I’m a teacher, a public speaker, a radio presenter, a business woman… I’m a Medicine woman, a Shaman, a Paco, a healer, an earth loving hippy who drives a BMW, I’m a 37 year old teetotal who likes underground music and all night raves, I’m a contradiction to the ‘norm’!!! I’m a mother, I’m a wife, and beyond all those labels, guess what? I AM ME!
At 27 years old I walked into my first networking event wearing a short cotton grey dress from H&M with a pair of boots ( I wore boots with everything, I’ve never been into shoes and I can’t bare the fact they are uncomfortable)
I was buzzing, so happy, and so proud of myself but, at the end of the event, a woman I began to chat to looked me up and down and said “You’ll never get any work dressed like that” she said “and you’re too young for anyone to take you seriously and you look unprofessional” – I was crushed!! Totally crushed.
Her words rang around my head for a long time, to the point I stopped going to networking events. My mother, who had a high end clothes shop, sent me a couple of suits and so I put these suits on and a pair of shoes and I went back out into the world… dressed how I ‘should be dressed’.
The suits were really nice, ON SOMEONE ELSE!! I fucking hated wearing a suit! It’s like every fibre squashed my passion and uniqueness… I was not me… It was not me… but I was so confused and so influential back then.
I soon learned over a few years that no one really gave a shit what I wore… when people came to my office I’d be wearing my usual – hot pants, a top and a pair of boots… I soon began to head out to networking meetings in the middle of the day in what I was wearing… and guess what… people loved me for me!!!
10 years on…
I can be teaching a class of 40 middle class men and women, presenting to 200 corporate suits, teaching a class of 20 kids, or presenting to a group of teenagers… the chances are I’ll be wearing the same thing, and the chances are I would have worn it rolling around the fields of Glastonbury Festival 10 years before too… hot pants, tights, a top and a pair of boots!
But, I will not dress according to the little voice from that woman and society… ‘Dress to impress’ – Fuck that! I’ve been there in my life when I did that, and it was fake… dressing to impress is dressing to hide who you are!!
I dress for me because people pay to see me, not my clothes and, if they have come to see my clothes, they will be deeply disappointed!
I’m not a lover of fashion, I’ve probably been wearing the same clothes for 10 years, maybe even longer. When I think about it, this style came from going to festivals and that’s been 16 years … but it’s my style, it’s comfy, I like it, I feel good, I feel me!
I DO however have a big Mulberry tote handbag, it’s 7 years old and it’s the only handbag I own. I didn’t even know who Mulberry was when I first saw it in House of Fraser, it just caught my eye once. It surpised me because I was just running in to get a notepad… and I saw it, and I stopped… I just knew I liked it and was shocked at the cost of it, but because I had never liked handbags before, my hubby went and brought it for me..!
Because he knew I loved it and he had never heard me say anything like “Oh wow I saw the most beautiful handbag today but it was £8000!!!” – he surprised me with it (he was feeling flush at the time!!)
I don’t do shopping, I don’t buy clothes to throw them away, I wear them until they are worn out… I’m an earth loving hippy, but I do appreciate nice things… I DON’T appreciate throw away fashion or buying shit because some magazine says that’s what you need to wear… it goes against my values, I believe if we only buy what we need and no more, then that’s balance… the Earth has enough people consuming beyond what it can provide, it doesn’t need another one!
So, yes, it probably looks a bit random to the ‘fashion judgmental eye’… Mulberry handbag, canvas dockers, hot pants and a 10 year old top on a 37 year old woman… but, it sums me up nicely! Don’t get me wrong, I love feeling super sexy in a dress but I buy once in a while and I buy that for me… not for anyone else… well maybe my hubby!
Dressing the way I want to dress means I’m fully in my power, I don’t have to answer to anyone… I am so in my power I don’t need anyone to to validate me… I’m free of that need, so I can wear what I want, and being in my power means everyone around me feels more comfortable.
I empower others to be who they truly are behind the masks, to show that it’s all about how you feel inside and, to be honest, most of the time the judgements come from ourself! And, anyone who really is judging us for our clothes can go fuck themselves! Who wants to do business with anyone like that anyway? Not me. I choose the good people in life, the ones in their power, the ones who know what’s important and are brave enough to expose their true self.
What labels do you have? Do you dress for each label or do you dress FOR YOU??
Louise Carron Harris