Fashion vs Style has been floating around in my head for days like a broken record over and over I keep contemplating it. It came full circle for me in ah moment, when I started thinking about the direction I started to take in my jewelry designs a little over a year ago.
I had reached this plateau of disgust with myself for always designing what others wanted me to design, rather then what my heart was singing. Don't get me wrong, the designs I made I am proud of; they are beautiful and very contemporary. They sell well, women love them and men comment on them. They just seemed so main stream and bland and I was tired of them.
So as my life went through a major upheaval. I spend a mid-winter day at the beach in Oregon. An extraordinary day it was 70 degrees in the middle of January, completely unheard of. As the sun rejuvenated my soul, I walked the sandy beach at low tide after a storm, my dog happily running and sniffing. I started reaching down and finding amazing little stones and pieces of shells. Things other beach combers were passing by. One after another I put them in my pocket. As I listened to the waves and sea gulls, designs started forming in my head. Recycling and being green was in the fore front of my mind, along with fiber. The explosion of fiber, found object and gem stones started to meld together. I knew I was taking a risk. I knew those who were use to what I had designed and made for years would huff and puff and posture. Right there that day I decided it was time for me to design from my heart and be true to myself, make it or break it.
When I got home I dumped my treasures on my work bench and started considering how I would make my vision come alive. That day The Ocean Spirit Collection was born. I met so much resistance from those around me. It was so organic; they wanted my sparkly pearl jewels instead. I forged on and put them up on my Artfire. I was told the necklaces were too long. So I made some shorted, it was the one thing I compromised on. As my life continued to be turned completely upside down, I stop mid track on these designs. I came back to them and they had matured and grown. I was bending under the influence of others again, but trying to stay true to myself. I like the evolution that occurred. I posted those on my artfire. Again I stopped the process. A few days ago in my inbox, I received an email from a popular yarn and pattern designer Tahki Stacy Charles A spring 2012 preview of patterns called the New Nauticals and there featured on one of the pattern designs, a long necklace with a simple shell. So much like the designs I started a year ago, but less sophisticated. This was so validating.
Which brings me back to fashion vs style. How do we find our own style as women? There is so much pressure from media and our peers to wear fashion it is difficult to find ones style. Some of us start early and others much later, some not at all. This year my birthday marks the half century mark and I feel more vibrant, more alive and more comfortable in my own skin and my own style than I ever have before. And so as a jewelry designer after 20 years of fabricating jewelry, I am hitting my stride and finding my style and it feels good. What is your style? How do you define it? What has defined it? Your work,family,kids? What makes you feel beautiful every day? I think as women we go through stages, college, career, some become stay at home moms. Along the way we can get stuck in a rut and forget who we are. We spend so much time focusing on others, we forget about ourselves. It is time to find your own style if you haven't already.
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