style confidential

I love seeing runway looks on real people, worn with genuine style and panache. You know a person has real style when he or she makes you want something you've never even considered before, even though you've seen it in countless editorials and advertising spreads in magazines.

See Daria Werbowy, looking very cool in a tacky-glam Versace dress -



She makes it look so easy, like it's a sweater instead of a fancy dress that was designed to grab attention.

Here's Carine Roitfeld in Christopher Kane, and again, you can tell she really isn't trying to impress or working a look -



There were lots of girls wearing Christopher Kane at the same party Ms Roitfeld was at, but she was the only to really pull it off. Everyone else just looked kind of fashion victim-y.

And I never thought I would admire someone in Rodarte (I just don't get most of their stuff), but Cecilia Dean was such a breath of originality in this dress -



There are people who get drowned out by a dramatic gesture (I don't care that everyone seems to think Isabella Blow is a brilliant dresser, she always looks overwhelmed and sad to me) but Ms Dean has perfected that balancing act. It's a very cool, confident attitude.

I'll like to muster some of that attitude when I dress myself every day. I always like what I put on the mirror but when I head out, I start thinking that people wonder why I'm all dressed up and I start to feel a little weird - is my dress too short? Is this too much for the office? Maybe the bracelet was a bad idea.

I need to shut that voice in my head off, in other words. I never even really thought about this, until yesterdau during dinner with a friend, I was saying that maybe my dress was a little too much for the office we work in, and she said, "You know, that's just all in your head right?"

She's right.

Pictures from www.style.com