lities.

z i n g t h e e n d l e s s p o s s i b i t

In many facets of life, we find ourselves in boxes of our creation. In fashion, it’s all too easy to feel boxed in. From walls formed by cultural standards used to separate & sort us into our respective bins, labels plaguing how we identify our style to styles just beyond our reach- or price point. These hurdles appear around every corner on the individual journey to genuine self-expression.

Influencers and the global fashion industry paint the picture that it’s simple. All you need is this product or these clothes, and it’ll all magically click. I hate to be the bearer of disappointing news, but it will never be that easy. One product or article of clothing won’t push you to discover new ways to express yourself or what style makes you feel most like you. It takes experimentation, trial and error, and it’s intimidating.

Overcoming these stigmas we’ve been socialized to believe is hard, but mixing mediums and experimenting with fashion doesn’t have to be a face-first dive off the edge. Mixing mediums is more than just crazy pattern mixing or Camp ensembles. It’s about adding texture and dimension to an outfit, mixing styles, and being unapologetic. It’s true to your unique style in whatever way it works. But styles as a whole can be a hard concept to wrap your head around. Most of the time, we stick ourselves to one category of one style and keep with it until high school or college. Then, we pick another style, and it sticks for the rest of our lives.

But the freedom that mixing up your style gives you is a window to a whole new realm of possibilities. From coastal cowboy to streetwear grunge, your week can become infinitely more exciting by allowing yourself the freedom to change it up and break out of the boxes you find yourself stuck in, but we play it safe. We think we’re overdoing it, and we get scared that we can’t pull off anything other than what we wear every day.

But the fact of the matter is that you already utilize a hundred different styles a day: you just don’t realize it. It’s like that scene in The Devil Wears Prada, where Merryl Streep is telling Anna Hathaway about the history of her Cerulean blue sweater (you know which one I’m talking about). Well, just think about it like that.

Your closet is full of clothes inspired by different seasons, periods, styles, and people. So, you shouldn’t be afraid to mix and match styles you don’t think you could pull off because you 100% can.

Mixing Mediums is about feeling confident in yourself through your style, not letting your style define how confident you feel. And I, too, have fallen prey to the ever-looming fear that my choices are ‘too out there’ or ‘not stylish enough,’ but what I’ve had to teach myself…

Who in the hell cares?

And if they do, let that be a reflection of them. Those who can’t do it, hate, and those who do are the ones we remember forever.