Your Wardrobe, Your Values: How Clothing Becomes Your Mission Statement

Fashion as Self-Expression: Can Your Wardrobe Reflect and Reinforce Your Life’s Mission?

Ever considered that your wardrobe might be one of your most powerful tools for self-expression? Style expert Bianca Smith reveals how what we wear goes far beyond fashion trends to become a visual representation of our values, identity, and purpose.

"The way that you show up is a reflection of who you are and who you want to be," Bianca explains, highlighting the critical connection between authentic style and personal credibility. Whether you're building a brand, establishing professional trust, or simply wanting to feel aligned with your true self, your clothing choices matter. This isn't about superficial appearances but about creating external harmony with your internal values.

Bianca shares practical wisdom on discovering your authentic style, including analyzing your lifestyle needs and conducting honest closet audits when life transitions occur. She challenges listeners to identify their core values first, then build a wardrobe that genuinely reflects those priorities rather than chasing fleeting trends. We explore how signature style elements—like host Demetria's consistent incorporation of African jewelry—become powerful visual cues that communicate your identity before you speak a word.

The conversation reveals how our wardrobes evolve with our life seasons, whether through career changes, parenthood, or personal growth. Bianca's biggest warning? Don't fall into the trend trap. "Not every trend works for every person," she cautions, encouraging listeners to develop distinctive personal style that remains authentic across all contexts. Ready to transform your wardrobe into a reflection of your deepest values? This episode provides the inspiration and practical steps to begin that journey.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Dove's Inner Beauty Podcast, where we
foster emotional awareness, oneindividual at a time.
Leading the way is DemetriaNickens, a certified mental
health first aid instructor andtrauma recovery coach with over
two decades of experience infostering emotional awareness in
others by engaging their mentalhealth.

(00:22):
Awareness in others by engagingtheir mental health.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
What if your wardrobe could be more than just clothes
?
What if it could be areflection of your deepest
values, identity and life'spurpose?
Bianca Smith, the visual effectright breaks down how personal
style is more than fashion.
It's a statement of who we areand what we stand for.

(00:50):
Welcome back everybody.
Demetria Nick is in the hostingchair, the host of Dove's Inner
Beauty Podcast, and I am backin the studio with Bianca Smith,
owner of the visual effect andblog, the Visual Aest aesthetic.
How are you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
today.
Bianca, I am so good.
Thank you for having me, yeahawesome, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, today we're gonna jump right into this and
I'm excited for you to shed somelight on this topic of fashion
and self-expression.
Can your wardrobe reflect andreinforce your life's mission?
Tell us about it?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh, absolutely.
I think that the way that youshow up is a reflection of who
you are and who you want to beright, so that not only includes
like your values and who youare at your core, but that
includes what is it you want todo, what is your purpose, what
is your mission?
How you show up can be areflection of all of those
things.
Like for myself, as an example,when I go into spaces where I'm

(01:47):
not known and I'm going to betalking about what I do, I have
to show up in the best waypossible.
I have to show up in a way thatis going to make people believe
that I can help them do thesame thing Right.
I need you to trust that I'mable to help you with your
wardrobe, with your style, withshowing up in a way that
reflects who you are.
If I choose to show up let'ssay, not looking my best it may

(02:12):
be difficult for people tobelieve when I say, oh, I help
you dress better, so I lose thattrust.
And if I don't feel my best,it's hard for me to even be
confident in telling you what Ido.
So I have to show up in a waythat's going to inspire you to
want to find your own style, orto believe that I can be the one
to help you find what thatstyle is.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Finding style right.
I think there's a connectionbetween this idea of finding
style and finding values, andthat's the connection that we
don't talk about enough, right.
What are some of those smallbut meaningful ways that we can
align fashion choices with ourvalues?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think, getting to know what's most important to
you, right, all of us kind ofknow what our values are in some
sense, but we don't really takethe time to really think about
what is most important.
I did in the workshop that weboth did before, we did what's
called value tags.
Right, in this activity, youhave like 36 values and narrow
them down to like 10 and thennarrow them down to like what is

(03:12):
your top five.
It takes a lot of work toreally think about what is most
important to me.
Right, all of these thingsmight matter, but what's most
important right, and what's mostimportant to you is how you
should be showing up, how youshould be reflecting who you are
.
Right, if you are a risk taker,if you are someone that likes
spontaneity and adventure, thenthe way that you dress is
probably not going to be veryconservative, very timid, very

(03:36):
like blended to the background.
It's going to be bold, it'sgoing to be fun, it's going to
be risky, even you might sayright, because that's who you
are as a person, that's whatmatters to you.
So all facets of your lifeshould reflect who you are, and
that's including how you show upin spaces and how you appear
when you meet people agreed,like I I've always been into

(03:58):
like African jewelry and youknow, and African things I'm
always you're probably in everyvideo you see.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
you're gonna see their cow shell, you're gonna
see something African, likeAfrican States, something like
that, because it's just.
I know that it's a part of whoI am.
When I did my genealogy it itwas like I know I'm from Africa,
right, like my ancestry isthere and so it now connects to
just me and so I get that thisability to just connect who you
are with what you wear and howyou show it on the outside.
It absolutely matters.

