To truly dress, you must dress for yourself.

Some say women dress for men.  Others, for other women.  Both are wrong.  Those who do the former waste the pleasures of a perfectly flouncy skirt or nice underwear on an approving gaze--isn't their admiration of your ensemble a mere side effect of the unadulterated enjoyment you take in wearable art?  Those who cater to the later lose the delicious expression of self in exchange for the paltry approval of current trends and conventional clothing found in shop windows.  What a bore.

No, if a woman is to truly dress, she must dress for herself. 

You must take pleasure in pairing turquoise stockings with your blazing yellow dress, despite the general consensus that too many colors are unrefined.  You must cultivate your love of polka dots and retro heels--and jewelry stacked one on top of the other.   Above all, you must ignore the fashion magazine that tells you that gray is the new black because you know full well that pink will always be the new black.  You must wear your dress that makes you feel like a daisy, though not everyone likes flowers.

You wear it for you.

Yes, you must do all these things and more.  For to waste your talents on dressing for others will leave you forever trying to love those stifling button up shirts and deny your passion for retro dresses.  That road only leads to fashion misery and a slow fading of your spirit into the gray when you were once nothing but pink...until, of course, you can't take it anymore.  Then comes an outburst of glitter and polka dots, once again your loud self.  Dressing for others never does last.

For to truly dress, you must dress, always and forever, for yourself.