When Torrid sent me my prize, they included a stripe and floral dress that I wrote about in the last post. When I first saw it, I thought “Hmmm, that looks too ‘young’ for me.” Nevertheless, I tried it on (of course) and was really impressed with the style and fell in love, even though it was outside of my typical style.

Sometimes I feel like I have to remind myself that I’m only 23, because I often nix many clothes for being “too young”. Maybe it’s because the majority of my classmates are a good 5 years or more older than me, or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve taught high school students and felt the need to differentiate myself from them, but I’m super sensitive about appearing “too young”. I decided to put my worries aside and enjoy wearing out the dress to go to dinner and a movie with my sister.

I kept it simple by adding a cardigan, suede slight wedges, and dark pink earrings. Although I love dresses, I rarely wear them out for a casual occasion, and it felt really good to step out of jeans and get a little dressed up for a night out. I really, really love the floral pattern of the skirt, and the striped top really grew on me and unexpectedly made me fall in love with the dress.

I’ve seen some other fab ladies work the stripes with florals, so I definitely had a little spring in my step since I felt like I was channeling some women who inspire me. When I was walking in the theater, feeling so great, I had an “ah-ha” moment. I had almost not allowed myself to wear this because I felt I was too old for it. Why did I set these limits on myself? Especially over something silly like the mixture of stripes with florals!

Dress: Torrid, Cardigan: Old Navy, Shoes: Target, Earrings: Mom’s closet–Avenue

I’m working towards more experimentation in my wardrobe, and also allowing myself to wear and look the way I want without too many influences of how I perceive others’ thoughts on the way I should look. Am I the only 23 year old out there that feels the pressure to “dress my age”?

What self-imposed age/fashion rules do you set on yourself? Why does it feel so inappropriate to you?