What makes us beautiful? Our clothes or our body?

Being a fashion stylist, I love to look at what people wear. It's an innate sensitivity I have as a radar of how people dress themselves, I clock not just what they wear instantly, I have a sense of what that means.

Friday night walking in the hippest and busiest part of the city, where everyone is out and about to enjoy their weekend, I saw how so many people took care to select the trendiest brands to put on, girls' showing their skin and sexiness, their hair and makeup all screaming "let's have fun and let loose".

I saw ladies throwing on new clothes in a store either critical or nonchalant about their bodies, eventually purchasing not because of how much they love the clothes, but because of how much they don't love their bodies--that's why let's put something new on and cover it all up, quick! I saw beautiful pieces of clothing being adorned on bodies which scream disregard or abuse, as if pretty clothes, new clothes or brand named clothes would lessen or filter out the truth that is all over the place.

That is why being a stylist, I truly care about the state of our body, which is far beyond just the physical. You may think that is the work of a medical practitioner, but not exclusively so. Because when I see the state of our being, I know it impacts hugely on our movements, and consequently on what we allow ourselves to wear or not wear. The loudness of what our movements convey, believe it or not, is with or without clothes! The clothes we wear therefore is the confirmation of our such said movements, or the hiding of them depending on how honest we want to be with ourselves.

A beautiful body is not one which fits into all the standards of how we are fed beauty has to look like. If a body is truly honoured and cared for, if it does not accept abuse and its movements are open towards people, then we as multidimensional beings emanate a vibration that is encompassing rather than insular--there is a beauty here that no matter how detailed and meticulous one is with our physicality, cannot compare with.

Physical beauty may be first attracted to the eyes, but our eyes see far deeper than just the superficial and will register all levels of what our body movements express, whether it is transparent or not. If the state of our multidimensionality is where we first nurture, then the clothes we put on our body that honours that, and brings beauty to a whole grander

and magnificent level.

Photo: Jeffrey Chan Workshop