“But Mandy, you don’t understand…I can’t wear “that” to work.”
“I can’t wear tights to work. Only Millennials do that.”
“But there’s more pressure on women to look a certain way.”
“But Mandy, it’s not as easy as you think…I can’t just wear my natural hair/my open fro/dreadlocks to work.”
“I can’t wear…blah, blah, blah…”
Mandy understands. Mandy just believes that you don’t have to fit it. That you should not fit in. That you should dress in your own authentic style. All. The. Time.
One of my best friends wears her hair in dreadlocks and dresses with flamboyant color and style to her corporate work place. Her colleagues tell her that she “gets” to dress “like that” because “it’s her”. YES! YES! Exactly right!
It’s BECAUSE she rolled up in her authentic style and it’s BECAUSE it never occurred to her to wear a boring brown suit every day that she “gets” to show up being herself.
She didn’t second-guess her style. It’s authentic to who she is, and she would be remiss to change it.
Does she notice that no one else dresses like her? Yep. Does she notice that other women may give her quizzical looks? Yep. Does she care? Nope. Because if she dressed like them, she wouldn’t be true to who she is.
Let me also say that if you’re a mother, I think you get to wear whatever you want! You birthed humans! You’re raising humans. What more can I say? You’re already being amazing. Daring yourself to dress up and strut your style around work is nothing. Just go ahead and be authentic. Start injecting your personal style into all your work outfits. You’ll feel great!
And for the love of all things freeing, and this is the key to authentic style especially at work: STOP CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK!
That’s none of your authentic personal style business!