Own It!

Photo of Twila Thorpe taken by a photographer for GAP

I often hear women, of all ages, say "I can't wear that color," "Everyone will think I lost my mind if I wore that!" Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, I understand that. We all make the decision to be guided by a moral compass.  That's not my issue. What does bother me, however, is when our likes and dislikes aren't our own. When they have been determined by another person or group of people. Likes and dislikes that are really shaped by the boundaries of other people's insecurities and, usually unsolicited, opinions. Even the fact that someone has always been a certain way, or at least has appeared to others as always being a certain way, does not doom them to forever being in that box. I have witnessed client's eyes light up while we were mapping their makeup look, only to then dim after some invisible voice reminds them of their supposed limitations. "I can't wear that, my kids would say I'm crazy!"