New York Fashion Week, an event that brings fashionistas a guide of what will be “in” this fashion season is currently taking place. To me, this even brought other things to mind and it had nothing to do with what will be stocking my closet. 
Fashion Week brings out all of the tall, thin, beautiful, basically “perfect” human beings known as high-fashion models, out to strut their stuff on long cat walks. Something that I have recently discovered, which is completely ironic, is the fact that even these societally “perfect” labeled beings are still being scrutinized.
I was online and came across an article about Bella Hadid, a model who fell on the catwalk. What I find absurd is the fact that these women are already inspected and made up from head to toe to mirror “perfection,” and somehow that is still not enough for society. A model, someone who at the end of the day is a person, should not have to be expected to be graceful 24/7. 
Something so mundane as falling gets blown out of proportion because models are expected to turn into some kind of runway robots as soon as they step on that stage. Then we are supposed to try to mimic what we see in order to be labeled as beautiful or perfect. We begin to make a checklist in our minds about what we can do to improve our image for others.
You know there is something wrong in society when even those who we are told we should aspire to be get judged and told that they are not up to the standards of the beauty/fashion industry or even society. If those we are told we need to be like are not good enough then who is? And who will ever be? What does it even mean to be “good enough?” There is a saying: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I have now come to realize that there is more than one pair of eyes that you will face day by day for the rest of your life. And if you try and please all of those eyes and aspire to their level of beauty you will be fighting an endless battle. 
Instead, you should be the beholder. Make your pair of eyes the most important pair of eyes you encounter. As you stare back into your reflection in the mirror what do you see? Do you only see your imperfections? Or do you see a perfectly imperfect human being? We were each born into this world as individuals. We were not manufactured in a factory by a company who defines the word beauty. But we were born into a world filled with societies, companies, beauty vendors, industries who will try to tell us, spoon-feed us, ideas which get embedded into our minds.
“Don’t wear that low cut shirt because you will look like a slut.” “You would look so much prettier if you wore makeup.” “If you lost twenty pounds you would look so beautiful.”
There comes a time when you start to realize that you will never be able to fulfill all of the wants that people have for you. I think that it is important for you to make the choices you want for you. Don’t try to do something because others tell you to, but do it because you want to. It definitely won’t be easy at first. It will seem difficult or hopeless to try to erase everything that you have been told growing up, but that doesn’t mean you should give up and give into the pressure. You just have to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
I speak from experience when I say that it will feel weird at first and that there will be times when you will second guess yourself because of the criticism or judgmental looks you may receive from others. Don’t beat yourself up about falling back into the routine of comparing yourself to others or judging yourself. You just have to remind yourself that that is all you have ever known. Be understanding with yourself and take it day by day. So, if you want to wear that dark lipstick you were told would be “too much to wear to class,” rock it. If you want to wear a horizontally striped dress even though you were told “it won’t flatter your curvy figure,” slay. Or if you ever happen to find yourself falling on a runway during New York Fashion Week pick yourself up and continue strutting your stuff because that is what any perfectly imperfect human would do.