This look is the perfect example of what happens when you mix WASP and Latin flavors – that measured, self-conscious modesty of a well-tailored knit married with the unapologetic, let-it-all-hang-out lust for life that only a ruffled bodycon silhouette could bring.
@stigmendes Ronny Kobo knit ##ootd š„³ donāt at me about my boobs, I already know šš¼āāļø ##ronnykobo ##tiktokfashion ##millennialsoftiktok ##californiastyle
I’ve long been a champion of the fitted knit dress, as it embodies the “who me, sexy? Never” mentality that so many of us slip into in our thirties. It may be my Sunday night $5 wine talking, but what a beautiful way to be! That spirit of self-possession that sneaks upon us and works its little clandestine magic, pulling its little puppet strings until we find ourselves embracing two seemingly contradictory paradigms: 1. However I wake up, however I move through the day, however I lay down at night, I am (gorgeous/sexy/competent/wise/hilarious) E N O U G H; and 2. The opinions of others to the validity of #1 are, frankly, of little consequence.
That’s what this look embraces for me, the exuberant acceptance of how your body etches itself in space (even if, comme moi, it is Spanx-bedecked-below-deck, so to speak) combined with the balanced serenity of someone who has lived a little. Perhaps the right word there would be “maturity,” yet it would have to be hedged with “joyful” – yup, that’s it: a joyful maturity. It’s a little bit country club; a little bit lambada on the beach; part WASP, part Latin. Wise, and playful.
If it seems like I’m reading too much into a dress, maybe I am. Yet it’s worth saying that we’re all entitled to our creative indulgences: seeing yourself in a poem you read on the subway, hearing your story in a few measures of music, or – God forbiddddd – extrapolating comfort and meaning from a 1993 episode of Murder, She Wrote.
Yes, instead of reading my back issues of The New Yorker, I’ve been watching Jessica Fletcher solve murders involving Youths playing keytars in the Brazenly Graffiti’d Bad Streets of NYC (season 10, episode 16).
But after all, we are talking about balance, aren’t we?
Sending you love for the week ahead,
Stig.
