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Doubt, Dressed Differently

Doubt, Dressed Differently

Doubt, Dressed Differently

Doubt. Such a scary word, a wearisome one. A word we’ve all dealt with, experienced in its raw and true form. As humans, we may doubt the way we look; we may doubt the little gestures we make. It’s so silly at the end of the day, isn’t it?

by

Onelia Helene

2 min read

2 min read

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Blog Image
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Photographed by Robert E. Jackson (Collection: Women in Mirrors)

Photographed by Robert E. Jackson (Collection: Women in Mirrors)

Photographed by Robert E. Jackson (Collection: Women in Mirrors)


When you realise you’ve given doubt so much power, and in return, you’ve hindered yourself without wanting to. All because doubt is potent. It’s addictive, and yet, it shapes us. It shapes us when we decide to stop looking at doubt through a negative lens.


As a doubtful person myself, I stepped forward towards my smudgy mirror the other day and did a double-take. The khaki pants and whimsically colourful top I was wearing suddenly looked ridiculous. Maybe I shouldn’t go out in that top? But the pants, though… they kind of look bulky and bizarre… I do like the top? Maybe I should just wear that? An endless loop of ‘maybes’ and ‘what-ifs’.


I stopped to think: what if doubt was necessary? A tool for our imagination and innovation.



Doubt in creativity can open doors to alternative ideas and explore new perspectives. By digging through my closet, wanting to find a new pair of pants, I found one that finally suited my colourful top in a more flattering way. Maybe I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t doubted my first option. The initial idea of doubt triggers caution, but when we dare to glance behind the glass, we can begin to understand its curiosity disguised as doubt.


It’s a natural phenomenon that can be useful to help us avoid stagnation and repeating notions that overconfidence can bring us. By creating assumptions, we’ve paved the way to millions of opportunities that may not have existed.


Images courtesy of Schiaparelli

Tom Ford Directing A Single Man with Colin Firth. Photo Courtesy of Collider


And fashion, after all, is built on a second glance. A flouncy silk silhouette will continuously find itself altered; a colour that once seemed completely wrong becomes the one thing that makes the entire piece work. Designers and critics ask questions that already exist and proceed to question their own questions. And we tend to see the finished product, the runway moment, the photograph where everything all seems so effortless without understanding the constant critique and doubt behind it that made it better.


Tom Ford, the American fashion designer, detailed how he constantly doubted himself. He doubts himself until the very last minute. Questioning your ideas and your creativity is what will lead you to find something that feels right for you. He showcases that doubt does not disappear once you’ve become successful. The difference is, you learn how to manipulate and utilise it to the best of its ability.

Because there is a kind of doubt that asks: what will everyone else think? And then one that asks: how can I make this better?


They’re inherently different and lead us to critical creative thinking that pushes us forward within our mindset and outcome, no matter the project. There’s the contrast: one asks us to shrink ourselves, and the other asks us to listen to our opinions and critiques.



Like my personal anecdote, which I’m sure most of you readers have experienced, can be seen as the road to the creative process. Now, imagine designers like Tom Ford who go through these phases from start to finish. Going beyond the final stages of a runway show with continuous touch-ups.


Though obtaining this mindset is anything but easy, as we are our biggest critics, and negative doubt covers us in harsh ways. There’s a friction that will nonetheless drown you in frustration. But that frustration is useful and tells us to pause, reconsider and experiment with something as simple as an outfit.


As wanderers in the creative industry, it’s a challenge we must overcome. When negative self-doubt becomes too loud, it convinces us we need something better. Better ideas, better circumstances, more experience. This prevents us from pulling the trigger on new inspiration. But the answer isn’t to get rid of doubt; it’s to learn which doubts deserve attention. One that forces us to go beyond our baseline thinking.



Like my personal anecdote, which I’m sure most of you readers have experienced, can be seen as the road to the creative process. Now, imagine designers like Tom Ford who go through these phases from start to finish. Going beyond the final stages of a runway show with continuous touch-ups.


Though obtaining this mindset is anything but easy, as we are our biggest critics, and negative doubt covers us in harsh ways. There’s a friction that will nonetheless drown you in frustration. But that frustration is useful and tells us to pause, reconsider and experiment with something as simple as an outfit.


As wanderers in the creative industry, it’s a challenge we must overcome. When negative self-doubt becomes too loud, it convinces us we need something better. Better ideas, better circumstances, more experience. This prevents us from pulling the trigger on new inspiration. But the answer isn’t to get rid of doubt; it’s to learn which doubts deserve attention. One that forces us to go beyond our baseline thinking.



So the next time you feel the grumbling of doubt whispering into your ear, rather than silence it—you listen to it. You listen to the voice that asks whether a thought feels like you, the voice that makes us look twice at ourselves.


Because creativity doesn’t grow from certainty alone, it blooms from a spark of a raised eyebrow, an outfit changed a handful of times, and an idea that was almost abandoned.


Despite popular thinking, doubt was never truly an enemy; it was a misunderstood emotion within creative thinking.


Tom Ford Directing A Single Man with Colin Firth. Photo Courtesy of Collider

@yenstudio. _

@yenstudio. _

Images courtesy of Schiaparelli


So the next time you feel the grumbling of doubt whispering into your ear, rather than silence it—you listen to it. You listen to the voice that asks whether a thought feels like you, the voice that makes us look twice at ourselves.


Because creativity doesn’t grow from certainty alone, it blooms from a spark of a raised eyebrow, an outfit changed a handful of times, and an idea that was almost abandoned.


Despite popular thinking, doubt was never truly an enemy; it was a misunderstood emotion within creative thinking.



And fashion, after all, is built on a second glance. A flouncy silk silhouette will continuously find itself altered; a colour that once seemed completely wrong becomes the one thing that makes the entire piece work. Designers and critics ask questions that already exist and proceed to question their own questions. And we tend to see the finished product, the runway moment, the photograph where everything all seems so effortless without understanding the constant critique and doubt behind it that made it better.


Tom Ford, the American fashion designer, detailed how he constantly doubted himself. He doubts himself until the very last minute. Questioning your ideas and your creativity is what will lead you to find something that feels right for you. He showcases that doubt does not disappear once you’ve become successful. The difference is, you learn how to manipulate and utilise it to the best of its ability.

Because there is a kind of doubt that asks: what will everyone else think? And then one that asks: how can I make this better?


They’re inherently different and lead us to critical creative thinking that pushes us forward within our mindset and outcome, no matter the project. There’s the contrast: one asks us to shrink ourselves, and the other asks us to listen to our opinions and critiques.


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