Personal Style is a Journey

 Hello all and welcome to my fabulous fashion blog! I’m brand new at this and learning every day so I really appreciate your patience and support while I figure out this new and exciting blog world. The obvious question is, why fashion? I, myself, have had a long and arduous journey when it comes to finding my own sense of style and I find that it’s still evolving with every changing season. Having a somewhat unique body type has only added to the challenges I was predestined to face. My mother affectionately calls herself fashion handicapped and I, affectionately, have to agree. Looking back, I'll admit, she knew what she was doing when it came to cute little girl clothing. She laughingly recalls that I was in kindergarten the year I stopped allowing her to pick my outfits for school.

 “I told you that doesn’t match and you defiantly responded, 'I don’t care, I’m wearing it!'” -Mom

 I'm sure she was shaking her head in frustration as I walked away wearing a pair of leopard print spandex and a sleeveless purple shirt with tiny rosettes lining the collar. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Fashion is a journey. From the age of six and onward I made it clear to my mom that it was to be my complete responsibility to figure out how I was going to be dressed, how my hair looked, and eventually learning which makeup to use and how to apply it appropriately. I say this with complete and utter confidence to every woman I have never met; if I can do it so can you.

 Very true to nature, I went to school that fateful leopard-print spandex day and found out what it felt like to be ridiculed for my first attempt at self expression by the cute, popular girls who just so happened to have no problem figuring out what colors, textures, and cuts looked fabulous at age six. Although I was absolutely devastated by the fact that these girls who I so desperately wanted to be friends with didn’t want to be my friend all because of what I was wearing, I learned a valuable social lesson that day. What you wear reflects who you are and people, whether consciously or subconsciously, will judge who you are based on what you choose to wear on your body.

 I continued my fashion journey through elementary school by briefly assuming the ever so flattering leggings, a sweater, and Ked's look before giving up completely and simply copying those who were making fun of me. My smug logic being, “They can’t make fun of what I’m wearing if they have the same thing hanging in their own closet.” Believing I had it all figured out, I was again disappointed when I was criticized for being a copy cat and went home with another lesson under my belt. Copying someone’s outfit exactly isn’t having style, it’s lazy and unoriginal. I would come to learn that adopting and adapting looks that you find appealing is the only way to ensure your individuality and comfort, you’ll feel and look better for it.



 In middle school I would simply follow some of my Mom’s tried and true rules such as; Find something that looks good and buy it in every color or stick to solid colors and I would basically get my outfit ideas straight off the manikins in the department stores. By eighth grade I was ready to try on a new rebel attitude and began hanging with and dressing like the skateboarders at our school. Etnies, Dickies, anything from Pac Sun, and any t-shirt from the boy section in Wal-Mart were my chosen threads. It didn’t matter if my outfit matched perfectly or where it was from and for the first time I remember thinking, “Finally, I can start building friendships instead of a wardrobe.” Soon after that I met a sweet punk boy rocking a Mohawk and a kilt who would not only change my life forever but, would influence my sense of fashion in a way that I never thought possible.

 My freshman year of high school I made the cheerleading squad and began to really understand why school uniforms are so much easier. I now have a California King sized quilt made out of all of my  high school-spirit T-shirts that I would wear at least 3 out of the 5 days a week all the way through Sophomore year. I also began to mature in my style choices. Instead of shopping in the boy section of Wal-Mart I was frequenting Wet Seal, and Charlotte Russe. To my relief girls had finally stopped picking on me and started asking to borrow my clothes! It was an incredibly carefree couple of years and then the bottom fell out when, for the first and last time in my life, I let a man (really more like a boy at that age) completely control how I looked and felt about myself.

 I began shopping at stores like Abercrombie& Fitch and Aeropostale, both of which made me feel like I was too fat to even walk into at an absolutely average size eight (maybe it was the gorgeous super models standing at the entrance just to make you feel inadequate). After that relationship ended and I found myself on the other end of an identity crisis, it seemed like my only fashion oriented goal was to simply avoid persecution by frumpy teachers who seemed to come to school looking to send me to the principal’s office for breaking dress code (puberty had left me with a 40 inch bust line and I had cleavage even in a t-shirt). Fortunately, I found myself being drawn to theater and, eventually, the costume design class my theater teacher offered where I learned that fashion is so much more than what’s trendy, it is a form of self expression unlike any other (second only to art and tattoos).

 I told you that to tell you this (one more time). Fashion is a journey, it is okay if you don’t know your fashion identity yet a ton of people don’t, mine is ever-changing, and lucky for you I’m here to help!  I’m compiling all of my experiences, opinions, and knowledge on the subject to help those in need because fashion should be used for good, not evil! I want to focus all of my energy on building every woman’s confidence in fashion whether it’s picking the right cut for any body-type, what hairstyle to wear with your “too-cute-not-to-have-a-matching-cute-hairstyle” outfit, or simply which color pallet makes you glow. As I mentioned before, because I have a “unique” body type -from the front I’m a capital letter V from the side a capital letter P- I have had A TON of practice in making what all designers intend for the runway work for you walking down your driveway. In closing just know that, very much as in life, in fashion you have to make mistakes to grow and you can’t make a mistake without a little risk. Sometimes what you think will break you turns out to be your big break. So I encourage you to take risks, try to use your knowledge for good and don’t criticize those less aware, and have fun because otherwise, what is the point?!




Thanks for checking out my first blog! To get a better idea of who I am and what I believe check me out on Mix 94.7 FM tonight at 9:30pm and again on Tuesday at 10pm or just go to the Kim Iverson Show website where a podcast will be available. I'll be a part of a panel of women called the Mascara Monologues, happy listening <3