Please a allow me to
take a moment of your time to share. I receive tons of emails and
questions regarding my gifting event. I get asked, what are you
selling? What will it cost to participate? Why are you doing this? Can I get
the money instead? Something’s up because you can’t get anything good for free!
Yes, all valid
questions. You should always question the unusual and even if
someone else attempts something similar you should pose reasonable
questions. I will always say that it is smart to question but there
is danger in how the questions are presented. Some of what I receive
as a question forces me to become defensive simply because it is assumed that I
am guilty of a scam or something inappropriate as opposed to the kind gesture
that is being provided. I, SU STREET receive noting of monetary
value for running this event. I have some silent partners but no
direct sponsorship. I am not obligated to a specific designer,
fashion trend, or even a particular look. We showcase on Style Recognized,
everything from vintage, high end, thrifty, you name it and I have chosen to
showcase the look. We are not a popular magazine or high fashion
outlet with millions of readers. I am the lady behind you in line at
the Starbucks complementing your cute shoes or the person in elevator that
is in love with the color of that trench coat. If the look is being
admired simply in passing or just across the table, that is who I
am. That is Su Street. Using this blog I want to share
with other fashion lovers looks that get my heart racing or bring a smile to my
face and make me say “that girl did it right”. To put it into
prospective, allow me to share.
This is
who I am
I love fashion in my life but I am one of only a few that have no desire to work in the fashion profession full time. Yes, who would not want to look fab, travel to shows, meet designers and have access to the latest trends (wow that does sound kinda nice) or even talk about it. But that is not for me. I am a business woman
living in the heart of the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. I only
wear Ralph Lauren and have done so since high school. I am over 40
plus years old, so 20 plus years with one designer (very monogamous relationship).
Now shoes on the other hand are fair game for anyone. My profession
is in finance and it affords me the opportunity to travel the
world. I love my job and the travel as wonderful as it sounds,
here is the truth and others who travel will understand. Airport to
Airport to hotel to dinner, doooooo business (for x number of days), prepare more reports, more dinners while doing business, then
finally airport to head back to your home airport. All that being said,
no down time, I have been to amazing cities and leave the hotel in the morning
while its dark and return to the hotel in the evening and yes it is yes
dark. I can provide details on any airport in the country simply
because of the amount of time I spend waiting for flights. But I
can’t share anything about last years 30 plus visits to San Diego, Ca for example other than the Gas Lamp
district (normally where I stay, it close to the airport) because I am
too busy to enjoy anything. So remember what I just said, I am
too busy to enjoy anything (I will admit I am in tune with myself.)
Let me take you back
several years. I was on my very first visit business trip to
Japan. Me being from a city and living in a metropolitan area I had
no fear. Remember big girls don’t cry. Now mind you I
arrived solo, with no guide and the only assistance was advice and old
brochures from some coworkers who had previously made the trek. But
fear not, my itinerary in hand as to which trains, taxi’s, bus, you name it I
was ready (of course I needed to the information attendant to tell me that all
my travel info was old and I needed to take a different route.) So I
catch a bus to Tokyo and from the bus stop in Tokyo I needed to catch a train
to my hotel. While waiting for my train I decided to grab some
food. Of all places I see McDonalds. Ummm Japan and I
chose McDonalds over sushi. Anyway I sit down to eat and just
observe my surroundings. I noticed a mother with a new born and
maybe a 3 or 4 year old child. The little girl was just like any
other child being happy, bouncy and carefree. Well I noticed the
mother grabbed the child walked her to the door of McDonalds then walked
out into the hallway pointing and gesturing. The whole time her
bags, purse, and stroller still at her seat. The mother then came
back to the table with no child. So I assumed she had taken the
little girl out to meet up with a family member (dad or
grandparent). I didn’t think anything else of it so I just ate my
food and prepared to leave. Well about 5 minutes later. I
see the happy little girl running down the hall with her beautiful eyes and
ponytail standing at the sliding doors to enter the McDonalds. She
was so tiny she could not trigger the sliding door to open so I got up to
trigger the sensor. She runs over to her mom jumps on the seat and
picks up where she left off. Happy while playing with her food as
she eats. Of course, now I am expecting an adult to walk in behind
the little girl and to my surprise no one showed up. I leave the
McDonalds and head to my train which happened to be the direction where the
little girl had just darted from. More to my surprise down this
walkway was a sign that displayed his & hers public
restrooms. Down this long walkway you then needed to turn down a
second hallway just to reach the restroom. A…mazing, this mother
just allowed her daughter to go into a public restroom alone and completely out
