After the ridiculousness that was 2020, we’re all emerging on the other side as changed women. We’ve all simply done what we needed to do to get through it. (Is it possible to age a decade in 12 months?! Please send concealer recommendations.) We’ve binged + snacked + worried + googled and loungewear-ed our way into a new year. (And we made it, hooray!) But we’ve picked up some bad habits along the way. So while we begin to strive for a sense of normalcy again, the first place to start is to recapture our sense of self. Do you feel like you?

Getting dressed is a powerful act of self care. One we may have avoided over the past several months. But if we are content to stay adrift in our shapeless sea of grey cotton stretch pants, we’re forfeiting an opportunity to care for our mental and emotional health. According to Los Angeles’ psychotherapist Jennifer Musselman, putting on an outfit can spark a sense of purpose. In our brains, this act releases neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and endorphins. Which are chemicals that naturally boost our mental state. And who couldn’t use a boost right now?

I have learned this because I have lived this. I have come face-to-face with depression several times in my life. From insecurities when I was young, to deep sadness after autoimmune diagnoses, and more recently from postpartum depression. I have found there is a fine line between self care and self sabotage. Sometimes it helps us to disengage and rest and veg out in sweat pants. But if we do that for too long, if we live in this place, we’re actually only hurting ourselves. I have found the healing power of getting dressed. The encouraging act we can exercise daily to show ourselves respect. Putting on clothes that we feel good in helps us to feel better! It's a form of empowerment that I believe every woman everywhere deserves to experience. (Am I saying that getting dressed will cure depression? No, of course not. Am I saying that getting dressed is a tool you can use to help encourage yourself? Yes, one thousand percent.)

So if we know that dressing with intention can improve our mood, why don’t we do it more often? I think for a lot of women it boils down to what I have deemed a massive misconception in our culture. We don’t get dressed because we have no where special to go. When our schedules are full of mundane tasks like working from home (again), sitting in car line, and hurried trips to the grocery store, it’s easy to ask ourselves, “Why would I put on a cute shirt to go to the freezer aisle?”

But that’s where we’re thinking all wrong. We don’t need a litany of grand events to get dressed for. We can be dressing to empower and uplift our own selves in the midst of our regular, ordinary lives. So wear that cute shirt to the freezer aisle. It’s not about where you will find yourself today, but for how you will feel as yourself today. Get dressed for you, not for where your schedule (or another person) deems worthy. Because the truth is, when you put intention into what you wear, the act itself can inwardly take you somewhere better than your calendar could have predicted anyway.

Getting dressed matters because you matter! We’re committed to bringing you a new kind of fashion blog. One that uses style to encourage your sense of self! We would love to take you on a journey to explore the connection between what you wear and how you feel. We’re your style motivators here to help you not only look your best but think + feel your best too.