Fashion,  Lifestyle

What To Do When Life Does a 180…

May 23, 2020 /
  • Switch from wearing all black to wearing all white
  • Reinvent the classic white dress
  • Rebrand yourself
  • Keep pushing forward

But in all seriousness, life has really done a 180 on me and it has not been the most fun to deal with. Quiet frankly, it sucks. All the plans I had, the future I had envisioned suddenly fell through and it was momentarily devastating. I say momentarily, not to make light of the fact that everything I had ever dreamt of was suddenly ripped from my grasp, but because for the first time in my life everything was crumbling around me and I chose to just start picking up the pieces even as they were still falling. (This is not something I would have done in the past. In the past I would have curled up in that pile of ash and just settled for a subpar life because I would have thought achieving excellence just wasn’t meant for me.)

I think this was me truly hitting rock bottom. And what they say (I don’t actually know who they is, but you know what I mean), what they say is true. Once you hit rock bottom there is nowhere to go but up. And when one door closes another opens. And I could insert about 10 more inspirational quotes here, but I think you get the idea. So I started looking for plan B, plan C, plan D E and F. All this has lead me to a new and spontaneous place in my life where I am now enrolled in taking online classes through YellowBrick and Parson’s New School of Design. (This is not sponsored by the way, I just wanted to share my new journey with you, my internet friends.)

My first lesson was about the Classic White Dress we see throughout history and the mini assignment was to post a photo of your own white dress. Well now, I own a grand total of five white articles of clothing. It was surprisingly hard to find any white in closet, which is mostly a sea of charcoal gray and black. But I grabbed my five pieces of white clothing and started mixing and matching the pieces together. Putting together this outfit was like waking up after a long nap. It was challenging to put together an all white outfit that represented my personality and what I want my brand to be.

The reinvention of the White Dress

Here we have a thrifted blouse with a high ruffled collar and ruffled cuffs. I’ve tied it up and paired it with a thrifted pair of Mariachi inspired pants and my pair of 70’s platform clogs? I’m not sure what to call my shoes but they’re by a brand called Hush Puppies. My sunglasses are most likely from Forever21 and the beret is truly vintage, it was my mother’s many moons ago.

Overall, this outfit is such a representation of me. We’ve got a 70’s feel with the flared pants and platform shoe, also with the tied blouse and oversized round sunnies. We’ve got a romantic vibe coming from the high necked ruffled blouse and the ruffled cuffs. It’s also a very lightweight, airy material which lends itself well to the idea of romanticism. And finally, we have my hair, which is very reminiscent of a young Jim Morrison (one of my heroes). My look pulls from two different eras, the 1970’s and the late Victorian era. It pulls from both feminine styles and masculine style, my signature really. It’s playful, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and what is more romantic than tragedy?

So, what do you do when your life takes a 180? You pick yourself up, push the envelope, and just create something. Putting together this one outfit did my so much good. I feel challenged, creative, and having an end product (my photos) makes me feel really good. I’m still so sad that life didn’t work out the way I wanted it too and I’ve accepted that I’ll probably be sad for a while. But I’ve decided that it’s time to use that sad energy and put it towards making something good. In this way, I’ve been pushing myself forward and I’m really excited for whatever new things the future has in store for me. (And I know you’ve probably been wondering what happend that was so utterly earth shattering for me but I’m not going to talk about that right now. It’s a wound that’s still healing and when I feel ready to write about it, I will.)

So in short, if you too find that your life has been flipped upside down, the best advice I can give to you is this: Pick yourself up as quickly as possible. Be sad and mourn for yourself but only for like a minute. You’re not helping yourself if you go on for any longer. And yeah, things are going to suck and they’re going to look bleak and if you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel then make a fire and create your own light. We’re all baddies in our own way and if you want something out of life either take it or make it.

xoxo Juju

A visual representation of me finding the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s there, I promise.