MyStories

A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’, when I found an article about Australia called ‘The frustration of perfection’. The article describes the country’s most attractive features, such as a low rate of unemployment and criminality, low corruption rates, high economic growth and a strong, independent judicial system. Let me confirm you this, everything is true.

But right at the end the writer changes completely his perception. According to him, because all of those good things, Australia is a boring paradise. The lack of problems have left Australians focused on trying to avoid death at whatever cause, mentioning a number of safety rules that are not likely to be implemented anywhere else. He argues that he doesn’t mean to mock this beautiful country, but at the same time he was happy to go back to the ‘Old Europe’s mess’.

After reading the article I felt obliged to say something. Let me tell you that the last thing I would call Australia is ‘a boring paradise’. For a start, that is already a contradiction, but let’s not go there. Australia is a country where equality is a reality. I arrived here from Colombia, my beautiful, tropical country, when I was 33 years old. I left my family, my job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and my entire life, looking for more adventure and a fresh start. It was a nice surprise to discover that here that is a normal thing to do. Women prefer to succeed in their professions, have fun, travel, and then, only then, settle up and form a family. It turned out that I was not late to find other passions, as I thought when I was living in Colombia. Lots of Australian girls settle at about 35 years old and you can often hear them in the bus talking between them on how happy they are to become mothers at 41! I love that!

Yet Australia’s best quality is freedom. Yes, simple, palpable, breathable freedom is what you feel walking completely alone on the streets of the city at 3am in the morning, knowing that absolutely nothing is going to happen to you! That is the best feeling in the world!

Living in Sydney has helped me develop my sense of style as well. A lot of people here care about fashion and you can see great outfits everywhere in the street. The street style is no Paris yet, but let’s say it is another refreshing way of style. With a more casual approach, Australian fashion reflects the woman comfortable with herself, who can look very stylish in plane colours like black and white. Australian women are tall, and they can manage to wear pants, a nice jacket and flats and look wonderful.

The good thing about living in different places is that you can keep your own style but adapt other ideas that will complement your personality and the way other people sees you. That applies for everything, and especially for fashion. I love Colombian style because is warm, passionate, driven and colourful. A style that is immerse in our identity and performs well with our features. We will never leave our big earrings at home. They identify us as latin americans, they are the delicate and feminine touch in our style.

But living in Sydney has also taught me that dressing in a comfortable way does also make you pretty. I love to go out just to see lots of women dressed nicely for their pilates and yoga classes. I see others with an elegant dress and sneakers heading off to work or taking a walk with their kids. And then I see others dressed up with designer clothes from head to toe, wearing their outfits with elegance and self confidence and reflecting their proud for their professional success.

I love to go on Pinterest where young girls like Margaret Zhang have taken Australian fashion to an international level. She is definitely my favourite street style star. A very young and talented Australian photographer who is also a writer, stylist, and a law student. (I love that she is showing other girls in Australia that you can do it all).

In Sydney it does not matter what your type of style is. It does not matter how you dress either as nobody is going to judge you. Dress as you like, express yourself, achieve your goals and be authentic. That’s what matters in life.

Luz