There is No Place Like Home

I said before that the clothes you wear express your authentic self. Putting it another way, they help you shape how other people see you in the way you want. Do you want others to think that you are cute and girly or modern and edgy? Of course, your style also reflects the way you want to see yourself.

Fashion also shows those around you the role you play in the world. Avid cosplayers don costumes to transform themselves into anime characters like Cardcaptor Sakura, superheroes like Wonder Woman, or some other fictional characters they yearn to resemble.

We all do a less obvious version of that in our daily lives. A girl may dress herself head to toe in expensive designer brands to give off the impression that she’s rich, or a guy may wear a black spiked leather jacket, sunglasses, and a bandana headband to make other people think that he is a hardcore biker. Regardless of whether those roles are real, we use fashion to convince others of the stories we want to tell about ourselves. It’s all well and good, but we should remember not to lose ourselves in the stories we make up in our heads because we think they are better than our actual stories.

*Top, skirt, shoes, earrings: Ank Rouge; bag: Kate Spade; socks: tutuanna.*

I certainly like collecting pieces that remind me of an inspiring fictional character or story. For example, I got the Ank Rouge ruby slippers because they so evoke those worn by Dorothy Gale in the American classic, Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is definitely filled with that spirit of adventure, courage, and compassion I admire and aspire to so much in my life. The symbolism of these pretty shoes makes me feel closer to being the kind of girl Dorothy is when I put them on.

The story of Wizard of Oz, which these shoes conjure up every time I look at them, truly makes the slippers magical. They make me think of my favorite part of the movie, which is when the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion receive their gifts from the Wizard to fulfill their wishes (a diploma for brains, a heart-shaped clock for a heart, and a medal for courage) and they realize that they have what they wanted all along.

We often tell ourselves that we are not enough (not pretty enough, not smart enough, not rich enough, etc.), giving rise to many unnecessary insecurities and roadblocks on our way to success. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion show us that we already have what we need to be “enough,” all we have to do to look for it within ourselves. We don’t have to wish to be someone else or put on false pretenses to get what we want, no matter what it is.

That’s how I interpret the movie’s well-known quote: “There’s no place like home.” There’s no place like being happy with yourself, within your “home.” Believe that our real stories are just as good as, if not better than, the ones we hear or make up in our minds.

fashionJackieAugust 31, 2017fashion, style, inspiration, coordinateComment