to be that, there was no further decision to make... everything fell into place. You see, a lot of us tend to take this for granted but incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't. So where do I begin? To start off, I can't force people to love me or to even like me as I have no control over how people perceive things. However, I do have control on the fact that I can make space for those who matter and who appreciate me for who I am and for the mere fact that there are people who support me in the highs and the lows of my life mean so much to me. I considered myself blessed... and on that Sunday... I was truly enchanted to meet some of you. I never really expected that people would approach me and ask for my signature or a photo with me and be so happy with the mere fact they finally got to meet me. It wasn't exactly on my mind when I signed up on publicly sharing my thoughts and photos online but it fascinates me that there are people who read my ramblings and my stories and can relate and learn from it. It gives me so much satisfaction to know that. And it surprises me how much people actually know about me and can notice such minor things like how I changed my hair color or how I have a boo-boo on my left arm and how I feel and if I am handling the demise of a relationship well. The thing is, I always thought that whenever I type random things in this blog, I was just sending it out to the universe...it never actually really occurred to me that so many people read what I say and what I wear or what I am going through and actually remember it. It is such a big deal to me, seriously... you have no idea.