How to Gain Fierce Confidence by Dressing Outside of Your Comfort Zone.
Fashion + Self-Love Party, Day 5.
Guest post by Charlene McElhinney.
Hello lovelies, my name is Charlene McElhinney, some of you may know me as
@blogabtnothing1 from twitter. It’s an honour to be participating in Alissa’s Valentines Blog
Party and I’m looking forward to chatting with you all about fashion and self-
acceptance/love.
love the odd photoshoot for my blog and I know how much of an impact dressing out of your
comfort zone can have on your confidence.
One of my most popular posts (on my own blog)
to date is: ‘Upping a size; upping my confidence’ which I wrote when I was learning to
accept that I’d went up a ‘dress’ size and when I was embracing trying out a new style.
I basically live in black leggings; it’s very seldom you’ll see me in anything else. However,
in this post I’m talking about, I rocked some tight fishnet styled jeans with some extremely
high heels and an awesome studded bikers jacket. It was totally out of my comfort zone, but
let me tell you, I felt like a total bad-ass.
somewhere within me and it was evident in the finalized photos. And it all came down to
what I was wearing. It helped me to get right in to the zone, it helped me to feel fierce, it
allowed me to express myself in a way I’d never done before. It was wonderful.
Here’s a little tip I’ve picked up, since starting to blog.
When you’re out and about in the shops and you see something that you would love to wear but you just couldn’t imagine
yourself out and about wearing it – pick it up anyway.
Please. Don’t go home thinking about it and regretting not picking it up. If you like it – buy it. Take it home with you.
Yeah, you might not have the courage to wear it (yet) but here’s my tip:
You can wear it for a photoshoot until you’re ready to wear it out ‘properly’.
I find this really helpful. You can set a theme, choose an environment, style it however you want and just think of it as a
‘photoshoot’. When the photos are done, and you see the outcome, you will fall in love with
yourself in the clothes and you’ll suddenly have the confidence to wear them casually. If not,
you’ll at least be able to admire how bloody fierce you look in the photos and you can share
them on social media and let others see how fantastic you look. It’s definitely more
rewarding than not picking it up and letting someone else have it and immediately regretting
it and letting it play on your mind, right? Plus when the floods of compliments come in and
when people start asking where your outfit is from – it is such a confidence boost. It really
helps to push you out of your comfort zone more. It’ll make you want to wear that outfit
again. Believe me.
saying that, I have a vivid idea in my mind of how I’d love to dress on a daily basis, I just
don’t have the courage or confidence to actually see it through. Yet. I’m working on my own
tips, trying different styles for photoshoots, sharing them on social media, experimenting a
little without completely stepping out of my comfort zone and hopefully one day I’ll be able
to express myself freely when I choose my outfit in the morning. One day. And so will you.
Charlene writes the blog Charlene McElhinney.
You can follow her on Twitter (She runs the Twitter Chat #BeeChat, too!), Facebook, and Instagram.
Also, she published a book! Check out Melancholy Mind, a mental health poety book.
Have you ever pushed your fashion comfort zones?
How did you feel?
What do you think of Charlene’s advice?
Tell us in the comments!
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