SARAHISMS™: Fashion &...

One of the things I've been taught is to write what you know.  This is what I know.  I've lost weight and still had the big girl complex. I've been overweight, bordering on obese (although my baby face took that particular period relatively well).  I've had that awkward moment of weighing the same number in stones as age (I was 13 and got the MOST distressed look from my waif of a biology teacher who then proceeded to talk about the benefits of healthy eating).  Above all of that I know that I never truly loved the one thing that endured more than I did – my body. More importantly, I know that, somewhere along the years of changes my issue lay with a lack of understanding.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my breakdown of THE fundamental of fashion – the body.

Firstly, I think it'd be rather idealistic to say anyone is happy with their bodies in its entirety.  There’s always something you wouldn't mind tweaking or moulding. Even those who preen to their heart’s content to the brink of narcissism, let’s remember that your body is from top to bottom, which includes your brain, and well.. vanity isn't really a development essential is it now?  But I digress.  Most people, if not everyone, has one body hang-up or another and it’s fair to say it’s normal.  What I started to realise, however, is the varying ways this is being addressed is not.

Ladies, I’ll pose a question – what makes you feel good about your body, when you head out? Is it a vigorous gym session? (endorphins fix - amazing!) Is it when your heels are a little higher? Your hair a little longer?  Curlier?  Your eyelashes creating more of a flutter effect?  Or do you move into more dangerous territory.. Your make up a little heavier, dress a little tighter, pose a little more..arched? For any gentlemen reading this I’ll ask the same.  Where does your motivation really lie when posting pictures of your ‘back game’? I am all for celebrating developments in health and wealth  but when the next images I see are archetypal ‘elevated’ stances with a H protruding proudly from the waistline like it’s meant to stand for Happiness, I become a tad sceptical that you are truly comfortable with your bodies. Remember we’re talking all-encompassing here.

I’ll quickly get to the point – when did many of us forget where fashion really started?  I say we because I too went through that phrase of booty is beauty, flesh is best and the body, an afterthought. That brand names would give me the upper hand in the eyes of my peers.  In hindsight, as expected, I spent years not really liking all I got in return. I believed I understood the ‘fashion’ of people appreciating my body, the excessive 'investments' in new outfits and that the subsequent ‘compliments’ were a ‘trend’.  Wrong.  Fashion is and is always meant to, quite simply, unique creations reflected from within.

Some of the most revered designers, who eventually have set the trends we love, all started out with at least one key common factor – to challenge the way the body is graced, head to toe.  We’re not just talking the body in its physical sense too.  Martin Margiela (who was a former director at Hermes– fun fashion fact) brought recycling to a raw level of fashion creativity. Nike Blazers were for the basket ballers then the skaters before kicking it on street style pages everywhere else.  We have architects creating heels (Julian Hakes) and interior designers blazing a path for digital prints (Mary Katrantrou). Fashion is a creation of something new, adornment of the flesh but, as a by-product, it is also meant to stimulate the mind.  At least once, the words ‘I could do it better’ has crossed our minds, been murmured from our lips, even sent as a sneaky subliminal across the social networks with the ever-increasing critique of how dressing up should be done. Question is, do you actually do it?

Like I said at the beginning, I can only write what I know and I know I’ll never be slim.  Some of the things I want to wear I can’t and some of the attention I get is inevitable. Still, to quote John Mayer, my body is a wonderland and I have every intention of portraying myself with ALL of it, my mind at the forefront.  It won't always make me the centre of attention, it may even get me slated, sometimes I may regress and I may not even get it right all the time, but if I'm not learning, I'm not living.  Fashion and the body, all of it, are irreversibly linked, and my hope is, as I have started to appreciate the joys of tentatively pushing personal limits and enter new territories, the understanding of just how unique we individually are is appreciated by many more.

SB xx