I would like to start off by saying a very warm welcome to all of you. All of you who took the time to come out here and read my very first blog post! I truly appreciate you and I hope that you enjoy all the content that I put out for you! But, firstly, girl… my name is Gwendalyn Huang, or just Gwen to my family and friends. I am 23 years old and I am a primary school teacher (who loves beauty and style and travel and food!) and I have finally decided to jump into blogging with my fluffy heels on! I felt like this outfit would be perfect for this post as my readers will now basically have a front row seat to my life while I explore all things lifestyle on my new venture!
I literally feel like the heaviest weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I write this, knowing that all those hours of research and hard work that I put in is finally paying off. OMG if anyone ever said blogging was easy, they were lying! I mean, I have wanted to have a blog for as long as I could remember. I thought it would be a fun and interesting way in which I could release the valve on my creativity. However, I am a quietly anxious person and struggled with dealing with stress in the past, which ended up being a big reason why I put off starting a blog for such a long time. There are so many different aspects that go into building a blog and then putting together the content that is required to actually start blogging! I have been mulling over the idea for ages and each time I thought I was ready I hit a different speed bump that slowed down the whole idea and it just never happened. Eventually so many of my friends and family members were pestering me as to why on earth I still didn’t have a blog yet – I mean, guys, you ever read that meme, “When your family members ask why you are always dressed up and you have to explain to them that you are the Kim K of the family”? Yeah, well that was me and that was the reason they faithfully believed that I start one.
Although, my journey to stylishness wasn’t always sunshine and stilettos – it took me a while to grow into my style-sense LOL. I went through so many phases (good and horrible) growing up and it took me years of constantly testing new things and an evolution of me and my personality for me to get to a place where I was finally happy with my sense of style. But don’t be fooled. One of the many horrible phases I went through was when I reached a certain milestone in my transition from girl to teenager. I had gain a bit of weight and was so uncomfortable with my new body that I tented myself in ginormous jeans two sizes too big and shirts that were always long enough to cover anything that was remotely not skinny. It took me a while to adjust and I eventually did. To be honest I missed wearing the cute little clothing items that I saw floating around, and also lets just be realistic… This is South Africa: how long could I possibly stay wearing those damn jeans in the dead of summer? So I dredged myself over my discomfort and realized that I wasn’t actually fat, just no longer skinny. I then realized that wearing huge clothing never did me any favours and just made me look bigger, so I eased myself into wearing shorts and skirts, and jeans and shirts that were actually the correct size. Thank the heavens.
Years later I have grown to love my body and I became more confident in myself and my way of dressing. Funnily enough though, I thought that I had it all figured it out until I hit another speed bump that I eventually worked my way over. Now when I think back, I am in a totally different place! These days I would like to describe my sense of style as a constant changing mix between casual chic and street urban. There are days when I want to wear a sexy fitted knitted skirt with a cropped bustier top and heels, to wearing ripped high-waisted denim jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers. And it is fine…
One thing I feel that I need to bring up is how people need to realize that style does not define who you are, it only showcases what you love in that moment and it is forever changing. It is normal to feel like you’re in a rut and that you no longer like what you used to like. It is okay to start to like new things and to begin to dress differently. We need to be okay with the fact that fashion and style will never be stagnant – and neither will our personal taste. It comes and goes as the tide of an ocean and we are just floating in it, hoping that we chose the perfect shells to match our heels (or sneakers…). But don’t let it be discouraging, floating is fun and I think that you should never settle for an ‘okay’ outfit. Let it be a way of expressing yourself. You are allowed to be creative and risky and wild because at the end of the day it is your damn body, and also if you end up running into someone who has a problem with your existence you have to stay looking fire, you know?
G
xx
Modeled and styled by myself.
Shot by my wonderful cousin, Andrea Mallanna.
Outfit Details
Gwen Huang 