I've always had a bit of a personal vendetta with gingham, I think this goes back to when I was at school and my mum would go out for the yearly school summer dress shop and come back with a puffy beast of a dress, yes mum, I will never forget, but you are forgiven.
After a long hate fuelled relationship with gingham, we've come to a resolve. It's taken a lot of searching to find a piece that didn't make me want to curl in to a ball, often when I was trying on gingham print I'd be in fitting room wondering when in the past 2 hours I managed to put on 10 pounds "Jesus, I really shouldn't have had that 5th tapas dish..". Of course this wasn't actually the case, there was just some styles that REALLY did not suit me. I'm keen to hear whether anyone else has had the same issue with gingham as it really did take a lot of trial and error to find a piece that was genuinely flattering!
After a long hate fuelled relationship with gingham, we've come to a resolve. It's taken a lot of searching to find a piece that didn't make me want to curl in to a ball, often when I was trying on gingham print I'd be in fitting room wondering when in the past 2 hours I managed to put on 10 pounds "Jesus, I really shouldn't have had that 5th tapas dish..". Of course this wasn't actually the case, there was just some styles that REALLY did not suit me. I'm keen to hear whether anyone else has had the same issue with gingham as it really did take a lot of trial and error to find a piece that was genuinely flattering!
This dress ticked every single box for me, the bow on the back is so sweet and the button down front was definitely pulling at my heart strings. Of course there was no other bag to pair it with than a classic straw design, this particular one was from a charity shop near me (never underestimate the bargains you can find at your local charity shops ! ) but they've absolutely flooded the high street stores so I'm sure you can find one to take your fancy, I've linked some of my favourites below.
I was so torn between pairing this with white trainers or mules, it's such a versatile piece, layering with a tee is also such a cute option & if you're wanting to go a little more edgy with it, rock a leather jacket over the top with some statement earrings. I could ramble on about styling options for this dress for days, it's so re-wearable, definitely a new "keeper" in my wardrobe.
It's safe to say I'm over my gingham grudge and if any of you have the same fears I had then hopefully this has given you a little inspo to dive in head first, you can shop the look below and I've thrown in some pieces that could look insane to style it with.
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It seems that you'll see a lot of posts from bloggers stating that they're writing at the most peculiar times and in the strangest of circumstances because they have an idea that's taken over their thought space, this will be one of those posts. I think I'm writing this almost as one of those reminder sticky notes to myself as much as I'm writing this to everyone else as I've been sat here on the last day on easter bank holiday wondering where the hell I went wrong...
It's safe to say that if you invest time in to your social media, more specifically, Instagram, then you'll be more than aware of the algorithm shift that has been causing us all merry hell. This is a worn out subject at this point in time but I feel there is a lot of people being dragged down by this still now and it's causing many influencers to lose passion for what they're doing, including myself. I've adored photography since I was 14 or 15 years old and I've studied it from that point, in one way or another it's been a huge passion in my life since. When I started to get in to Instagram, and I mean really get in to it, themes and all; I found that I felt at home. I was surrounded by people that had a genuine passion for the same thing I did, it was a sphere of people creating incredible, unique content and of course, when you love doing something, there is nothing more heart warming than having someone tell you that they also love what you're doing.
It validates, it encourages and gives you the confidence to pursue it.
So then, when less people acknowledge your work, do you feel that you're not doing a great job?
It's the same in any work place, it's always nice to be told that you're doing well. Of course it's never expected to be cheered on if you clear your email inbox but every so often to have that reassurance that you're doing well, can be a huge weight off your shoulders. If you're pouring your heart in to your work every day and having something completely out of control devalue it, how on earth can you combat that.
AKA - The Algorithm.
It's not the same situation where you can turn around to your boss in the quiet corner of the office with a warm cup of coffee in hand and tell them that you don't feel valued in the company. There is no one you can go to in order to vent your frustrations who will actually make a difference, no one to tell that your work is being dragged along the bottom of the feeds with minimal engagement, no one will listen. When no one listens, you start to wonder what on earth you can possibly do that is within your control to better the situation. Unfortunately the reality is that there is not much you can do, you can change up the hashtags, the posting times and pray that you hit the gold mine but it's like playing battleships, you're taking a leap in to blind sight every time. So you sit and you wonder, you get yourself worked up and question what on earth you're doing wrong and how you can change your content to gather more engagement...
...YOU are doing nothing wrong.
This is the point I want to preach and this is what I want people to take to heart. I have felt so incredibly demotivated of late because of the pressure of numbers & the engagement dips. But I cannot stress that this is explicitly out of our control, sure we can all try to understand the algorithm, we can all try to work around it the best we can, but they alter and tweak the formula so often that what we clarify one day could be irrelevant the next. One thing I learnt from dealing with anxiety for years is that you have to let go of the things causing you worry that are out of your control, you do the best you can do and let go of the things you can't change.
I can't change the algorithm, neither can you. We can all beg and plead for the chronological order to come back but there is more chance of the GBBO & TopGear coming back to the BBC than that happening. So here is my words of (late night rant) wisdom..
If you create amazing content, you WILL get noticed.
If you love what you do, success WILL follow.
Invest your heart and you will in return be loved for what you do.
Stop letting social media dictate whether your content is good enough to broadcast, if you love it, you bloody well post it and be proud.
PHOTOS BY MICHAELA TORNARITIS // PORTFOLIO // INSTAGRAM
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TOP - H&M (S/O)
TROUSERS - NEXT
SHOES - H&M (S/O)
BAG - KAREN MILLEN
don't forget, you can find me here on < twitter > < instagram > < bloglovin >
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