a message

Although this is a fashion blog, this is not going to be a fashion related post. I thought long and hard about writing this post and to be honest I was quite scared to share my story with you. As the days pass, my heart grows heavier and heavier and I know there is something I have to get off my chest. For the past few days I have listened to and read countless stories from different people, brave people who shared their feelings about the election and how it has impacted them. It has moved me in a such an enormous way, I knew I could no longer stay silent.

Tuesday November 8th 2016 will go down in history as one of the biggest upsets in our electoral system. While many Americans were in the polling booths, My boyfriend and I were exercising our rights in a different way. As we sat in the offices of Planned Parenthood hand in hand, I looked around at the faces of other women, each one with their own story, each one with their own pain. We were all there because we needed a place to turn to where we could make our own decisions about our bodies, a place where people wouldn't judge us, because it is our right to make these choices. In the waiting room I thought about my life and how scared I was, how I mulled over every little detail and every possibility before arriving at the decision I made. As each woman was called in one by one I could see in their faces they felt the same way I did. We had a silent bond. I knew they had all made the right choice for their own various reasons.

My name was finally called and I was lead into a small room. I felt a lump in my throat as the doctor and two nurses walked through the door. Even though I knew in my heart I made the right decision, it was still extremely painful and sad for me. Tears started welling up in my eyes and the kindest woman reached over to me and put her arm reassuringly around my shoulder. She glanced at my chart and said jokingly that her ex husband and I shared the same birthday, although she was sure she liked me much better than him. I cracked a smile through my tears. She dabbed my eyes with a tissue and held my hand as I slowly drifted to sleep. I will never forget her kindness and how she reached out to me, not as a nurse but as a human being with compassion.

Later on that night as I sat at home recovering and watching the election on the television, my heart began to sink. I watched as one by one a sea of red flooded each state. When they announced the new president, my heart broke into a million pieces as I knew my rights as a woman would be taken away from me. The rights that the women who came before me fought so hard to win, and now we have to fight just as hard to take back. I thought about the other women who sat in the waiting room with me only hours before, and my heart went out to each and every one of them. I hope they know that I stand with them. I stand with all women. I stand with every person who felt pain that night, the LGBTQ community, all of the Latin, Muslim, and African American families. As a woman, an immigrant, and a member of the LGBTQ community, I feel your heartache. I am with you, I feel you, I love you. Together we will heal, and together we will fight. Every action makes a difference, whether you are protesting, donating, sharing your story, or just simply listening.

I urge you to donate or volunteer for Planned Parenthood. They are the organization many turn to when they need help. The organization that makes us feel safe, gives free HIV testing, offers affordable birth control options, and abortion services. They need you now more than ever.

Photos by my friend Neil Favila, taken at the Los Angeles protests. Check out more of his work here.

a message

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Although this is a fashion blog, this is not going to be a fashion related post. I thought long and hard about writing this post and to be honest I was quite scared to share my story with you. As the days pass, my heart grows heavier and heavier and I know there is something I have to get off my chest. For the past few days I have listened to and read countless stories from different people, brave people who shared their feelings about the election and how it has impacted them. It has moved me in a such an enormous way, I knew I could no longer stay silent.

Tuesday November 8th 2016 will go down in history as one of the biggest upsets in our electoral system. While many Americans were in the polling booths, My boyfriend and I were exercising our rights in a different way. As we sat in the offices of Planned Parenthood hand in hand, I looked around at the faces of other women, each one with their own story, each one with their own pain. We were all there because we needed a place to turn to where we could make our own decisions about our bodies, a place where people wouldn't judge us, because it is our right to make these choices. In the waiting room I thought about my life and how scared I was, how I mulled over every little detail and every possibility before arriving at the decision I made. As each woman was called in one by one I could see in their faces they felt the same way I did. We had a silent bond. I knew they had all made the right choice for their own various reasons.

My name was finally called and I was lead into a small room. I felt a lump in my throat as the doctor and two nurses walked through the door. Even though I knew in my heart I made the right decision, it was still extremely painful and sad for me. Tears started welling up in my eyes and the kindest woman reached over to me and put her arm reassuringly around my shoulder. She glanced at my chart and said jokingly that her ex husband and I shared the same birthday, although she was sure she liked me much better than him. I cracked a smile through my tears. She dabbed my eyes with a tissue and held my hand as I slowly drifted to sleep. I will never forget her kindness and how she reached out to me, not as a nurse but as a human being with compassion.

Later on that night as I sat at home recovering and watching the election on the television, my heart began to sink. I watched as one by one a sea of red flooded each state. When they announced the new president, my heart broke into a million pieces as I knew my rights as a woman would be taken away from me. The rights that the women who came before me fought so hard to win, and now we have to fight just as hard to take back. I thought about the other women who sat in the waiting room with me only hours before, and my heart went out to each and every one of them. I hope they know that I stand with them. I stand with all women. I stand with every person who felt pain that night, the LGBTQ community, all of the Latin, Muslim, and African American families. As a woman, an immigrant, and a member of the LGBTQ community, I feel your heartache. I am with you, I feel you, I love you. Together we will heal, and together we will fight. Every action makes a difference, whether you are protesting, donating, sharing your story, or just simply listening.

I urge you to donate or volunteer for Planned Parenthood. They are the organization many turn to when they need help. The organization that makes us feel safe, gives free HIV testing, offers affordable birth control options, and abortion services. They need you now more than ever.

Photos by my friend Neil Favila, taken at the Los Angeles protests. Check out more of his work here.