Why I stopped being a Fashionista. And why it’s great.

As a child, I never really cared about clothes. I liked being outdoors or playing sports. At the age of 16, I did a one-year high school exchange program in Japan. I had to wear a school uniform. While some of the other exchange students hated that, I loved it. You wake up and you know exactly what to wear — heaven! When I grew older, I had boyfriends who would tell me to dress more feminine. I remember that one of them even took me out shopping. The clothes he got me were beautiful, but I felt 100% awkward wearing them. After I broke up with him, I switched back to jeans, boots, sweaters and my black leather jacket.

I kept dressing this way until I had another boyfriend that took me out shopping. He had excellent taste, and I liked the clothes I bought with him (this time using my own money). Plus, I got a job in a big company that had a very conservative yet chic dress code.

At that time, I started to enjoy buying and wearing expensive clothes. I loved looking fashionable and elegant. However, this also imposed a lot of stress on me. I remember days, when it took me forever to get ready for work, because I could not find the perfect combination of clothes, make-up, and shoes. Or because something that I was planning on wearing was dirty or wrinkled.