Welcome to My World of Fashion, Fitness, Wellness... and Cancer.
This isn't a blog about cancer. It's a blog about life. It's about choices and fashion and wellness and the power of mindset and above all, the myriad of ways to find strength.
When I was young, I was sure the label across my chest would project my strength and value. If you grew up in the 80s you would recognize the prestige of Esprit, Fiorucci and Benetton.
"Why?" my mom would ask, "do you need a sweatshirt with those words on the front, and why would we ever pay so much more for it?" She clearly did NOT understand the significance of having the "right" labels and the recognition it gave me as one of the people lucky enough to understand and have access to such fashion.
Fast forward a whole lot of years to 2004 when I opened my women's clothing store, dresscode, in downtown Andover. My daughter Ava had just been born the year before, and the store became my second child. My love of fashion having never waned, instead it morphed into a real understanding of the power of clothing. The ability to dress someone to celebrate their body, for their lifestyle or an event and to see them emerge from the fitting room standing taller, with a growing smile on their face along with the recognition that the person in the mirror was a version of themselves they didn't realize existed. Nothing was more rewarding to me than that moment. I used my access to the New York shows to curate my store and simultaneously my own growing closet. Getting dressed in the morning was an opportunity to decide who I wanted to be that day. Classic and sophisticated? Trendy and playful? Clothing functioned both like a costume, trying on different personas, and a declaration of my state of mind. Fashion was a way to convey who you were or at least how you wanted to be perceived. And that was part of its power. "Dress for the position you want..." "Dress how you want to be addressed..."
2016 BONS issue Northshore Magazine, photograph by Lea St. Germain
Now it is the start of 2022 and I am recovering from a mastectomy and facing the reality of chemo in the upcoming weeks. I have my first post-op with the surgeon which means leaving the house and changing out of my plaid flannel pajamas. On that day, clothing was my armor. I wrapped myself in a luxurious cashmere sweater that camouflaged my chest, threw on my favorite boots, Mother jeans and a Chanel bag. I charged ahead ready to face the appointment with style and optimism. My outfit reminded me that despite what I was going through, it's still me. "Dress for how you want to be addressed." Equally as important was the ability to focus on one of the few things I could control. I could succumb to the powerlessness of breast cancer or I could use any and every tool available to me to hold onto my sense of self. I chose the latter.
So this is an invitation...
Join me on this journey of acknowledging the small wins, celebrating things that bring joy, moving forward despite fear and embracing the moment. And of course, Fashion, Fitness, Wellness and Cancer.