Day 14 - Stop trying to fit into a mold
I love this skirt so much and have gotten so much use out of it. I'm a maxi girly rather than a mini one.
October 14th, 2024
Coming off of ACL W2 and feeling a little rough. It was almost 100 degrees all weekend and my feet are still swollen from all the walking. I think I’m officially too old for a 3-day festival. Quite impressed with my family who came down for it and handled the heat so gracefully! I did a little bit of closet cleanout since I wanted my mom to take back some stuff for her friend and her 19 year old daughter who moved to Washington from Nicaragua 6 months ago. I was going through all this stuff that I never wear and saw that I’ve bought multiple colors of the same style of some items and it got me thinking about the constant bombarding of trends and cute looks to try this season.
I’ve never been a mini skirt girly yet I found that I have quite a few in my closet that I unsurprisingly never wear. I have my J.Crew skirt that’s long enough for work is fabulous and I do wear a couple times a year, my Abercrombie linen wrap skort I’m still debating about whether it’s cute or not, and my black faux suede hoochie skirt from Forever 21 that I’ve had since freshman year of college. Other than that, I never reach for any of the other ones. Why did I feel the need to buy blue AND black denim skirts last fall when it was trendy? I tried them on and hated how they looked on me. Some might say it could be a quality issue which I could maybe slightly agree with. These are mostly cheaply made skirts so they aren’t the most flattering. So then how come I’ve worn more than twice a month the cheetah print skirt you see here that I got from Shein for $7 years ago? (I no longer shop there so please don’t come for me we’ve all been there)
Accepting that mini skirts aren’t something I look or feel great in is much harder than it seems. Whether it’s a need for validation or to assimilate into the larger group of beautiful trendy women in society, wanting to fit in is normal. Fitting into the mold is the norm and it’s fine to want to fit into the trendy thing! I jumped on the vests train so fast and it actually turns out I LOVE the way a vest fits. I ordered 3 this afternoon. You can bet I will be parting ways with those little skirts and being mindful about my purchases in the future to decide whether it truly reflects what I want and what I feel the best in.
I love shopping and clothes and shoes and accessories and putting things together. I also care about the planet and overconsumption and my wallet. Next time you have something in your cart, take a moment to pause and ask yourself whether you truly want the item or whether some external force is making want to fit into the mold of being a person who would buy and wear the item. They are 2 very different people, choose wisely.
