Fall In Love With The Look, Not Him.

Fashion is a love story.

Not the kind with candlelit dinners and unanswered texts, but one with mirrors, fabrics, and the intoxicating spark of slipping into something that makes you feel like you've just stepped into your own power. Somewhere along the way, women were told that what they put on their bodies was meant to impress a man-to catch his eye, to earn his compliment, to hold his fleeting attention. But the truth pulsing louder than ever in 2025 is this: women aren't getting dressed for him. They're getting dressed for themselves.

When a woman chooses the silk blouse that makes her shoulders square, or the red lip that makes her reflection smirk back, she isn't auditioning. She's arriving. It's not about being noticed. It's about feeling something-the spark, the rush, the quiet thrill that says: this is who I am today, and I love her.

The myth that women dress for men is older than department stores.

But look closer at any crowded city street, any Friday night restaurant, or even your own group chat outfit pics: the gaze has shifted. Clothes are not bait. They are armor, they are diaries, they are declarations. A mini dress is less about the stranger who glances at the bar and more about the woman who ordered it for herself, slipped it on, and felt the familiar, grounding click of confidence when the zipper closed.

The male gaze is exhausting anyway. It reduces women to mannequins-flat, silent, created to be observed. And in a world where women are already scrutinized, judged, and measured, why would the ritual of getting dressed be handed over to anyone else's approval? Choosing to dress for yourself is a rebellion. It's a reclamation of something as everyday as a sweater and as profound as identity.

Every woman knows the feeling: the outfit that changes your entire energy. Maybe it's the jacket that makes you stand taller, or the earrings that catch the light just so, or the heels that click loud enough to announce your arrival before your mouth ever opens. Psychologists have long confirmed that what we wear influences how we feel, but women didn't need research papers to tell them that. They've lived it. The term is "Enclothed Cognition "but in real life, it looks like this: slip into something that represents the woman you want to be, and start moving like her.

Finish reading the article in Violet & Blair Issue 1 | Now Available Below.