Emily | Bread and Roses Vintage

Hi, I’m Emily, and I blog at Bread and Roses Vintage.

I was not a girly girl growing up — or so I insisted. I shunned pink, delighted in doing “tomboyish” things, and made fun of the “prissy” girls who cried if they got a grass stain on their new white jeans.

But when I wasn’t climbing trees or rescuing worms from the playground, I was filling sketchbooks with fanciful drawings of beautiful girls and women, wearing beautiful dresses of my own imagining.

The contradictions persisted as I grew older. I was raised to believe that people should be judged not based on their looks, but on their actions and abilities, and I struggled to square those beliefs with my increasing interest in aesthetics. I began to think of my love of fashion as a guilty pleasure, something to be indulged furtively. I paired combat boots with lacy dresses so I would be “edgy” instead of girly. Photos of me from high school and college show a young woman hiding in her clothes, wearing them like a shield.

  

But as I matured, I slowly realized that my interest in fashion was nothing to feel guilty about. I realized that I got the same creative thrill from putting together a great outfit that I got from penning a knockout line of prose, or creating a beautiful painting.

And I began to experiment — not only with my wardrobe and my style, but with my own femininity. I grew my hair longer and tentatively began wearing pink, just to see how it felt.

And you know what? It felt great.

 

Now, I am happy to say that I feel just as at home in jeans, sneakers and “tomboyish” clothes as I do in pink, frills and sparkles. I am still enjoying the journey of experimenting with style.

I love trying new things, or putting my own spin on a style I wouldn’t otherwise wear. I am excited, both to style the clothes of my fellow bloggers here at Shaped by Style, and to see what others bring to some of my own garments. So stay tuned — we’re going to have a lot of fun together!