Dress like a cupcake should feel

As 2013 came to a close, my mind began filling with thoughts about my wardrobe for the coming year, as it always does in late December. I gave some consideration to writing a post akin to the one on this very subject that appeared here precisely a year and a day ago, but that wasn't what my heart was telling me to do.

My general approach to my wardrobe is going to be the same this year (spend wisely, don’t shy away from investment pieces, try to find some more of my wishlist items, etc), so instead I wanted to launch my first solely fashion related post to a topic that I believe very strongly in, and that I feel can be summed up rather charming in today's title, which comes by way of the tremendously lovely illustration below.

{Hennie Hayworth artwork discovered via Let's Be Preppy.}

 

You see, I'm a staunch proponent of dressing however you want to as often as possible. I love vintage with all my heart and soul, but that doesn't mean I eschew modern fashions entirely or that I have anything against them. I often mix pieces from different decades in the same outfit, adore 1980s does 40s and 50s clothes, occasionally splurge on well made repro (and then wear those pieces often), own oodles of genuine vintage, and shop for vintage appropriate fashions to weave into my wardrobe anywhere and everywhere I go.

My closet, much like my style, is a fusion of what I love, my life’s story, and what brings me incredible joy. There are instances when I go for a very period specific look, sporting all (or nearly) all genuine vintage from around the same timeframe, but I am not one of those folks who desires to only wear real vintage items from a given decade 24/7. It's awesome if that's you approach - and goodness knows I'll swoon up a storm over your gorgeous ensembles, if you share them online - but, wildly eclectic soul that I am, I'm not a total stickler when it comes to ensuring that all of my looks seem as though they could have just hopped directly off the pages of, say, the March 1948 edition of Harper's.

The way we each dress is a highly personal matter. There is, unequivocally, no right or wrong way to dress or to wear vintage. Yes, that's right, I said it: there's no wrong way to wear vintage (there are more historically accurate ways, for sure, but no wrong way). It grinds my gears when I see someone preaching that vintage has to be worn such and such a way. No, unless you're aiming for a very period specific look (or are doing the costuming for movie/theater show), it does not. Not for one red second.

It's supercilious to heavy handedly project, or attempt to enforce, your own views on how to dress on anyone else or to expect the rest of the world to follow your lead. If you you're not crazy about what someone else is wearing, or how they've chosen to approach vintage fashion, that's totally okay (to each there own), but you don't need to say anything derogatory to that individual or try to teach them how you think they should dress instead. Instead, look at them and admire that they're marching to the beat of their own fabulous fashion drum, just as you are to yours.

This isn't to say that you can't offer advice or how-tos for those who are fans of the same kinds of styles that you are. That's cool and often very highly appreciated by your readers, I just mean that no one should look down their nose at anyone else for the way they opt to dress. We're each different and so are our wardrobes. Would a sea of the same homogeneous clothes really be as a fun as walking down the street and seeing 100 different people wearing a 100 different, unique styles? It really wouldn't.

Most of you reading this post right now, love vintage fashions. Some of you may be wild for the 20s, others the 60s. You might flip for the 40s and 50s as do, devote your closet to the 30s, or be straight up Edwardian all the way. Many enjoy a blend of decades, whether worn in the same ensemble or on different days. By sheer act of sporting yesteryear styles, we're all vintage fashion wearers and (presumably) lovers. We each have different, fantastic vintage fashion voices and ways in which we express our love of the past by the wardrobe choices we make.

The statement dress like a cupcake should feel brings me a substantial amount of bliss because it implies, to my mind, that one approaches their wardrobe with joie de vivre.

Most cupcakes are, by their very nature, sweet, fabulously happy, beautiful little moments of loveliness that we all adore enjoying, and these same feelings should resonate in the way you dress, regardless of your style or preferred take on vintage fashion.

A cupcake can be dainty and understated (in so much as a any dessert can be understated), bold, vibrant, artistic, or really off-the-wall, and so can the way each of us dresses. Of course our lifestyle and circumstances will shape our personal styles to a certain extent, but for those who live in most parts of the world, thank goodness, we have the right (especially as adults) to dress however we darn well please, and this is a right we should exercise as often as possible.

Love mixing three different patterns in the same outfit? Awesome, go for it. Adore only wearing looks from the early 1930s? Fabulous, I bet you are a sight to behold. Want to blend elements from five decades together in the same date night look? Way to go, girl!

It takes moxie, courage and creativity to carve out your own unique style. To own it and honour it, and to embrace the looks you love, regardless of what other people might say or think. As the expression goes, haters gonna hate. Let them. That's their problem not yours.

You are daring and fabulous, and should take fashion risks often. So what if something backfires or you aren't crazy about it after all? You tried and your learned something more about your tastes in the process. Makeup washes wipes off in seconds, hairstyles vanish down the drain, and clothing can be swapped out at a moment's notice. Fashion has its serious sides, yes, but ultimately it should be far more fun, original, and relevant to the wearer's lifestyle, I wholeheartedly believe, than anything else.

So, my beautiful friends, as we embrace the 2014 with open arms, I encourage you to do as I am, and dress each day, in whichever ways your heart so desires, like a cupcake should feel. Fashion really doesn't get any sweeter or more wonderful than that.