Stylenspire: dear beauty

Today's style combination was quite spontaneous & I love the result. 
Wearing print on print is quite the rage right now & leopard prints are the foreword to that trend. The top & the skirt are each chiffon & the softness of the fabrics adds lush to the way I feel dressed up like this. My outfit leads me to share some thoughts with you as I see beautiful in these pictures I am about to share. 
Yet what I deem beautiful could very well be the opposite for you. 

This week, I met a few people that I regularly speak to on the phone for work & was quite pleased. Later in the day walking down the hallway, I had an 'omg' moment. One of the ladies I met earlier in the day does not 'look like her voice sounds on the phone'. I wondered about this & humorously mentioned it to one of my colleagues. 

My exact words were "...she sounds like a blonde bombshell but does not look like a blonde bombshell." We laughed at my remark but those words have not left my mind for the last few days. In retrospect, please be aware that I was not trying to be mean when I said what I said.








I do not know why I had a pre-designed idea of how I thought she would look. Maybe because I have always admired & enjoyed listening to her voice (even with the most mundane conversations), & my mind captured some ethereal being to go with the voice. 

There was nothing about her look that was not as beautiful as the God gifted voice she possessed. My mind & misconception had tried to put her in a box that her Creator did not see fit to put her in. How often in our everyday lives does this happen? We each have misconceived preconceived ideas of what ought to be beautiful. When beauty herself refuses to be put in a box that will in any way diminish who she is.

Often we blame mainstream social/fashion/beauty media for this short coming we all possess, when WE choose to narrowly define what beauty is to us. You may never be my/others' conceived idea of beautiful, but the truth is THERE WILL NEVER BE A MORE BEAUTIFUL YOU. Who you are, how you look, is who God created, carved out from the very image of Who He is with His very purpose to fulfill.

You know, the short comings that make us think someone else should look/be a certain way, the blemishes that we each cringe from in our own selves, wishing we can be different, is there with a purpose to fulfill. If not for you, then for someone else. The only perfection with the image of our beauty that will ever truly matter is found only on the inside. While the outward appearance that we admire, love, judge, condemn, is nothing but ephemeral. 

Outfit deets: BCBG MaxAzria print chiffon top + Laundry by Shelli Segal print pleated chiffon skirt (fab find here / similar here & here)+ Cole Haan H belt + Kate Spade feathered bow flats + Cara necklace + Printed Leather & Gems cuff + Juicy Couture watch are each this maxxinista's fab finds from TJ Maxx 

SHOP & STYLE PLEATED SKIRTS

Stylenspiration: "Love beautifully & allow yourself to be beautifully loved."

Y.S

Photo credit: joyfully by V. Dodge