Cora Maria

I think confidence often comes naturally to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with it on occasion. How to have confidence in j-fashion is one of the most frequently asked questions in kawaii fashion spaces, and it seems like most advice given amounts to “Just don’t care about what other people think!” In this article, I would like to provide some more practical advice that I have found to work for myself and/or others. Find inspirational icons to follow For someone who struggles with confidence, this could be tricky since instead of being a source of inspiration, your chosen icons could become sources of comparison and insecurity. Don’t just support the people with the biggest wardrobes or the most conventionally attractive bodies; find people who are like you. If you’re a trans man, find trans men who dress in kawaii fashion. If you’re a person of colour, there are plenty of alternative fashion icons just like you! You can find style icons who are disabled,...

Photography by  @te.ssa.h  on Instagram. I'm sure we've all experienced the urge to buy something on impulse. You know the feeling. You see something cute, you want it, you check your bank account, you recheck the price, and you realize that this item will make your financial situation rather precarious until your next paycheque. But the item is trickling out of stock and it won’t be on sale for much longer... We’ve all been in this scenario or one like it. We’ve all got impulse purchases that we regret, regardless of whether we end up using it or not, and most of us are still trapped in the cycle of overconsumption. I believe that one of the best ways impulse shoppers can say no to more purchases, other than to remove the temptation to begin with, is by training ourselves to recognise the negative effect of an item before we buy it. Today, I hope to share with you my top four reasons why you shouldn’t buy The Thing. It’s Stressing You Out As soon as I r...

Photography by @vessmess_create What is a sustainable wardrobe exactly? Is it a capsule wardrobe? A minimal wardrobe? A wardrobe only comprised of sustainably produced, DIY, secondhand, or expensive pieces? When you define a sustainable wardrobe strictly by those parameters, a lot of people are left behind. Not everyone has the time, energy, resources, or skill to make their own clothes. Not everyone can afford or fit into sustainable brands. Not everyone can find their size or style in thrift shops. In my quest to make the sustainable fashion movement accessible to everyone, I offer you a guide on how to curate your own sustainable wardrobe regardless of background and/or circumstance. Replace the fast fashion mindset with a sustainable one. I strongly believe that the only thing you need to create a sustainable wardrobe is to have a sustainable fashion mindset. While the fast fashion mindset encourages you to buy based on price, convenience, and quantity without qu...

Photography by @vessmess_create The first time I heard of sweatshops was in primary school. I can’t remember the details, but my class and the one next door were sitting in front of our teachers who, in the middle of reading or teaching or making announcements, had somehow gone on a tangent where they briefly talked about children in sweatshops. This was in 2010. Three years before Rana Plaza. The first time I heard of sustainable fashion was in my first year of university. I can’t remember the details, but out of a list of six social enterprises, I chose to do an assignment on Undress Runways . I watched Edda Hamar’s Ted Talk on the harsh realities of the fast fashion industry. I watched her explain the origin of the $15 dress she wore, and I watched her take it off, undo a belt, and a bamboo dress tumbled to her ankles. On the Undress Runways website, I flicked through the brands she featured on her runway. None of them, apart from one that looked to be inactive, looked li...

@blueserenade A year ago, I decided that I was no longer going to support the fast fashion industry whenever possible. I could no longer, in good conscious, give my money and attention to such a cruel and corrupt industry. Because I never relied 100% on fast fashion, I wasn't missing much, and I have since opted for more sustainable alternatives and ways of thinking. I won’t detail the ethical and environmental issues of fast fashion here, but I will give you my top five reasons why I don’t miss fast fashion from a consumer perspective. If you are someone who does still shop fast fashion for any reason, please read this article: ‘How to be Sustainable if Fast Fashion is Your ONLY Option’ . It’s poor quality. Some of it is admittedly decent, and some of it is absolutely shoddy. At Factorie, I bought a purple and white striped top with a lovely pink around the neck hole but after one wash it shrank and became nearly unwearable, insisting that it exposed a ...

Today I finally achieved a dream I was afraid to pursue for years. My first ever YouTube videos are now live. In my first video, 'From Blogging to Vlogging' , I explain why I wanted to create a channel to compliment this blog, as well as what kind of content you can look forward to. My second video is a pastel rainbow haulternative showing you some of the cute, ethical, and sustainable clothes and accessories I have obtained over the past few months. I'm still new to this, I'm still learning, and I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be that great and I need practice, but I am so proud of myself for finally overcoming my fear and making and posting my first videos after numerous failed attempts. Subscribe to my new channel now!