when all is said and done….

Hello! Hello! Hellooo! It has been quite a while since y’all heard of me last… I miss me too (haha). I hope today’s post finds you all in good health as I am. Some months ago I started a mini series on this page dubbed “faith and fashion”. This series was inspired by my personal journey of finding my style as a 21^st century Christian girl who’s very much in love with staying trendy and looking good. I wanted to share my journey with you all and I couldn’t do that in just one post so I decided to breakdown the various factors that contributed to the said journey into sub-topics so I could properly express in details how they affected my journey. The focus isn’t necessarily on me finding my style (because trust me it’s nothing to write home about) as much as it is the questions that piqued my interest thereof. Questions which I felt would be better answered by adding the various thoughts and opinions of others. I shared my answers in the first episode of this series and I had a few friends share their thoughts on the questions too in episodes that followed. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read the previous episodes on this very topic, I’ll share the links to them at the end of this post.

Truth be told, I didn’t think it would take me this long to finish this series but somehow I got lost along the way. Since the first post till date, I’ve encountered various situations which, in one way or the other, caused me to question some initial thoughts I may have had. I found myself conflicted with what I thought I wanted to write and what perhaps you my beloved readers might want to read and so yeah I got stuck. Let’s just blame it on the fact that I’m an over-thinker and I just got way into my head. Today’s post is just my final words to officially conclude this series. My experiences and opinions may be different from yours so feel free to share yours in the comment section below… that is, after all, the only way we get to learn from one another.

When all is said and done, the answer to the standing question is, Yes! … faith and fashion are definitely related. In fact, a person’s faith should influence his/her lifestyle as a whole. However, due to the diversity of the various factors that come to play, it’s interpretation and degree of effect may be different for different people and if we are honest enough with ourselves we’ll be able to do what’s best for us and our journey. I don’t know if there’s a special fashion board that meets periodically to decide which style goes in trend at a particular time but it is important to keep a close eye on trends and incorporate them into your wardrobe only if you like them and they fit with your personal style. I don’t specifically follow fashion bloggers in order to keep up with the trends but I follow a few influencers and their daily styles may or may not influence my choice of clothes. There have been a few times where I’ve been conflicted with the “appropriateness” of the dresses/styles of these influencers or at least their interpretation of a trend personally because I felt they shouldn’t be dressed as such given that they are Christians. I agree that’s very judgemental to say the least but sometimes my opinionated conservative self can’t help it and I’m quite certain I’m not the only guilty person. I have myself been called out a few times by other people on the appropriatness of my clothes when I felt there was nothing wrong with what I wore. ‘for with the same measure you use to judge others, you would be judged”.. So instead of thinking of whether or not someone’s outfit is appropriate, I take it that if it’s inappropriate for them, then it’s inappropriate for me. Everybody has their style and it’s based off on different factors, and so whatever opinions I have, I keep them to myself and use them to influence my choice

Christians aren’t really encouraged to stay at the forefront of these seemingly “materialistic” things of the world but I believe that if more fashion conscious ladies infiltrate the world of influencers, it’d serve a great purpose. They could serve as positive influences on others who are still trying to find themselves in this journey. I mean trends come and go always and it’s important that we also create our own table and set our trends.

I’m really glad I decided to pursue this line of conversation and I do believe that my question has been answered. Hopefully y’all learnt as much from this as I did . It has been a pleasure reading your thoughts on such a rather controversial topic as this, thank you for engaging a sister. Special thanks to the various guests who shared their thoughts and answers to make this series as diverse as possible. If there’s anything I’m taking away from this, it is to stay true to myself and my beliefs and honor God the best way I know possible.Trends come and go, and people are free to interpret them however best they feel complements them. It’s easy to get lost in the masses of new trends etc etc but I believe regardless of whatever factors come to play or how diverse they may be, our faith should serve as a lens through which we view everything, even if it’s something as subtle as the clothes we wear.

“……..whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory”.

1 Cor. 10:31

Here are the links to the previous episodes so far on this series… http://yarhsjournal.com/faith-and-fashion-finding-my-style/ https://godquest.wixsite.com/godquest/blog/0bcc8cd http://yarhsjournal.com/faith-and-fashion-ep2-a-guys-opinion/ http://yarhsjournal.com/faith-fashion-the-cultural-aspect/

Stay stylish, stay trendy, do you, be you.. stay blessed.

Don’t be a stranger… share your thoughts..

Xoxo

Yarh.