of sight with no worries. The next day at my meeting I told this story to a room of
about 10 people and no one was in surprised. They explained to me about the culture and how the elderly and children are
cherished. Knowing that my mother would not let me play as a kid in our gated
back yard for longer than 2 minutes without yelling to me to check if I
was ok. I could not believe the mentality and pure quality of life
for any group of human beings could be preserved for so many that they would
still cherish the most vulnerable. Understand this comes from living
in the big city all my life. Major wow moment. This
simply shows that trust and faith in fellow man still exists and it starts somewhere. For the
Japanese culture it started generations ago. But the point is that
it started and is still going. Then later that week while in route
to my meeting during the morning rush hour (which actually seems like all the
time). I stood at a kiosk clueless as to which train to take and I
am not kidding at least 3 strangers offered assistance (without me
asking). Do you know I take the Metro in DC everyday and for a
resident or a commuter trying to get to work; a tourist or someone not familiar
with the system slows you down and just get in the way. Yes in the
past I have walked past people holding maps in the subway or even on the
street. I was focus on being in my lane in life and on to my next
stop. The time it would have taken me to assist someone in
unfamiliar territory is minute compared to the benefit it would have been for
the person lost or in need. So with my experience in Japan, I walked
away with my life changed. I have decided to trust in my lifetime and
with purpose I will seek out to help where i am allowed. I walk in this
everyday of my life. Until my dying day I will volunteer my hands,
donate my money and figure out small ways to bring someone joy. (Yeah and don’t
email me to donate to a cause.)
So let’s fast forward to
today. Nothing about what is done here a scam. We do not
ask your credit card information for shipping cost. I don’t need
your telephone number to sell. Your address is not being used for
marketing material. The only real piece of marketing that has come
out of this so far and we already knew that was “Women Love
Shoes”. I have gifted about 5 pairs of shoes so far (I should buy
stock in Jeffrey Campbell). As you have read, I do not live in
Mayberry with Sheriff Andy Griffith (some of you may be too young for that reference). The
point is I am not a naive person to the big bad world. I live in a
big city with corruption, lying, steal, violence going on all around me (and
that not only referencing our government). But because bad is around
me, I do not have to make it a part of me. None of my winners have I
ever met in person and I know for a fact they would not be able to pick me out
of a line up even if there were only two choices. But I can say with
certainty that it warmed my heart and blessed my soul to see the joy in each
person’s photo while wearing their gifted item. Receiving a gift is always a
great feeling. But receiving a gift of something you want is an amazing
feeling. I strive to make the gifted recipients feel amazing!
The goal as you can see
with my blog is to appreciate those that give to fashion. Posting
photos on a public personal fashion blog is giving a part of one’s self to the
world. If I look at 10 blogs that feature mint
jeans. No two would be the same. The beauty in the
difference that each person brings to fashion is what fashion blogging is all
about. Because I want you to be you, I‘ve decided to gift items of
your choosing to simply add to your collection and keep your blog moving
forward. There are 3 of us at Style Recognized who search to find
looks to showcase and we always discuss how few comments exists in the blogs
but how plentiful the comments are in the all-in-one places that let you just
download your looks. I like those places for their
convenience. However, the creativity in an individual blog shows me
a little more of a person than just how they appear in clothing. I
would hate to see blogs replaced by the photo depository. Again I am
not anti. I know that some young lady or even young adult is playing
dress up in their bedroom and feels that no one understands her
style. So she creates a blog, she joint a group, get many followers
(on the follow me and I follow you plan). But no one gave her the
one thing she needs, encouragement. The simple comments “You look
beautiful”. Do you believe she would trade all the hundreds of
followers and the gazillion hype points for a single strange (not creepy guy)
visitor to her blog who just left something nice to say? Friends and
family are required to be nice in public but strangers are more genuine. A
small courteous gesture will go a long way. Those people in the
Japan train station took a moment, stopped and assisted me with no benefit to
them at all. They stepped out of their comfort circle and for
the rest of my life I plan to step out of my comfort circle. Try it,
trust me you will feel good.
My good deeds are simple
seeds. They get planted today and next season or even ten seasons
from now something will blossom. My hope is that it grows like a
jungle because what better place to wear animal print than the jungle. I
gift because I want something out of every participant who
registers. I want you all to embrace fashion using your own personal
style. I want you to continue your personal fashion shows/runways
via your blog. Most important I want to be able to say one
thing. Thank you!!
Because I am too busy please let me
enjoy this. (I think this should be my new tag line.)
Su Street
