Twenty Eight
The day has come. I am officially twenty eight. Since I launched the Crystal Avenue back in February of 2014, I have celebrated turning another year older and created different birthday looks that represented how I felt on turning another chapter of my life, as well as reflecting on the changes that occurred and my aspirations for the next 365 days. Today is no different.
As I close another chapter of my life, I reflected on what I looked forward to in being twenty seven and I would like to say I accomplished more than I thought I would. I stayed stern, fulfilled my wanderlust soul, spent more time with loved ones even with moving to Los Angeles at the end of August, grew the Crystal Avenue a little bit, lived in the moment, and most importantly, defined what self love means to me.
For the next 365 days, I look forward to the following:
- Working smarter towards my work and creative goals
- Making more time to volunteer and give back to different communities
- Continuing to get out of my comfort zone
- Refining what self love means to me as I get older
- Letting go of things I cannot control
- Wanderlusting
- Opening my heart and forgiving myself
- Finding more time in my day for my loved ones, near or far
In the last few years, I have been creating themes around my birthday shoots on the Crystal Avenue. For my “Twenty Eight” birthday shoot, I have been curating and planning these looks for roughly a year now. Can you guess what the theme is and why I have three different looks?
A year ago, I began asking my friends and family members randomly what color do I represent to them. I advised them not to ask me any follow up questions until a year later. So now the cat is out of the bag. After collecting all of the data and reasonings, I narrowed down the colors to the top three: White, Baby Pink and Periwinkle to epitomize me at twenty eight.
Before I go into the reasonings of each color, I find it interesting how people perceive you when you ask them. I honestly was not sure of what my inner circle of friends and family members would say and the fact that there would be a commonality. Hence Ellen Degeneres’ quote “Sometimes you can’t see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others” hones home for my “Twenty Eight” post and where I am now. Thank you to all my friends and family members who I surveyed - you guys are my MVPs and thank you for seeing me in a lovely spectrum.
My sister Michelle has been shooting my birthday looks since I began the Crystal Avenue and I knew this year was not going to be any different. When I introduced the theme to her, she absolutely loved it and took the concept further by wanting to photograph me in a forest, and told me to imagine if I was a chameleon.
Thus to start, we’ll begin with the beginning of the color spectrum: white. The color white represents light, goodness, innocence, and purity. Although my friends and family agreed that is what I represent, they also added that white is also my spontaneous and adventurous side. When I was in my early twenties, I was very shy and more hesitant on trying new things. However my friends and family members reminded me how far I have come with my new go getter personality and how encouraging I am towards everyone’s endeavors. And so, for my first look, I chose a jumpsuit to represent just that. I haven’t shared a jumpsuit look on the Crystal Avenue as I was unsure if I could pull off a jumpsuit, so I decided why not try today. I know the Vesper Contrast Tuxedo Jumpsuit from ASOS is not completely white. However I loved the masculine contrast the tuxedo look gives off, which is also something I have not tried on the Crystal Avenue.
To style the Vesper Contrast Tuxedo, I wanted to continue the edginess by wearing square earrings and a bold lip for the color contrast. I then paired the look with a pair of white and black heels to match the tuxedo look.
The second color my friends and family said they associated me with is baby pink. Baby pink is a delicate color that represents sweetness, femininity and tenderness. My inner circle stated I am baby pink because I am a kid at heart, open minded, bubbly, too sweet for my own good, yet very motherly. To play on the mood baby pink exudes, I wanted to create a simple look that I would wear either on a date, at a concert with friends, or while running errands in Los Angeles.
As I am a spring kid and am a sucker for making a statement with off the shoulder pieces, I went for a baby pink off the shoulder top from Lulus. What I love about this top is how free flowing it is, which is absolutely perfect for the summers in Los Angeles. I then paired the top with white shorts to accent the top. I kept my accessories representative of the theme of love and chose a pair of heart shaped earrings. If you know me personally, I am sure you can hear my laugh (maybe it is a cackle) after looking at the below photos.
Lastly, the last color for my “Twenty Eight” photo series is periwinkle. The color periwinkle represents serenity, tranquility, and strength. When my inner circle stated that I represented periwinkle, I wanted to be in a gown to showcase the characteristics as well as my artistic side. If you haven’t been following me for a while, Lulus has been my go to online retailer for all dresses. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to find a periwinkle gown, but luckily, Lulus had the perfect gown to embody my serenity, tranquility and strength. What is also intriguing about this dress is how easy you can convert and design the bodice of the dress to your liking, which allows you to wear the dress differently each time you want to show off this number. Personally, I did not want to add much more to this look because I wanted the focal point to be the gown. Therefore, I only put my hair in a simple bun and wore a pair of rose gold earrings.
To conclude, which look was your favorite? Also would you guys be interested in knowing the other colors and seeing the looks I would create with those colors in a future post? Let me know down in the comments below.
Here is to being twenty eight and still looking like I am in my early twenties! See you all on my social media handles and on my next post on the Crystal Avenue.
Photography by Chelle Nguyen
