Ever since my mom and I shot Tasya van Ree in LA last month (whose physical beauty, tattoos, drawings and photographs made me fall totally in love), I became obsessed with how she wears a hat with everything. Her simple, laidback outfits become complete and sophisticated with the addition of one of her fedoras. My mom and I always laugh about how I have "no edge" style-wise. Though this is a loving joke between us, there is some truth, since I feel as far from a "badass" as one can get in my style and in my personality (my mom is WAY more badass than I am), and I have always dressed with a certain degree of "softness" or "wholesomeness."

At all of our StyleLikeU parties, I usually feel like the most boring person in the room, and I am totally OK with that. My trademark outfits are a high-waisted skirt, a cropped top, a pair of dangly, ethnic earrings and ballet slippers. Here and there, though, I feel inspired to step out of my comfort zone and see how a little extra pazazz or somethin-somethin makes me feel, like when I bought my motorcycle jacket, when I force myself to wear a curves-embracing My Curves and Me bikini to the beach, or when I don't shy away from my height and venture out in heels.

Tasya inspired one of these "badass" moments in me. After our shoot with her, I went on a hat hunt. The Monday my mom and I got back from LA, we wondered around the Lower East Side until we stumbled into a random vintage shop and found my perfect, black fedora. Every time I wore it, I felt a little lifted. Then, a few weeks later, seeing a circular, wider-brimmed hat in the Rag and Bone window, I decided to go for that too. I have been wearing both hats every single day, and it has totally rejuvenated and re-inspired my sense of style (even though sometimes I feel like a bit of a fraud).

Though I still feel most myself in my more understated, feminine style, it's been refreshing to remember the empowerment that can come from stepping out of the boxes that I have limited myself to and feeling how a piece of clothing can transform the way I feel in the world and the way that the world receives me.

 Read Lily's post about her struggles with body image, Accept It, Fix It?