I had assumed that when I decided to move to Chicago that I would be forfeiting my right to fashion. So long, New York. Hello, puffy coats and oversized sweaters.

And to be honest, a lot of that ended up being somewhat true. Adjusting to the endlessly unpredictable weather of Illinois left me confused as to whether or not any season should be packed away at one time or another.

Unlike New York, I found little use for things like heels and little black dresses in the peak of a Chicago holiday season. It’s taken me some time to adjust (a year to be exact) and it wasn’t until recently that I realized I had given up a part of where I came from when I decided to exclude my love of fashion from my new life.

Don’t get me wrong, Chicago women have their own flair for notoriety. It just feels odd to be walking four city blocks and not see even one fo-fur cheetah coat casually pass you by on its way to work or a corner store.

As an East Coast girl, style wasn’t something that I found. I was born and bred into it; Growing up around undeniably fabulous working women in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C.

I learned very quickly that fashion was a misunderstood art. It wasn’t about beauty. It wasn’t about money. Style was about making sure that people looked and more importantly, that they didn’t forget.

Now in 2020, I’m realizing there are many ways to do fashion in Chicago. Layers being the queen of all of them. And I’ve begun to slowly introduce style back into a primary category of my life.

Perhaps I’ve tried too hard to blend in with my new surroundings. Perhaps, I forgot that very specific lesson that these women from my childhood bestowed upon me. Blending in gets you nowhere. But a great coat? A great coat can earn you attention anywhere without ever having to say a word.

XO

TheAmeliaBurns