Dopamine Dressing
Dopamine Dressing
My lovely friend Leopardyemcreative who makes gorgeous handmade jewellery wrote about this in a recent blog and I love the idea! I spoke to her about it and said I loved the thought of dressing to make you feel happy and good about yourself. That bold necklace or ring that makes you smile when you look at it. Or the bright scarf that lifts your dress. The little badge on your jacket that has a motto that makes you laugh. They all help to improve your mood. This quote from pinterest backs all this up!
As a teen, I was always wearing jewellery and accessorising. I wore what I wanted, volunteering in a charity shop so thrifting right back in the 90s. I had my own style and ran with it. I had the most flamboyant bags, shoes and scarves and jewellery to match. I loved to wear odd earings and loved my one Bertie Basset fimo earing with something else in the other ear. Nowadays, mis matching earings are because I was half asleep when I got dressed. Odd socks are because I can't bear to throw one away when the other gets a hole in it. And I do co-ordinate my oddness into odd spotty, odd stripy and so on! I love this quote. This is my rule anyway!
I definitely feel I have lost my way a bit with how I dress and accessorise. I suppose I have dressed more for comfort and working in schools. I have had mornings where I throw anything on and forget to put my jewellery on, then felt bare all day, as if something was missing. I used to dress to show the real me and somewhere along the way I have kind of lost this. But now, on meeting my lovely friend Leopardyemcreative, she is reminding me to be more thoughtful about how I personalise my dressing.
I had loved over accessorising in the 80s when I was mad on Madonna. I loved her look for her first album with prints, layers, lace and beads over beads. She epitomised accessorising. She even sang 'Dress you up'. I watched this Madonna concert when I taped it and played it all the time, dancing around and wanting to be this new, fresh, amazing artist. I loved everything she wore. And her hair. Everything.
Madonna was inspired by the sirens of the 40s and 50s, just listen to Vogue. She was the Material girl, giving her version of Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe oozed style but also genuineness and an innocence. She looked like she had made little effort to look so good.
I can't mention the 50s without mentionning Audrey Hepburn. Another lady who danced to her own beat and was so effortlessly stylish.
Audrey Hepburn and her little black dress. Just add the accessories. I love wearing black, my staple colour. And blue to match my eyes! My sis in law is very stylish and always finds me lovely clothes when we are shopping. She swears by a black or a block colour dress. I am more a maxi dress than a little black dress!
This is so true of all clothes. It is the person underneath that really matters.
The thing with Madonna, the Material Girl, is that she was the Queen of Pop but also the Queen of reinvention. Every album had a different style and so did she, to reflect it. I loved every stage of these reinventions, especially when we got to see her softer side too.
The 80s were about originality and one of my fave films was 'Pretty in Pink'. I loved how Andie, played my Molly Ringwald, made her own prom dress and looked gorgeous. Love her standing with Duckie.
The 80s were also flamboyant. Right down to the puffed sleeves of Dynasty! Dressing can give you confidence, even an edge. I mean, Alexis and Crystal definitely showed they meant business here!
So into the 90s as a teen and a grunge student, I loved jewellery and hair accessories. My friends and I even had tartan laces in our dockers. A move on from our Brosette days with the Grolsch bottle tops! I love this montage of 90s grunge wear. It brings back a lot of great memories! I loved the popstrel Debbie Gibson and had a hat like that!
All my friends remember me dressing like Debbie Gibson and still remind me now! I love her here, rocking the double denim. Which me and my friends still do! I thought, the other day, that I love wearing my denim jacket. It is kind of like a coat of armour, protecting me!
There were so many fab women singing in the 80s and 90s, shaking their stuff and telling the world that 'we wanna have fun'! The bold, bright style of Cyndi Lauper has stayed with me too. My fave song of hers is 'She Bop'. A song as wonderfully quirky as her style!
