Just Being Cassie

I have opinions. A lot of them actually. And considering I design clothes for a living, spend an unreasonable amount of time looking at clothes, thinking about clothes, buying clothes, making clothes, saving clothes I absolutely do not need on Pinterest and mentally redesigning strangers outfits in public… I kind of feel like I have earned the right to share a few of these opinions of mine.

Yes, nobody asked, but this is my blog, so unfortunately, you are getting them anyway. 😂

1. ) Not every outfit needs to be trendy

I think TikTok may have convinced us that if you are not wearing whatever silhouette everybody discovered three weeks ago, you are somehow behind. I totally disagree. I have clothes that I have loved for years and will probably still love ten years from now. A beautiful fitted dress with a defined waist, a really good pair of trousers, a very feminine midi dress, and a clean white shirt. An outfit that actually fits your body properly.

I would also rather look like myself than look current. Trends are fun and i participate in them. I am not above a trend at all. But I do think style gets much more interesting when you stop treating every new aesthetic as an instruction.

2. ) Your waist absolutely deserves better

This one is obviously very biased. I so love a waist, be it cinched, sculpted, defined, snatched or whatever word you want to use. Give me structure at the waist with some kind of volume or movement everywhere else and I am immediately interested. Something about that proportion that just feels incredibly feminine to me.

Obviously, not everybody wants that silhouette and fashion would be incredibly boring if we all dressed the same way. But personally, if the dress completely ignores my waist, we already have a problem.

3. ) Clothes looking expensive has very little to do with the price

I have seen expensive outfits look cheap and affordable outfits look ridiculously polished. Fit, fabric and finishing all matter. Then how you style it and even how you carry yourself in it matters. Sometimes the difference between an outfit looking intentional and looking slightly off is literally an alteration that would have cost almost nothing.

This is probably the designer in me speaking, but once you begin noticing badly placed seams, puckering, poor hems, strange proportions and fabric behaving in ways it definitely should not… you can never unsee it.

Sorry!!!

4.) We need to stop being afraid of being overdressed

I have never understood the fear of looking “too dressed up.” Too dressed up for who? If I want to wear the dress, I am wearing the dress. If I want earrings and perfume and a proper shoe for something that technically could have been done in leggings, that is between me and God.

I genuinely enjoy getting dressed. Sometimes the process itself is half the fun of going somewhere. And yes, occasionally I arrive somewhere and realise everybody else interpreted the dress code very differently. That sounds like their problem. 😂

5.) A beautiful dress will solve more wardrobe problems than ten random tops

I used to think having more clothes automatically meant having more options, absolutely not i must tell you. Sometimes it just means having more things to stare at while saying, “I have nothing to wear.” I am becoming much more interested in having pieces that do the work for me.

A dress that fits beautifully and needs almost nothing to accessorise, good trousers, a great blazer, shoes I can actually wear repeatedly and fit my wide feet perfectly, pieces that already make sense even before I start piling things on top of them. My wardrobe simply does not need more confusion.

6.) Comfort and style are not enemies

I refuse to believe suffering is a compulsory part of looking good. The shoe cannot be trying to amputate my toes or cripple me, the dress cannot require me to stop breathing and the shapewear cannot have me seeing the gates of heaven. I refuse to believe that anymore. There has to be a middle ground.

I still love structure and fitted clothes, and i adore a good pair of heels. But I am at the age where if I know I will spend the entire evening secretly wishing I could take something off, I probably would not wear it.

Probably….. I said probably.

7. ) Matching sets will always have my respect

For the simple fact that they make you look like you tried harder than you did. That is excellent design.

No notes.

8. ) Personal style gets better when you stop trying to dress like another woman

There are women whose style I absolutely love, but there are also outfits I can appreciate without needing to wear them myself. That distinction took me a while to figure out.

Something can be gorgeous and still not be me. And I think the more I design, the more obvious my own preferences become.

I like femininity, structure, I love softness with something slightly dramatic happening and clothes that acknowledge the body without necessarily revealing all of it. I like an outfit to feel considered.

Once you know what you love, shopping becomes much easier because you are no longer asking, “Is this fashionable?” You are now asking, “Would I actually wear this?”

Very different question.

9.) Accessories can save an extremely average outfit

A good bag, and how i love my large sized bags, a proper shoe, jewellery, sunglasses, even the right hairstyle, and suddenly the outfit has a plan. This is especially important on days when the actual clothes are doing absolutely nothing.

Sometimes the accessories just have to carry the team.

10.) You do not need an occasion to wear your nice things

This is the one i am actively trying to practise more. Wearing the expensive perfume, carrying the bag, using the shoes, putting on the jewellery and wearing the dress to lunch.

There will always be another beautiful thing to buy later. I do not want to look back at a wardrobe full of things I was “saving.” I mean saving for what exactly?

Life is literally happening right now. And if something eventually gets worn out because I loved it and wore it too much, I think that is a much nicer ending than it spending five years untouched because I was waiting for the perfect moment.

Anyway, those are my completely unsolicited fashion opinions for today. I reserve the right to contradict myself in six months. Actually, considering fashion, I almost certainly will.

Love,

Cassie 🌸✨