“When I feel ‘styled’ I don’t feel like me”. A recent trip to the hairdressers left Erica feeling like her new hair cut doesn’t really feel like her. Even questioning does that even matter?

It may seem frivalous at first, but thinking about why and talking it through…well…turns out it’s faaar from frivalous. Join us as we talk it through on the podcast.

Feeling Like ME.

“I’ve never really found my style, so it typically doesn’t look like what I see. But in my early 40’s I desperately want to look in the mirror and feel like me. But finding that (thing) in the mirror is proving to be very challenging.” Erica, talking openly about her style mojo right now, in midlife.

I’ve personally had similar conversations with many women in midlife as a swimsuit stylist (at Sequins and Sand) for some 15 years. The way Erica feels, the questions coming up for her about her personal style are far from unique. Maybe you’ve had them with yourself, with your friends, your family.

Personal Style, is about expressing who you are - how you dress, your hair cut…how you present yourself to others in a way that says ‘this is me’.

So it makes perfect sense that in a time of enormous personal change and transition, that our personal style and how we express that, is changing too.

Authenticity. Identity. Confidence.

Scratch the surface as we did in this conversation and it might well reveal how this influences your values and how they are expressed in the world. Erica discovered that her values of sustainability and honesty were dampened too.

The Change. The Conflicts.

Have you felt that change? Perhaps it’s pangs of self-doubt, a loss of confidence in how you express who you are in the way you dress and cut/style your hair?

It’s not just those internal changes and conflicts. The expectations, the boundaries and ‘dress code’s from our outside world play their part too.

“I feel messy on the inside and want that to be a expressed on the outside. Eclectic, messy, unconstrained.” When Erica was in corporate life, she felt it ‘stitched her in’, suffocating.

The pull between expressing ourselves and not wanting to stand out. Maybe that’s about wanting to belong.

Q: Does your personal style conflict with your culture, work place, home environment?

Q: Do you dress for you or for others? For what the situation ‘calls for’.

Ageism - yet another set of unspoken rules and cultural expectations. That expression ‘mutton dressed up as lamb’. F#ck off! Push that aside. Dress for you.

The gift of post-menopause years is certainly the liberation of not giving so many f#cks about what others think.

The self-discovery of midlife. It can be fun! Let’s make it fun and ask of ourselves, of each other, is how you’re presenting yourself, expressing yourself through your personal style, a reflection of who you are?

We also talked about getting Fiona Keary from Style Liberation on the podcast. She’s a friend who helps 1000’s of women in midlife bring their Style Personality out to play, to be seen.

Has how you express yourself, your personal style changed in midlife? Is it on shaky ground? Has is changed as you have changed in midlife and beyond?

Are you being seen, truly seen, for who you are?

Join us as we talk this through on the podcast.

Let us know how your personal style has changed in midlife. Has it changed with you? Let us know in a comment below.

To reigniting your personal style in midlife. To feeling like you. To being truly seen.

This is me!

Anita (+ Erica) xx

Thank you to everyone who tuned into our live video! Join us for our next live video in the app.