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This outfit was inspired by my best friend Mallory who was inspired by Prada. My biggest fashion inspirations have always been and still are my friends. I have always had very, incredible, amazingly fashion forward girlies in my life. And I love them for this. What is a life without art and fun fashion? No idea.

Growing up I dressed for my friends. I was new to fashion and didn’t really know what was going on. But I loved my friends and by extension began to love fashion and clothes. It wasn’t until I met Mallory that I started to develop a love for fashion for myself. This is because of one question she would ask me when I was considering purchasing a new piece, “well how does it make you feel?”

As a kid, when I discovered a new piece and was deciding if I should keep it the question that always poked through my brain was, “does this fit me?” From years of reflection, this question was rooted in not so fabulous body culture in America. The piece had to fit my body in a certain way according to what magazines and American culture said was beautiful. For most of my coming-of-age, a new piece of clothing or the way it looked was not about whether or not I enjoyed it or it brought me joy. In University, I would ask Mallory how a new piece looked on me. I trusted her opinion on clothes and wanted to remove any decision-making in the process of purchasing a new item. However, very annoyingly, she would flip the question onto me and ask “well how does it make you feel?” It wasn’t until years of this annoying back and forth conversation when shopping together that I realized duh clothes are meant to bring me joy. It was one of those moments where it just clicked. In combination, I started consuming more brands designed by women for women. Some of my favorites are Charlie Beads and Rudy Jude. Both of these brands are designed with the intention of fun, joy and practicality for women in their daily lives. There’s the notorious anecdote where women’s jeans don’t have pockets because a man designed them and wanted women to look leaner. Well Rudy Jude jeans have massive pockets and Charlie Beads bloomers can be worn as pajamas or dressed up as a pair of shorts. The colors are fun and the designs are functional. This is how clothes should be. In hindsight, it feels silly that I ever thought differently about fashion.

Anyway, many of my outfits are inspired by Mallory. I love when she sends me pics of her fits and wish she did it more, but alas she only sends me them on occasion, so I cherish those moments. Similarly, whenever I see a new Miuccia Prada runway show I am also always blown away. She remains spot on with all of her designs and stylistic choices. They always include such interesting silhouettes and colors and similarly remain practical for women. I will likely do another article solely about Miuccia, so I’m going to leave it there. The outfit in this video, I think perfectly captures my excitement for exploring different outfits and stylistic choices while finally being comfortable dressing in a way that brings me joy and is a bit rebellious against how I learned a woman should dress.

Here is the original Prada outfit from the runway that inspired both of us.