By Hollie Brackenridge | March 24, 2017
Self-confidence is the best outfit. Rock it and own it.
Author Unknown
Not every woman is born with the confidence to be comfortable in their own skin, for some it’s a learning curve, for some it’s hidden deep inside awaiting for realisation to hit and for others like myself it’s a lesson in life. With social media and filters playing a huge part of our daily lives it’s easy for us to self doubt ourselves and instantly put doubt in our minds that we could ever look “that good”. We question ourselves daily…
-Am I dressing right? Do I look right? Does this even match?
-Am I a good enough mum? Everyone else looks like they are owning it!
-Should my hair be straight, wavy or is this bed head an actual thing?
-What jeans should I wear, I don’t suit Mom jeans- do I wear them anyway!?
Every woman has insecurities and every woman has the ability to stretch their wings and soar to the great heights that they wish to achieve.
Hollie Brackenridge
As you would expect when anyone overcomes a deep and life changing situation you see things in a different light. I’ve come out the other side with my own trademarked stamp of approval, dressing well and having confidence in everything I do is my daily “you made it” reminder to be myself. If I am not comfortable in what I am wearing, I feel less confident in myself and that is why how I present myself is so important to me. When I was poorly the days that I slowly got closer to my recovery, my mums words of “pop a bit of lippy on, you’ll feel better” ran deep. They along with a bikerjacket have become my holy grail and it’s rare you’ll find me without them. Nine years ago leaving the house itself seemed like an impossible task and I would hibernate at home. In fact one friend in particular will recall turning up at my house in some of my darkest days to me in my PJ’s at 2 pm and this is before cashmere lounge wear was a thing. I knew she was coming, but I didn’t function at all. I couldn’t. Slowly that fog begun to lift and I gained the power to not be phased on how people view the way I express myself and being the real me is OK. I learnt the style that I feel most comfortable in and I gained a new outlook on life, I’ve slowly grown to love not only love my own style, but the person that I have become.
With social media and filters playing a huge part of our daily lives it’s easy for us to self doubt ourselves and instantly put doubt in our minds that we could ever look “that good”. We question ourselves daily…
Hollie Brackenridge
Everywhere we look now women are encouraged to have a sense of self belief, even Topshop sell out of Femme Forever & Feminist t-shirts. You don’t have to look far to gain motivation on loving ourselves for who we are and that individuality is as important as picking out the most wanted items on the shelf. I’ve gone past the point of caring if my day wear is more in line to someones date night. Why should we have to fit certain expectations of others, a comfy high heel is just as effective at helping you feel on top of your game during the day as it would in walking in to that trendy bar in the evening. Dressing in what makes us feel confident on any given day is what helps us feel like we can go a grab life by its horns. It takes a special and rare person to not have any element of self doubt or anxiousness and dressing well can help eliminate that. We all know how empowering an ultimate LBD can be and your capsule wardrobe collection should be no different. Developing our own style has never been as acceptable as it is right now and it’s amazing what a slick of red lipstick can do for a mothers soul.
Clothes won’t change the world, but women who wear them will.
Anne Klein
I don’t fit any kind of mould myself and that’s what makes me different, however I am an individual who has learnt that I am most comfortable when my wardrobe has a rock&roll edge. So I will still take the inspiration of wearing the pretty floaty dress, but my biker jacket, studded boots, bright lipstick and quiffed hair will go hand in hand with it and that is OK. I am making the trends work for me. For anyone who looks through the array of beautiful Instagram feeds that are so accessible to us now and self doubts that you could ever look that good. Stop. Look for your inspiration and start believing in yourself. MERCER7 is proof that shopping well and creating the basics can help women understand the basics of a capsule wardrobe and that actually those boots will look damn hot in your wardrobe and the right shirt will update any mom jeans that are sat in your wardrobe.
IF YOU’RE SAD, ADD MORE LIPSTICK AND ATTACK.
Coco Chanel
Every woman has insecurities and every woman has the ability to stretch their wings and soar to the great heights that they wish to achieve. Step one in confidence building is on yourself. You are your own masterpiece, close your eyes, how do you imagine yourself? Take that image and start creating. I can’t promise that you’ll feel like a supermodel, but what I can say is when a woman has the confidence to love herself, she can put her mind to anything. Learn to look to others for inspiration and become your own masterpiece.
