I recently found a very interesting post by Lilia Kazakova; a fashion-beauty blogger and vlogger that I have been following for a while on her website and social networks, where she narrated how in many cases her intelligence has been questioned for wearing high heels or makeup to classes and her workplace, as well as talking openly about beauty and fashion in her environment.

Her post made me think carefully about the topic, and I couldn't but felt very identified about it. I  wouldn't have enough fingers in my hands to count the number of times I said out loud: "I have a fashion blog. I take photos with the clothes and outfits that I'm wearing, and I share them on the Internet" to suddenly get back a weird face as an answer, as of no understanding, as thinking "how is that compatible with you?". In architecture, aesthetics is very much related to knowledge. For me, and also for many professors and professionals that I know and with whom I have been able to work with, a beautiful building must also be a functional one, well built from the most insignificant detail, with a good environmental and ecological performance. And that is only achieved by reading a lot, knowing and investigating until exhaustion, and being very curious. And I do not think that is in conflict with worrying about the aesthetics of oneself. And that includes having a fashion blog and worrying about how we present ourselves to the world, and how every and each one of us tries to express who we are through our way of dressing up.

Because you must know: I consider myself a very normal girl. I am an absolute average. I'm not especially pretty, not particularly bright, or especially smart. But I am hard-working and passionate. When I embark on something that I like, whether it has to do with a personal project, or a professional one, I give 100% of my effort, my time and my passion. And the vast majority of people related to the world of fashion and beauty that I know also share this passion and this infinite desire to work, to undertake new projects and do what they do the best way possible. Having a fashion blog does not mean being dumb. On the contrary: it means knowing how to plan, knowing how to generate and manage content, meet people and do networking, among many other things. Having a fashion blog means being an entrepreneur, and that is not incompatible with looks whatsoever. In fact, every time someone asks me what I do for a living, I'm increasingly using the form "I'm an architect... And I have a fashion blog".

My looks don't define 100% of myself, and as much they're helpful sometimes, what I wear may also hurt me too. I used to be a very shy child, spent all my teen years afraid of what was being said of me, what people thought about how I looked and scared of being myself, to talk too much, to say something wrong. The other day I was talking about this with a really close friend I met in College two years ago now, and I can tell you I was totally dying of laughter when she remembered me what she thought about my looks and behaviour the first time we met. Basically I was the conceited, mean, know-it-all, first row sitting girl who had a fashion blog and was class president. Then we started working together, we became very good friends and have already walked a long friendship way together (and hoping to keep walking!). Cool, isn't it?

This should lead us to discuss the always around "do not judge someone on the first impression" cliche, but I won't be talking about that today because I want to go a little bit further. Making a first good impression matters. A lot. I was a really quiet girl who was really afraid of expressing what I thought or felt, and once I started changing the way I dressed, once I started doing fencing and sport, perfecting a makeup routine every morning, then I became more confident about myself. I've now realized that those physical changes helped me love ME and no-one else. That is the key about all this. Looks matter, not as much to others as you would think, but they matter if they make you confident enough to go out and do your best. For me, it's not only about how much effort I put on doing something, but a pair of beautiful shoes on my feet may help me step stronger if I need a boost of motivation that day. Or a bright red lipstick may help me smile a little bit more if I got out on the wrong side of bed. I encourage everyone, any age, any gender to always put on a piece that causes this effect on them. Because it finally isn't about what you wear, but how you feel wearing it.

This whole post about self-confidence and motivation was all because this pink pencil skirt, kitten heels and statement Fedora hat outfit was my boost of motivation and touch of color on that day. Some days ago, when I had to show a project I put lots of hours working at and just felt like I had to look as nice and neat as my project board ended. There's nothing too special about this outfit, but just the way those heels sounded on every step I took as I carried my almost 1m x 0.5 m panel to hang it on the wall of the classroom before presentations, just made me feel amazing.

Is there any outfit, accessory or piece of clothing which makes you feel like this too? Haven't you ever felt amazing once you know you've been successful on doing your job?

Soft and light colors. I'm a really conscious girl when it comes to the colors I usually wear, because I know what are the ones that fit me the best, and which are also the easier for me to pair on an outfit. As you have noticed, I usually wear reds, white and black. Black is for me the color which ties and give sense to all the things I wear, so preparing an outfit with the thought that there must be something different concerning it, feels really difficult.

This time I decided to wear pastel colors, pink and cream shades which I feel more insecure with, but also to change a bit with my common repertory and show you that brunettes are also able to wear this soft tones, which have been awarded for a long time to blonde girls. Mix some different shades of pink, blackberry and purple, take your favorite fur coat as I did and let's rock it! I think it finally ended on a really fun and contrasting outfit.

The truth is that this outfit came pretty motivated from the wish to wear again (after a long time) the CH Andy Seven bag. I still think buying it in pink was a great idea, but I do not like pairing it with black or darker shades because of the lighter brown handle. This bag puts me in the awkward position of wanting to wear it a lot of times without repeating the look, but always end up changing it all because I don't really like the final effect. Now my questions are...

Do you also have an item you find difficult to combine? What colors are you fond of using in your outfits? Soft or darker shades?

As you could see on the post, I was carrying a huge red bag from Carolina Herrera. I have always been a big fan of this brand, specially when it comes to bags and purses.

It seems that my love for them comes from my mum, who some years ago bought her first CH bag and kept collecting some of them during years, which I've been ''stealing'' from her closet. It seems that finally she wanted me to have my own. This is called ''Andy Seven Bag'' and I fell in love with it at first sight. It's size is perfect for me, because I'm not very tall but always use bags that are at least double my size, because I always carry tons of things inside them (camera or even the DSRL camera, mobile phone, sunnies, my XXL UK flag purse, lipstick and sometimes khôl eyepencil or mascara, pieces of paper and pen...) and this bag isn't huge, but lets me put inside most of the things I usually carry with me.