Daily Stunning

Daily Stunning 

By Liliana J Stephenson

Multilingual Educator and International Junior Cricket Advocate

My eyes were drawn down the parking lot to a woman in a brilliant red A-line. The way in which she wore her dress and the confidence with which she strode kept me captivated. She knew what flattered her curvy frame and she walked more like she was strutting down a runway than running mundane errands. 

I wanted to cross the expanse and tell her she looked gorgeous. Instead, I pensively wandered towards my car, wondering what I could do to pull off a look like that. Oddly enough, that night on Facebook, I stumbled upon Tami Piper’s journey to small business ownership and her dream for women to be excited about the clothes in their closets. 

I kept turning that idea over and over in my mind: what would it be like to be excited about what was in -my- closet?

I messaged her and before I knew it, we were sharing our struggles: how we saw ourselves at various stages in life, the lack of inner peace and self-esteem (which I admitted, affected me for years) and then the difficulty of finding properly fitting clothes that mirror inner confidence and accentuate our unique body types. “The thing is, I still don’t know how to do it,” I confessed. Sure, I knew how to get dressed, but did I really know how to dress myself? 

That night, I fell asleep to the sounds of inner dialogue processing new concepts. 

The next morning, I was on a plane to Salt Lake City in search of what we now call Daily Stunning.

Daily Stunning an outward manifestation of inner self-acceptance. There is no reason to look gorgeous, except that you are gorgeous, and you’ve embraced it. It’s not prideful (comparing oneself to others), but honestly thrilled with who you are. Daily Stunning is no longer hiding in your clothes, but you have found what fits well, and you’re not afraid to wear it. 

The trouble is, just like the same ten meals I make a month, though, I noticed I have pigeon-holed myself into buying the same “flavors” of clothing. I thought about the last time I went shopping with a friend: I quickly dismissed most of her suggestions in favor of the “tried and true”. Was I confident enough to try on clothes that didn’t fit my narrow definition of me? Did my “tried and true” truly reflect my inside and flatter my outside?

It was out of this conundrum that another phrase was born, and as you’ll see, I jokingly rue the day that it came out of my mouth. 

to be continued...