SEASON 1 F'25 STORY 6 - The New Style of Me
00:00:00 Welcome: Hi, I'm Melanie and this is UNfashioned. A podcast about unravelling what no longer fits and rewearing what was always real. I hope everyone is officially easing into the holiday spirit. But don't forget to make time for yourself between all the noise and expectations this season can bring. In our last story, we stood in a quiet closet, a closet filled with only our quality pieces. These qualities, we discovered, were stitched into us from the beginning. These pieces of us stayed because they were strong enough to last. And now we're in a new phase of the journey where you get to choose your new style, where you get to fill your closet with styles that feel true against your skin and fit every category of your life. All the sections of your closet are waiting to be filled with styles that actually feel like you.
00:01:07 Welcome: In today's story, we are trying things on and experimenting. We are playing and we are choosing what styles we want to fill our closets with. So let's start trying on the new you piece by piece.
00:01:29 Choosing Your New Style: When you think about the life you're building now, there's one question worth asking. What is your new style? Because every part of who you are is a section of your closet. Like yourself, your health, your family and relationships like work and your home and even your dreams. And the way you pull from these pieces becomes the outfit you live in each day. And let's face it, it's hard. It's hard to choose again when you've spent years wearing what was handed to you. It's hard to trust your own taste after you've outgrown who you used to be. And it's hard to look at an almost empty life closet and not feel overwhelmed, exposed, or unsure. And it's hard because identity and style go hand in hand. What you choose to wear in your life is a reflection of who you believe yourself to be. So when you are redefining your identity, of course choosing feels tender and confusing and even a little disorienting. Your style won't look the same every day. Some days you'll pull more from one category than another. Like, maybe you choose more rest that day than ambition, or maybe more softness than structure, or maybe you choose more connection than productivity. That's not really inconsistency. That's just being human. What matters is that whatever style you choose, you choose it with intention, and you choose it because it feels like you. Today, we're beginning the process of building that well-rounded, balanced wardrobe of your life, piece by piece. Listening to yourself throughout the entire process. It won't always be easy, but it'll be real and it'll be all yours. So let's start with that simple, brave question. What do you want to wear in your life now?
00:03:53 Starting With The Foundatiions: When you're rebuilding your style, you always start with the foundations. The pieces closest to your skin. The ones no one else sees but you feel all day long, like your undies or your socks and bras, or your soft worn-in t shirts. These are the basics that quietly hold your outfit together. In life, these foundations are like your inner world, like your self-worth, your sense of identity, your quiet truths, and your boundaries. And just like real foundation pieces, they're easily overlooked. They are easy to neglect and easy to forget about because they aren't showy and flashy items. They aren't the statement pieces that get a lot of attention from others, and they don't get a lot of compliments. But if your foundations don't fit, nothing else feels right. Rebuilding these basics can feel awkward. This is where most people want to skip ahead to the fun stuff like bold accessories. But everything begins here in the quietest, closest layers to your body and soul. Your foundation pieces don't need to be fancy. They don't need to be flashy or impress anyone. They just need to fit you and support who you are now. For me, the basics I'm choosing are quite simple. Listening to my instincts like I mean truly listening to my instincts, even when the answers are kind of unsure. And paying attention to how I feel and not how I think I should feel. Also, staying present in the now and being grateful for every moment. Another thing I'm choosing again and again is to flow through my life with love and light. I'm not choosing these because they're easy, but because it's the truest foundations I can build on. These are my personal basics. These are the pieces that steady me from the inside out.
00:06:19 Trying Things On: Once you've gathered your foundations, you step into the try-on room. This is the part that can feel both exciting and unsettling, because the try-on room is where the possibility meets the truth. You know how something can look unattractive and not promising at all. And then you slip it on and suddenly you're standing taller, and you recognize a little spark in yourself that you didn't expect. And the opposite is true, too. Some pieces you try on look perfect on the hanger. They're structured and safe and exactly what you think you should wear. But the moment you put it on, it's too tight or too ugly or too much like an old identity you've outgrown. That's the truth about the try-on room. You don't know how something fits until you actually feel it on your body and in your life. But this is the part of the process where I learned that sometimes the try-on room lies to you. Sometimes the mirror is distorted and the lighting is harsh. And the reflection you see at that moment isn't the whole story. It's just one moment, one angle or one version of you. Trying on new styles isn't about perfection. It isn't about knowing instantly, and it isn't about nailing your style on the first attempt. It's about curiosity and playing with your ideas. It's about giving yourself permission to feel something out before deciding. The try-on room, this messy little room is where you learn the difference between what looks good on the outside and what feels like truth from the inside.
00:08:21 Creating A Look That Feel Like You: Once you've tried on the foundations, the possibilities and the maybes, there's a moment when you start to put pieces together. Not permanently or perfectly. Just enough to see what kind of life you're shaping. This is where you learn to see what pieces complement each other, and most importantly, what brings out the best in you. Maybe a new limit pairs beautifully with the way you care for yourself. And maybe that spark of confidence that you haven't felt in a while suddenly works well with every outfit. Sometimes you'll try to match pieces that don't go together. Not because they're wrong, but because they no longer complete the same outfit. That's the beauty of your own personal wardrobe. You're not choosing pieces for your whole life. You're just styling for today. You're noticing what feels aligned and what throws off your whole energy. And you realize that a great look and a great life doesn't come from a single dramatic piece of clothing. It comes from balance and harmony. It comes from having just enough items to make you feel grounded, supported, and expressive. It's the difference between a closet full of random, cheap, impulse buys and a wardrobe that actually reflects who you are. Here, you're building combinations that allow you to show up as yourself on days when you are bored, or days that you are calm, on days that you're maybe more confident, or on days that you're uncertain. This is where the style of your life starts to take shape.
00:10:28 Listener Reflection: In The Dressing Room With Yourself: Close your eyes for a moment and imagine stepping into a small dressing room inside your own life.
00:10:36 Listener Reflection: In The Dressing Room With Yourself: No pressure. No audience. Just you. In front of you is a single rack holding pieces from every part of who you are. None of them are labeled. They're simply options. Pick one. The piece that your hand goes to first before your mind has time to interfere. Hold it. And now slip it on just enough to sense the shift. Do you breathe easier? Do you feel steadier? More open? Or does something inside of you pull back? Your style, your life-style can shift daily, hourly, season by season. It doesn't make you inconsistent. It makes you real. It means you're listening to yourself. So ask yourself in the privacy of this inner dressing room, does this belong to the person I'm becoming? Whatever your answer is, it's the right one for today.
00:11:51 Conclusion: As you move back into your day, I hope you give yourself permission to keep trying things on gently, honestly, and without forcing the fit. If this episode spoke to you, share this podcast with your friends. Someone you love might be standing in their own try-on room right now wondering what fits next. And thank you for being here with me, I appreciate you. Please join me next week when we turn our attention to trends, the ones we were told to follow, the ones we never quite fit into, and what happens when we finally stop listening to the trends and start listening to ourselves instead? Until then, take care of yourself and keep choosing what feels true.