thoughts on prettiness

I've been thinking a lot about this post from A Dress a Day, specifically this quote:

"You Don't Have to Be Pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked "female". "

Now, I love pretty. I love patterned tights + twirly dresses, shimmery lipgloss + shiny of all kinds, and I especially love anything with flowers printed all over. Anything. But, do you want to know what really stops me in my tracks? Women who feel comfortable + confident in their own skin. Women who create their own brand of strength, originality, kindness, humor, intelligence, and quirkiness and totally own it. Women who make 'pretty' too small a word for who + what they authentically are, deep down. 


Renata is my muse for ageless beauty + becoming a woman of substance - isn't she stunning?

image via the sartorialist.