Who are we really becoming?
At Cepi Style, we have a love-hate relationship with Fashion Week. Love comes first and hate is not as strong — more like challenged. The powerful, beautiful and sometimes breathtaking editorial images that emerge from fashion week stick with us long after the curtains close on a single-digit, minutes-long show. The notion of desire and acquisition of not just a product but of a normalized image in a potentially unattainable garment leaves us scurrying for something we may never find — because, maybe we are not quite sure of what we are looking for.
Cepi Style’s core business is closet editing — getting into the nooks and crannies of our members’ closets, brains and hearts. Women (and some men) come to us with a desire to make sense of what they have and to refine their personal style. The real questions at the heart of it all are “Who am I?” and “Who am I becoming?” To get there, we spend our time going through their acquisitions that don’t quite fit, never made sense for their lifestyle or don’t quite fit anymore. We reimagine their closet as a space where everything aligns with who they are and who they are becoming.
Through our members’ eyes and closets, we have witnessed a definitive, cultural shift taking place. People are starving to be their unique selves in every environment they embrace or touch — whether “fashion” is their thing or not. Cepi Style’s job is to curate the experience, designs and looks to get them there — to themselves.
The Love
The beautiful designs that own the runway allow us to connect with the designer’s point of view. It is up to our team to translate the actual pieces into looks for a busy executive or a socially inclined mother of 2 who dreamed of working at a fashion label but has made her way as a top executive woman at hedge fund (and loves that, too). We all have a story and find ourselves somewhere in the middle of things, intersecting with inspiration and longing for more. There is so much personality and so much that is personal there. Oftentimes, the runway can leave you starved at a full dinner table. My favorite member quote is, “I LOVE that but that’s not my life!”
The Challenge
What if you are 5’2” and a size 8 OR 5’8” and a size 16 OR more healthy around the mid section? We are happy to see brands like Tome and a few others exploring the diversity of the woman this year. As we embrace our diversity, we empower everyone with better choices and opportunity to refine the physical manifestation of their personal journey.
We are thrilled to see the shows this week. We’ve gotten some sneak peaks. We’re especially nostalgic as Proenza Schouler (a member favorite) moves to Paris next season.
In the end, Cepi Style’s Fashion Show will always be “Be You. Do You Harder, Fiercer, Prouder!” and we definitely need the inspiration of New York Fashion Week to get us there.
Originally published at medium.com