PENDA SARR

Thank You Toronto

4:49:00 PM

Hello hello! I've officially had my website for a year now so I figured a new post would be the perfect way to celebrate the blog and al...

Hello hello! I've officially had my website for a year now so I figured a new post would be the perfect way to celebrate the blog and all of my support from you guys. It's also the end of the semester so I also have a little bit of free time to write! This will probably be a more personal post because the pieces of my look and the city of Toronto overall are very important to me.

I've been living in Toronto for 4 years now, and boy, has it been a trip. To be very honest with you, Toronto was not part of my post-highschool graduation plans. I was so set on going to university in Montréal or staying somewhere in the United States. However, I decided to take a leap of faith and come here. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason and that God puts you right where you belong. With that being said, I don't regret my decision because I owe a lot of my personal growth to this city.

Highschool was a bubble. It was the same routine everyday, my friends and I all came from similar backgrounds and lived in a small community. Toronto shattered my bubble. I stepped out of my comfort zone, met people who were different and learned to look at things from a new perspective. I feel like college does that to you, it teaches you how to be independent and throws all of these new experiences at you. I had the worst self-esteem in highschool, even though it didn't seem like it. I felt like I didn't fit the typical beauty standard in terms of my face and body, so it was hard to be confident in myself. However, that all changed when I came to Toronto.

My first year in Canada helped let go of everything negative: negative vibes, people, energy and thoughts. Everything. It was a scary thing to do but I took this as a "fresh new beginning", and that's exactly what it was. I practiced self-love and learned to accept the things about myself that I could not change. I stopped the comparisons, the only person I had to compete with was myself.

This is where my love for fashion began. I wasn't always skinny. In fact, I was about 80 pounds larger in my first year of university. I remember those around me and my doctor nicely suggesting to "lose weight" or "eat more healthy". And that's how they said it, they sugarcoated it, and that made me angry. So I told myself that yes, I would adopt a healthier lifestyle, not to please everyone around me, but for myself. I would go to class, come back to my dorm room and then immediately hit the gym. I spent hours on blogs and fitness websites taking notes on what type of food to eat and exercises to perform. I made meal plans, wrote down schedules for my workouts and put up motivating post-its all over my room.As months went by, I was losing weight and beginning to gain confidence in myself. So, I started going to stores and malls more. I became more comfortable going into fitting rooms and looking at myself in the mirror because I was pleased with my body and ultimately, myself. And honestly, that's all that matters. As long as you like yourself and accept your flaws, everyone else's comments or opinions don't matter.

The end of my 2nd year wasn't as good as my first one in terms of my personal life, but that's ok because it's normal to go through ups and downs. So, on my flight home to New York for the summer holidays, I decided to have a "summer of me" and created the blog. I brainstormed themes, layouts, outfit ideas, you name it. I told myself that this was going to be a summer where I would practice self-love and the blog contributed immensely to that. Fast forward and here we are to my 4th year. The blog has become my baby and I've become heavily interested in all things fashion. Honestly, I don't think that all of this would have happened if I had stayed in a familiar setting like Montréal or the United States.

Alright, now let's talk style :). This look was special to me because I combined pieces that each have a cool story to them. First, the wool hat I am wearing in the pictures below was one of the first things I bought when I became comfortable going shopping and experimenting with different outfits. I think I wore it pretty much all throughout my 2nd year, figured it needed a comeback haha.

The common thing between the sweater, pants and shoes is the fact that they all come from Zara. There's a Zara close to my condo so naturally, I find myself in there a lot(it's embarrassing honestly). Pants and sweaters, paired with some killer heeled booties became my "go-to" outfit during the cold winter months in Toronto and these items usually always came from Zara.

Out of the three things, the boots are my favorite. The shoe is so unique thanks to the gradient heel, can help a look stand out so much.

As for the coat, I'm super attached to it because it's one of the items I first bought when I received money from my internship with a fashion website. I was so happy when I got the job because I was like "omg I don't even know that much but fashion" but it was a really nice experience.