A Year of Authenticity......

 

Are you hiding behind a persona that's not really you?

 

Do you dress a certain way because that's how Mums/Nannas/Doctors/Teachers/Support Workers/Office Staff are 'supposed to dress'?

 

Have you lost yourself in the day-to-day drudgery of life?

 

I can tell you that was me. Right up until about December 2016.

 

December 2016 brought me epiphanies of many kinds. Soon my daughter, my youngest child would be finished school. Soon she would be off to University with all the life changes that brings. Soon it would be just Husband and I at home. Soon, I would have time to be me. 

 

I had realised that in being a full time Mum, I'd lost a big part of who I really was. Don't get me wrong. I've treasured every single moment, and can see the evidence of my presence in the lives of my disabled son, my daughter, and my grandchildren. My older sons did not have the luxury of Mum 24/7. They've done me proud all the same. Thankyou boys.

 

What my older sons DID have was a glamorous young Mum, a career girl, who dressed impeccably every day, sky high heels and all. A Mum who would be up at 5am to roll her hair into fat heated curlers to create the looks fashionable at that time. A Mum who would change her nail polish to match her clothes. A Mum who sewed her own clothes because the retailers simply didn't have what she liked. Someone who was entirely comfortable in their own skin.

 

That changed for me, when my youngest son was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. My world fell apart. My family and especially my older sons, supported me as much as they were able. But suddenly my world shrunk to a schedule of endless therapy and medical appointments, and time for me became scarce on the ground.

 

Pretty dresses and killer heels became a thing of the past, as I wrangled with hoists, wheelchairs, commode chairs and lifting and transferring that would shame a body builder. My uniform became one of freshly washed natural curls, 3/4 pants, loose shirts and comfortable shoes. After a while, that was all I had. Going out became a trial because I simply, truly, had 'nothing to wear'.

 

 

Above, was me, day in day out, in December 2016. Neat and functional. Dying to be more glamorous, but really, not knowing where to start.

 

Enter Marie-Anne Lecouer into my life. I found her through her French Chic Facebook group, and never looked back. A small monthly payment over six months gained me access to her French Chic Academy, with knowledge and power beyond my expectations, and it was life changing.

 

Those 3/4 pants? Gone. Ripped jeans? Never again. Birkenstock sandals...only in the home thankyou.

 

A year and a bit down the track and there's a new me in every way.

 

I've gone a bit Heather Sweet....or Dita Von Teese as she is better known. Yes I know. You imagine that French Chic style is all about Chanel-esque suits, white shirts and trench coats. But NON! It's about finding your own style, and adopting ways of wearing what you love, so that it flatters your shape. Mon Dieu! A revelation!

 

So yes. Of course I can be 40s-50s glam, and still engender a French Chic look. It's all in the execution of the idea.

 

These before and after pics of Dita tell an interesting tale.

 

What a box of black hair dye, eyeliner, matte red lips and a killer frock has done for this woman is inspirational.

 

Look.

 

She was pretty as a blonde, but as a raven haired beauty, she's a stunner.

 



 

She made her mistakes along the way. I don't think this look was doing her any favours...

 

 

..but she's steadfastly refused to succumb to the temptation to adopt todays Look du Jour with a spray tan, Balyaged locks and a nude lip as seen her below photoshopped by some clever person.

 

She remains uncompromisingly herself. And it works for her. One might argue that 'Blonde Heather' is the 'authentic' person, and 'Raven haired Dita' is the ring-in here. But I admire that Dita has discovered who she wants to be, and then set about reimagining the way she looks to fit that. Her exterior presentation, is the manifestation of her inner self. Go Dita.

 

Now I'm no Dita. I'm older and a bit heavier, although we are the same height (!) and I live in the 'burbs.

 

But here's a story for you.

 

There's a certain dress store where I live that sells Dita style frocks as seen at the top of my post.

 

When it first opened, I was walking past with a 'friend'. I admired the dresses longingly (and I was slimmer then!), and she commented 'yes but that's a lifestyle isn't it. It's a statement. You can't dress like that one day, and wear jeans the next'.

 

Well. That stuck with me for the next ten years. I continued to look longingly in the window, but didn't dare venture inside this shop for fear of being laughed at. Silly, I know.

 

Enter my dalliance with the French Chic Academy, and particularly a module titled Authentically You, and here I am, snapping up pretty dresses and patent leather wedges like there's no tomorrow.

 

Because I CAN wear a pretty dress today, and jeans tomorrow. So long as I style them to flatter my Apple shape. So long as I remember to aim for a Long and Lean look, to wear heels to add to that illusion, to minimise accessories when wearing a print, to take care with my hair and makeup. I remember to wear good shapewear with my pretty frocks to minimise the bits of me that would make a pretty frock look lumpy where it shouldn't...lol.

 

All of that matters. Every bit, and more. It all makes a difference.

 

Yesterday I purchased a set of heated rollers. Yes, those little instruments of torture that once yielded me a Good Hair Day every, single, day. I deserve that now...the Good Hair Day Every Day, AND the heated rollers. What a Godsend they are. I'm relearning how to use them to my advantage. I'm loving what they do for my silver locks, as much as I did when I sported a frosted Farrah Fawcett look 40 years ago. I'm loving that they turn me into a teeny weeny bit of a Dita.

 

Is there something you can do to set yourself free this year? A way of digging deep and finding a bit of you that's been lost for a while?

 

Who are you, deep down inside?

 

I don't imagine that everyone aspires to the Glam Girl look like I do. Perhaps you're more Stevie Nicks, or Audrey Hepburn, or Grace Kelly. I love all of those ladies and their style too. On different days I might aim for emulating them.

 

Because I can. Because I don't have to be Dita every day. And no. It's not a 'lifestyle choice' or a 'statement look' that once entered into, cannot be changed.

 

Your personal style represents you on any given day. And that can be a different 'you' EVERY day if you want.

 

Just remember the number one rule. Dress for your shape. That is all.

 

Today I'm being Dita. Who are you today?

 

...Mimi...