Summer is here and everywhere you look there are roses and florals. Given that I am someone who rarely, if ever, wears florals or prints for that matter, the question becomes how can I participate in this summer ritual and stay true to me?  So I gave myself that challenge and have to say the shirt I found is sheer, somewhat transparent and a delight to wear. Along with some pants given to me by Eileen Fisher, which I have been wearing all the time because of the high level of comfort and ease, I think this falls within the minimalist criteria that makes me still feel like me.

These days I am always on the lookout for new independent fashion magazines, especially because of my in-between time, and found Lone Wolf tucked away under several others. I decided to purchase the magazine for three reasons: the cover, the fact that it is published in Canada (Calvin and I will be visiting Toronto soon) and the quote on the back, “Wolves don’t lose sleep over the opinions of sheep”.

Interestingly the theme of this issue is authenticity. What makes you feel like you. There is a selection of wonderful essays; including one by Simone de Beauvoir on the intersection of power, love and authenticity and clever photos and graphics. What I found especially compelling was the editor’s letter. She suggests that the experience of authenticity is a very personal one, different for different people. However, the essence is that one becomes transparent in their emotions, they present as simple and unadorned and that it is enough to be “just you”. She then goes on to confess that despite calling herself Editor-in-Chief, that she actually does almost all of the tasks that make the magazine happen but did not want to reveal it for fear it would make her magazine not look “big” enough. In making this confession she in fact reveals herself to be an exceptionally multi-talented, hard-working and creative person.

So here’s my authenticity confession. Even though I was inspired by a feature in WSJ Magazine on summer florals and started this post by referencing that theme, this picture is not really about fashion. After a weekend of being the “responsible adults” in a house full of my teenaged nephews, niece and many of their friends, Calvin and I were too tired to go out shooting and I was not feeling up to being iconic. So not bothering to get changed or dressed up, I threw on some lipstick and sunglasses and we crossed the hall to our stairway to get “something”. So here you have me: simple, almost unadorned, transparent, just me.

What’s your personal version of authenticity?