How I Inherited My Mother’s Minimalist Style

Culling through old family photographs, it recently dawned on me that not only do I look like more and more like my mother everyday but that I have also inherited her pragmatic and minimalist style of dress. She will laugh when she reads this because she doesn’t consider herself as stylish at all. She views herself as practical in her frugality. Others, including Julie Carlson, editor-in-chief, good friend and arbiter of good taste at Remodelista, describe her as elegant.  My mother taught me the value of amortizing a few good items in your closet in contrast to the waste of buying an “outfit” for every occasion.

During my summers at university, I worked as a waitress. What I earned in those three months was my entire clothing budget for the upcoming year. This is when I fully appreciated my mother’s message and honed my skills at mixing and matching from a few key pieces and ultimately acquired my confidence in what worked for me then and continues to work for me today.

It’s my mother’s 79th birthday today. Every year on this day,  I struggle with what I could possibly give her to show her my fullest appreciation for everything she has done for my two brothers, sister and me. So in the same spirit of dedicating a yoga practice to someone you love, I dedicate this post to my mother, the ultimate Fabster. Happy Birthday, Ma Ma (Chinese for Mother) and thank you for your simple and elegant style.

N.B.: This post was originally published on My Contents Have Shifted.