Let's tackle it... fashion and VANITY!

The word FASHION makes me think about identity, personality, style, glamour, comfort, versatility, lifestyle, originality and, Vanity... with a capitol V! Vanity is a very strange thing in my eyes... Van-i-ty: 1. The quality or condition of being vain. 2. Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; conceit. 3. Lack of usefulness, worth or effect; worthlessness (www.thefreedictionary.com). Need I continue? Vanity is not a good term, and it is not something that I want to be associated with. Unfortunately, it is a definite part of the fashion industry.

The fashion industry is obviously centered on appearance. It is all about what you're wearing. Well, when you get up and get dressed in the morning your decisions are based on a number of variables: Weather, location, religion, income, mood, season, and comfort. Often times, the outside is a translation of the inside, but as we all know we must “never judge a book by its cover.” The most important accessory when getting dressed in the morning is your confidence. 

There is a very fine line between confidence and conceit. Confidence is trust or faith in a person or thing, a feeling of assurance. Conceit is having a very high opinion of one's own abilities or thoughts (www.merriamwebsterdictionary.com). You can be proud of who you are and love yourself without thinking that you are better than anybody else. I know this is possible. You don't have to take yourself that seriously. Conceited people are always trying to prove something, how great they are. Confident people have nothing to prove; they know they are great and they know that everybody else is great in their own way too.

Everybody has style! Style is the way in which something is said, done, expressed or performed (www.thefreedictionary.com). Style is entirely your own because it's personal, it’s original... it's you. Since we all come from different backgrounds, we‘re going to have slightly different styles. There is no wrong or right style; it is a matter of opinion. Opinion is a belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof (www.merriamwebsterdictionary.com). Your opinion is just as great as the next! Basically what this means is don't let ANYBODY tell you that you don't have style or that you have bad style. Style is all a matter of opinion; opinion is a belief without proof. Everybody has heard the quote, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." This is SO true. Beauty is a matter of opinion, like style... so basically everybody should feel beautiful and confident with their style, but VANITY is a waste of time! Have I lost you yet?!

There is something very ugly about Vanity. Something very ugly about somebody who is their own biggest fan... Seriously?! Come on, get over yourself. We have nothing to do with what we look like. We had absolutely no power over where we were born, from whom we were born, or the conditions we were born into… so why would you pretend that you can take the recognition? You can't act like you chose yourself because you didn't. Had the conditions you were born into been slightly different you may have had a totally different life. Your style would be completely changed.

You could've been born in a third world country to a woman that raised you on hand beading. If that was the case, you know what?... you may wear a lot more beads. Terrible visual, but you catch my drift?!  I could've been born to a single woman in a third world country with AIDS and not lived past the age of 5. I wouldn't have been able to share all of this useful knowledge with you... frightening! ; ) We should not judge!

Let’s recap... Everybody should be confident. We should all be able to appreciate the many different styles in the world. We all come from different places and faces, so what? Isn't it sooo cool?! Always remember you can toot your car's horn, you can toot your friend's horn but you can't toot your own horn… Not Cool! Whooooo, glad I got that off of my chest!

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