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Hey There!
I’ve been hanging out in some weird online spaces lately. Post-wedding, I have next to no interest in scrolling on Pinterest. All it does is flare up my anxiety and make me feel like I need to be following other people’s rules and guidelines for a picture-perfect house and life.
Right now I am choosing to focus on getting my life and house to where I want them to be. Not where everyone else is or thinks I should be.
I’ve been spending time working to improve my mindset and have been taking a break from a LOT of things. If I ever miss a post, please know that I love you, but I’m choosing to be with loved ones or to take care of myself rather than rushing and stressing to get something up.
The places at which I’ve been spending most of my online time are Instagram and listening to podcasts. However, both spaces look completely different. My podcasts are self-improvement and marketing-based. (There’s a lot of woo-woo positive mindset and love yourself happening there.) My Instagram world is heavily focused on vintage and pin-up fashion, which surprisingly also has a lot of positive mindset aspects to it as well.
I think there is some criticism from those outside the vintage fashion community. It is thought to be dominated by women who are unhappy with how they look or their bodies, so they paint and contort themselves with extreme makeup and corsets. Or that it’s purely for the pleasure of men and is all sex and sex appeal.
I don’t really believe any of those things.
For me, I see just as much body positivity and self-love from the pinup models and brands I follow that I do from people who subscribe to a more natural beauty style like Jenna Kutcher who is an aeriereal model. It just looks different.
Loving yourself and how you look and how you feel isn’t solely limited to natural makeup and embracing your stretch marks (and trust me, with hips like mine, I know a thing or two about stretch marks). It’s about embracing whatever makes you feel fabulous.
When I look at professional pinup models or even just other women posting their daily outfits or hair sets, I don’t think it’s oppressive or they’re twisting their real selves into a form only for the pleasure of a man. All I think is how beautiful and happy they look. They feel empowered and sexy. I know nothing makes me feel more confident than an amazing outfit and my red lipstick. I don’t feel fake or untrue to myself. I feel like I’m doing exactly what I want. I’m focusing on well-cut pieces of clothing that accentuate my form and femininity and that is AMAZING.
I love that two cultures I participate in – that seem like they should be so different – both focus and promote the same thing: that it doesn’t matter if you prefer natural beauty or high glamor, just as long as you love you. Do whatever it is that makes you happiest.