09.11.12 Style
Remembering The Most Stylish Woman I’ve Ever Known
BY Janelle Malone
Today I would like to honor the most stylish woman I’ve ever known, my mother Rhonda Jean Malone. Today is the seventh anniversary of her death. She was a woman who looked beautiful first thing in the morning, she made at-home-casual look glam and she taught me that feeling and looking beautiful was our birthright.
My mum was a working mum- she wore only a lick of lipstick and clear varnish on her nails, but had a complexion to die for, which made every outfit look good. She worked tirelessly throughout our childhood and in my eyes, she was a beautiful superwoman. How she managed to mow the lawns, bake a cake and get three kids off to school still puzzles me today (not to mention get herself to work before 8:30am). In many ways my mum taught me; that while she had her own sense of style, it was okay for my sister and I to develop our own. My sister, Lauren, was a surfer chick back then. I was a sometimes hippy, but between nine and five, a working girl that, (and I cringe when I type this)…wore a suit!
Today there’s a lot of talk about style icons, particularly on blogs that discuss celebrities as style inspirations. In honor of my mother and all other women keeping it real, I want to embrace style for real women. Starting with my sister; a real style diva in her own right, who too has had her own style journey. She kindly reminded me that “we got our own personal style from what surrounded us throughout our childhood.” So, stay tuned for more on style from me. My mum was happy in her own skin and never wanted to be anybody else. I would like to think I’ve become that woman too. I felt my mother’s style embedded in everything she did, the way she cooked and kept fresh roses in the garden and then sprinkled them all throughout our home.
I am still learning to find my place in the kitchen as a mother and a wife. And when I feel a little lost, I hold onto the memories of lying on my mothers bed watching her have a ‘try on’ of outfits for the week ahead – a routine that I now practice like a ritual. Style is personal for everyone, I recently read an article that said, “a stylish house doesn’t make me a stylish person” and I really appreciated that. We all have our own sense of style and like my mum we should embrace who ‘we are’ and be comfortable in our own skin.
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