Today I woke to the news that one of my favorite inspirational fashion icons, Alexa Chung, is starting her own fashion label. Long an admirer of her unique and understated sense of style, I find she is also witty, charming and refreshingly down to earth. I discovered this by stumbling on her amusing and fabulous book, It. In an article today in the Business of Fashion announcing the label, she honestly and openly talks about the stepping stones that led her to feel she could undertake the “feat” of starting her own label. According to the dictionary stepping stones are “an undertaking or event that helps one to make progress towards a specified goal.”
On my future to-do list for Accidental Icon, in addition to editing an on-line magazine, is to work with a creative director and develop a capsule collection. Like Chung, I need to see everything that I do as a stepping stone. The culmination of 10 years of hard work, such as collaborating with brands, working as an editor at large for Vogue and being a TV host, Alexa calls the new line the “resting place” for all those experiences and ideas. A wonderful reminder that good things take time as well as humility, new learning and hard work.
So when I feel like I just do not have the energy to have one more meeting, to write one more post, to make one more appointment, answer another email or feel like things are not moving fast enough, I need to remember Alexa Chung and all the stones it took her to make the path to the exciting news I heard today. Congratulations to her!
What stepping stones do you need to traverse to get to your “resting place”?
My goodness, we will all be following your path over the stepping stones, waiting to see what you develop! I am sure it is wildly exciting and hugely daunting at this moment.
A wise (and musical) colleague once sang us a song that started with these words:
Step by step,
The longest March
Can be done,
Can be done…
I go by Guts Glory Glitter! "guts" is the determination to do it! , "glory" is doing it, "glitter" is it’s done, it’s an achievement !
Can not wait to follow your path over your own stepping stones as I am sure it will be sooo exciting. I just wonder how you find enough hours in the day to do everything.
I seem to have arrived rather suddenly at a place where I can take time to mend, pit cherries to dry, take pleasure in cutting back giant blackberry vines and listen closely to what someone is saying. From here I think I can decide what is important instead of always being in reaction to what is coming my way.
Thanks, Lyn. I love the glimpses into your process.
I seem to have arrived rather suddenly at a place where I can take time to mend, pit cherries to dry, take pleasure in cutting back giant blackberry vines and listen closely to what someone is saying. From here I think I can decide what is important instead of always being in reaction to what is coming my way.
Thanks, Lyn. I love the glimpses into your process.
I applied the planning skills I had acquired over years of setting up new health services to my second "go" as an actor and that has helped me create those stepping stones. We are different from twenty somethings embarking on new lives precisely because we have a reservoir of skills and experience that we need to remember to draw upon. I’ve also found that when I’m faced with a new challenge and the "reservoir" has nothing to offer then finding the humility to ask a young person for help/advice seems to locate the next stepping stone.
When my not daughter in law and her band the Tuts were playing Galstonbury last year (pause for a quick brag!) they met Alexa and found her to be really lovely. Isn’t it nice when people we admire don’t turn out to have feet of clay when we meet them in the flesh!!
I applied the planning skills I had acquired over years of setting up new health services to my second "go" as an actor and that has helped me create those stepping stones. We are different from twenty somethings embarking on new lives precisely because we have a reservoir of skills and experience that we need to remember to draw upon. I’ve also found that when I’m faced with a new challenge and the "reservoir" has nothing to offer then finding the humility to ask a young person for help/advice seems to locate the next stepping stone.
When my not daughter in law and her band the Tuts were playing Galstonbury last year (pause for a quick brag!) they met Alexa and found her to be really lovely. Isn’t it nice when people we admire don’t turn out to have feet of clay when we meet them in the flesh!!
Excited about your new adventures and Alexa’s too.
Stepping stone to overcome: trusting my own process and not comparing myself to others.
Ahh your white is refreshing.
Great article! I guess everything we do as passion, feeling it from inside our heart could represent stepping stones.
Great article! I guess everything we do as passion, feeling it from inside our heart could represent stepping stones.
I’d really love to see a capsule collection from you!
I’d really love to see a capsule collection from you!
Can I say "sleep"? Haha
Greetje
Can I say "sleep"? Haha
Greetje
Well first of all Lyn, I was so surprised when I pulled up your blog homepage and saw you in off-white. I love it on you!!! It’s nice to change it up sometimes and I love that you are experimenting with more color. I can’t wait to see how you style all of it. Secondly, I appreciate your writing about Alexa Chung (love her) and the stepping stones she took to finally get to doing her own clothing line. You will get there and I look forward to watching it all happen. I, too, am on a mission to do more – my own shoe line. A step a day towards a resting place for all of the ideas I have had percolating for years…
Cherie
http://www.stylenudge.com
STYLE NUDGE
Well first of all Lyn, I was so surprised when I pulled up your blog homepage and saw you in off-white. I love it on you!!! It’s nice to change it up sometimes and I love that you are experimenting with more color. I can’t wait to see how you style all of it. Secondly, I appreciate your writing about Alexa Chung (love her) and the stepping stones she took to finally get to doing her own clothing line. You will get there and I look forward to watching it all happen. I, too, am on a mission to do more – my own shoe line. A step a day towards a resting place for all of the ideas I have had percolating for years…
Cherie
http://www.stylenudge.com
STYLE NUDGE