The 90s were ace in that you could show your style, dress wise and music genres wise in different areas and no one judged you. You were free to be different people, yet still the same personon different nights and with different folk. I embraced the student night on a Wednesday, togged up in dockers and charity shop grunge clothes, dancing to Morrissey and Nirvana and drinking pints. Then Friday and Saturday, dressed for the night club with my chunky heels and lace dress for a night on the town, drinking alcopops and shots, singing along to The Rhythm of the Night and Show me Love. When I think of this 90s fashion, I thinl of the fab All Saints. I loved what they sang and what they wore.
My daughter and her friends have embraced the resurgance of the 90s, the music and the clothes. She has asked me why I didn't save my clothes for her! Buying some of these now, at expensive prices, I wished I had! I do love seeing them though, dressed similarly to how we did.
I love it when fashion styles of the different decades come back around. I feel the 80s were a bit of a nod to the feminine 50s with an added twist. The 2020s are definitely a big nod to the 90s!
Dressing and accessorising was a fab way of expressing your different selves. No one is ever one dimensional. We used our clothes and accessories to express a part of us and to bond with others. A way of dressing up to fit the situation. Add some jewellery and you felt like you dazzled. Even if the beads were £1 in the Debenhams sale! It really didn't matter. If they felt good on you, they didn't need to be designer. If they added a bit of pizazz to your outfit and made you smile, like Jessie J sang, 'it's not about the price tag'.
I love complimenting other women and was the same as a teenager with my friends and girls I sae on a night out. Wearing jewellery and accessories is a good way of gaining compliments that lift you up and make you feel good about yourself.
It is also a great way to start a conversation with someone. I was on supply a bit ago and feeling nervous in the staff room. I saw a lady wearing a pair of one of my fave upcycled earings from Brownfish and I commented. She was amazed I had recognised them and we started talking, finding a common ground.
I am like this with hair colour too, since I went pink and purple. When I see someone with blue, purple or pink hair, I just have to compliment them there and then! And tattoos! It is lovely seeing that person smile and appreciate the compliment.
I tend to compliment other women on night's out or in cafes, in the ladies. I was once ages in the toilets at Cannon Hall garden centre as I struck up a lovely conversation with a purple haired lady! When I am out, I get talking to everyone. My hubby and family are like,
Do you know them?
No, I just complimented their bag and we got talking!
I can't mention compliments without adding this quote from the amazing, witty Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Grantham.
As I got older and slowly went up in dress sizes, I was put off clothes shopping a bit and was more conscious which shops I could frequent. I still went into Topshop and would pretend look at their clothes but only really looking at the jewellery and accessories. I would buy a pair of earings, knowing they would fit me! This quote has always made me laugh!
Another good thing is shown in this next quote. So true! I mean, I am embracing ageing and my wrinkles, or laughter lines but it is a good point!
A very inspiring lady has a few things to say about wearing jewellery and accessories and I am sure both friends Leopardyemcreative and Hiddentreasuresjewells would agree!
Another of her brilliant quotes is on questionning how much jewellery one should own, she has a fab answer! I have got back wearing bracelets since ordering from Leopardyemcreative so yes!
I love everything handmade, especially my jewellery. My two friends make lovely jewellery from new and old materials. I love it when pieces have been upcycled. Every piece is unique and made with love.
I love supporting handmade jewellery small businesses. You feel you are wearing unique pieces that have been lovingly made.
Love the jewellery reminds me of the sixties (flower power)and the clothes, boots and accessories etc.
ReplyDeleteA fab era for fashion the 60s!
DeleteWow to those silver jewellery with stones. I don't remember which is my birth stone... I must search for this .
ReplyDeleteMiriam
Ooh yes. Find out which ond is your birth stone. So many lovely precious stones.
DeleteI found strange stones I have never heard of them :-))) Very strange names for me.
ReplyDeleteI was born in August.
Miriam
It says 3 stones but I know peridot, a green colour and for strength!
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