“Fashion versus Style” by Amanda Neal

​Fashion is what you are shown four times a year by designers and Style Style is how you FEEL. Style is how you move. Style is how you show up and show yourself to the world.  Fashion is for consumption.  But, style? Style is for creation.  With style, you can create a moment, a mood, and memory.

​My first understanding of fashion, comes from my living room at maybe 10 or 12 years-old. The HLN channel (now CNN) used to have a Saturday segment, featuring all the fashion shows from around the world.  It was the best 10 minutes of my Saturday! I would watch those runways come to life with sauntering grace and ranging colors.  Everything was perfection to me. The accessories, the makeup, the color combinations, it was all a flow.  And I consumed every drop.  Every color, every neckline, every hem; I consumed every story presented to me.  The voice each designer wanted to be heard. I consumed it all.

​Using fashion to express how you feel, is style. I watched my mother for hours, shopping through how she felt And how each piece she picked up, made her feel emotionally.  Happiness is a cowl neck blouse with a midi skirt and only a statement earring as not to draw away from the neckline. Sexy, is a sheer camisole, under a blazer that no one knows is there, but you.  Style, can also be used to give you confidence.  It can change your mood with various pallets of color; marrying families that will never be close in the Crayola box. Ever changing, ever growing just like us as people, style grows and changes without notice.  At the end of the day, fashion is what’s given, but style will always be what you choose. -Amanda Neal

Amanda Neal.