(04:24):
I feel really weird when Idon't have something like that
on Right.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Like the fact that you said that shows up in like
all your blogs.
That starts to define what yourbrand is.
Right, when people start to seeyou, or people see the Dove's
Inner Beauty, they're lookingfor those things that reflect
who you are.
Like.
She always has this on that'spart of who she is that matters
to her.
Right, that's starting todefine that brand so that
anybody that sees you knows oh,this is what matters to her,

(04:49):
this is what's important to her,and you're able to develop that
and how you show up and thethings that matter to you.
You start to see a thread inthese things that matter.
Right, you start to see themshow up in all the different
spaces that you're in.
So it's not just on thispodcast that you reflect that.
That's when you go to work,that's when people meet you
outside of work, because that'swhat's important to you, no

(05:09):
matter who you are, no matterwhat you're doing, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
And you know what?
I never really think about itlike that right.
You know I'm so always justfocused on the mental health
part.
I never think about like, oh,it's a part of my brand now to
wear this thing right?
absolutely super cool, right?
I love learning little thingsabout my own fashion, even when
I'm not real.
So what are some?
How can somebody like reallydiscover, like their personal

(05:36):
style if they feel disconnectedto their wardrobe, like a lot of
people, you know, they're likeI wear clothes because I have to
wear clothes, right?
How do you really connect tothat when you don't feel like
you pay attention to yourclothes enough?

Speaker 3 (05:47):
I think, taking a look at what is your lifestyle,
what do you do Like?
Are you someone who works in,let's say, corporate America,
where you have to dress up,right?
Or are you someone that worksin a more art field, or a
teacher or in athletic training,something that's more casual,
right?
So if you are in the artindustry say you're an artist

(06:08):
you're probably not going tohave a closet full of trousers
and three-piece suits andbutton-up tops, right?
Because that doesn't seem toalign with what is.
You know what your life is,right?
That doesn't mean you don'thave maybe one, because maybe
you have business meetings ormaybe you have formal things,
but more of the stuff in yourcloset, I would think, are like
fun prints and patterns andthings where you can be

(06:30):
comfortable when you're creatingart or sharing art with people.
So, taking a look at what yourlifestyle is and what makes the
most sense for your lifestyleand then doing a closet edit If
I look in my closet andeverything in here feels like I
work in corporate America, but Idon't, maybe there's been a
shift in your life, right?
Have you changed industries?

(06:51):
I used to be corporate Americaand now I am opposite of
corporate America, right.
So let's do a closet edit,right?
These things don't serve usanymore because it doesn't align
with where my life is now.
So really editing and auditingwhat's in your closet to see is
this why I'm having troublefinding my style, because
everything in my closet doesn'talign with who I am, right.

(07:13):
So when we start to really lookat who we are, and especially
looking at who we are at thismoment, because it can change,
right, we all have these lifeevolutions, like for women it's,
maybe you went from beingcarefree and single to now you
have kids.
Your life is going to shiftwhen you have kids, right, what
was what worked for you as asingle woman doesn't work for

(07:34):
you, maybe as much with kidsthat you're chasing behind and I
am a lover of high heels, butwhen I had my kids, for at least
the first year, at least it wasflats and it was sneakers,
because I don't feel the need totry to chase you in six inch
heels, right.
So for a little bit, there wasa shift in what I needed for

(07:55):
where my life was at the moment.
So I think evaluating yourcloset, evaluating what your
life is, can be the basis ofstarting to figure out what does
this look like for me and whatshould this look like to match
with what I have going on in mylife?

Speaker 2 (08:09):
I absolutely love that.
Real quick, just real fast forthe people.
Real quick, just real fast forthe people.
One mistake, biggest mistakethat they make when trying to
use fashion for self-expressionand then we'll end this thing
out.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
I say biggest mistake is trying to follow the trends,
right?
Not every trend works for everyperson and you might not even
like it, but maybe you're justtrying to do it because that's
what's in right now.
So I would say don't so muchtry to follow the trends.
Try to just stick with whatworks for you and if you feel
like you want to try something,like, look for the thing that's
really going to work for you,what makes sense to you, right?

(08:43):
Don't try something that youalready know is just not you
right.
So don't try to follow thetrends too much.
Try to really stick with what'simportant to you and what
reflects you.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
I love it.
Biancaianca, man, like you justhit me onto some brand game
today.
I appreciate that.
Thank you for being with metoday.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, after any time, just havea great rest of your week.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Thank you so much yeah thank you for tuning in to
the dove's inner beauty podcast,where we foster emotional
awareness, one individual at atime.
For a complimentaryconsultation, visit
dovesinnerbeautycom or call336-298-6599.
That's 336-298-6599.