It's a Process

I don't wake up this way. It's a process! 

As I sit here in my lounge pants, and a tank top, not looking anything like I do in the photos that I share online, trying to think about what I wanted to write about, it came to me. As compliments come in from my readers of my FB page, on Instagram and within a couple of the pinup girl groups that I posted photos to, all I could think was " well I don't wake up that way! Heck most days I don't look that way all day! " ; I have a lot of days like today, so that would be my blog this week, that it is a process. It is not about make up and what it takes to transform my face. It is not about the clothing and how it makes me fit into the idea of what a pin up girl looks like or even a mind set and lifestyle, it is all of it. 

I have shared in a guest blog over on Miss Amy May's blog about how becoming a pin up has been very empowering (you can read about it HERE.), stepping back into the pinup way of dressing and adding the retro touch to my life.  Then last week I shared not only how I am embracing my pin up/retro self, and how I was finding there was a lot of women out there that are in my age group that are doing the same, and the way it makes them feel and even a quote from a much younger pin up girl who told us how seeing us more mature ladies going for it, inspires her. I read a comment from a lady today who said she was glad to see me in a group, that there was other ladies her age, that she had been often feeling as if she was Betty Davis in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" , like she did not belong among all the younger ladies. It was a feeling I still often have, and especially on days like today when I am dressed as described above. It truly is a process of the mind, and spirit , and heart as well. Just because we own the clothing, can do our hair and apply our make up does not mean we have fully accepted ourselves as pin ups. Even the most seemingly secure and confident of ladies, the ones with the beautiful photos that I and others admire, it turns out often have the same feelings....even after doing it for awhile and having a ton of fans.

When I first started applying pin up make up I too felt like
Betty Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 

My process to returning to the retro, or pin up as it is mostly called now, that I described in last weeks blog, was a really rather quick process. Last Summer I had a pixie hair cut, was wearing a sporty chic look, then I bought my first midi skirt after seeing one I just had to have in a style blog, and soon, very soon my pintrest style page started to fill up with more and more nods to the 1950's from rockabilly looks to full on pin up....my closet was doing the same. Nearly all the clothing, jewelry even shoes and make up I wore last year is gone. I started watching You Tube videos by Cherry Doll Face  on how to do my make up to achieve the pin up look. I am pretty decent with make up, but wanted to fine tune my skills, learn a few tricks... I still have a ways to go. But every so often I have a really good day where my winged liner is even and my brows are not too dark and my lips are not those of a clown LOL

  

  

I have been following blogs of fan favorites such as Miss Victory Violet to see how an accomplished, as well as published pin up girl dresses, not only in full dress up mode but in casual wear and she has a lot of tutorials as well, and even bloggers such as Miss Semi Sweet  have inspired me not only in the way she dresses, her make up, but also how she tries out retro recipes and shares the results with her fans ( inspiring me to do the same in future blogs) , I love how she not only dresses the part but lives it. Having seen the sharing of photos "throw backs" on social media, I see too that they all went through a process on their way to being the pin up girls that many of us who are interested in the culture admire. 

Image via google..photo credits belong to Miss Semi Sweet
link to her site above

photo via google and photo credits belong to Cherry Doll Face
link to her videos above

Photo via google and credits belong
to Miss Victory Violet
link to her page is above

 The best part of going through this process is that dressing pin up, donning the make up and toiling over our hair, is not the empowerment that it can bring, though that is a good feeling. It's not the compliments, although they are nice to hear and read.  It is that it creates a sisterhood, a support group that is incredibly strong and loving. We cheer each other on, we shower love on each other, provide an ear, a shoulder and friendship. Age is just a number, not a determining factor of what is accepted and admired, soon commonalities surface that push ones age, life status as well as location to the side. What I am now seeing is that it is about more than the outward appearance and life style. Sure chats about make up, hair and clothing happen, tips shared, but it goes deeper, pushes past just a desire to dress in a certain style, or decorate a certain way or going to car shows and enjoying things from the past. Its real life, secrets, fears, joys and triumphs that are shared as well.  I find it comforting that there are other ladies out there that are my age or close to, even older, that are going through the process and that the younger ladies out there that seem to get it just right on a regular basis have gone, are still going through or are not totally confident in their own process. Knowing that the ladies that I admire, also had to start somewhere. They too went through a process on their way to being the ladies that they are now; they have pj days and days that they do not do their hair and make up ( they have often shared photos to prove that) , have faced their own struggles with body image, or health issues etc etc.... it still is a daily process for them as well at times, it's motivating to me to keep moving forward in my own journey.... a journey, a process that I plan to continue on with, hopefully for a long time to come. 

the fashion journey...