October 13, 2016

It’s Good To Be A Girl

Outfits, Dressed Up, Personal, Spring, Style + Beauty, Summer

Dress: c/o Sail to Sable | Shoes: Vince Camuto | Clutch: c/o Vera Bradley | Earrings: similar | Lipstick: c/o Mac

Remember this dress from my post a few weeks ago?! Well, it’s back for a few reasons. (1) I wanted to show you how to dress it up for a night out and (2) I wanted to tell you about an awesome campaign that Vera Bradley is running. Oh, and (3) I know that this weekend might be the last time Chicago gets a stretch of temps above 70 degrees, so… (sigh)

Back when I posted this dress last time, I told you about a fun event I hosted at the Vera Bradley in Water Tower Place. Yes, we were we celebrating their new fall collection, but we were also celebrating their campaign, #ItsGoodToBeAGirl. You all know I’m a big girly girl, but female empowerment seems more important than ever, and I’m thrilled to see a company creating a campaign around something so POSITIVE.

I love being a girl.

I know you might be thinking that my reasons are already listed in that song “I Enjoy Being A Girl“- but that certainly doesn’t cover what it means to be a woman anymore. Yes, I love lipstick and dresses and pretty shoes. You follow this blog, so you CLEARLY already know that 😉 Loving those stereotypical things is not something I’m ashamed of, either. Why would I be? I find all of that fun and inspiring, and one of my favorite ways to express myself. We have so many opportunities to show the world our individuality through what we wear. That being said, there is much more to us ladies than just our clothes: We are compassionate and kind. We are determined and resourceful. We can literally MAKE life. And most of all, we can be both soft AND strong, beautiful AND smart, flawed AND flawless.

(Side Note: remember the quote that was read in the middle of ***Flawless? Whenever people talk about feminism, I always lead them to that full Ted Talk. So good.)

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of demeaning talk about women right now. We’ve all heard the sound bites. We’ve all heard THE tape. I’m not even trying to get political with you – no really, I promise! Honestly, regardless of who is President, women have to deal with harassment ALL. THE. TIME. Women get abused, assaulted and taken advantage of ALL. THE. TIME. Seriously, if you’re a woman and you’ve never been harassed, correct me – but most gals I know have at least one story that gives them an icky feeling whenever they remember it. Men (or women!) who brush it off as women just exaggerating or being emotional clearly have never experienced it… and it makes me hope they treat people with respect instead of contributing to the problem.

Now, I didn’t bring that up to be a downer. Like I said, I love being a girl – but I think this context is important to remember. Most of the men in my life are feminists whether they would call themselves that or not – simply because they believe women are equal, they treat them with respect and kindness, and they root for our successes. I’m very lucky, but even so, I too have experiences that have made me feel unsafe, creeped me out, violated my personal space or made me feel less than, simply because I am a woman.

But… will any of this stop me from enjoying being a girl? Absolutely not! Women have come such a long way and I’m not going to let them down now! No, this platform isn’t going to change all that much, but I will do my best to be positive and to help girls feel good about themselves and understand their worth.

Know that any man who says something inappropriate to you is the idiot, not you.
Wear whatever you want loud and proud.
Educate yourself.
Listen to different perspectives.
Pursue that dream with all you’ve got.
Rock that presentation at work.
Prove them wrong.
Never stop improving.
Support other women, don’t put them down.
Feel just as beautiful as you are.
And of course, kill em with kindness 😉
#itsgoodtobeagirl