This month marks 10 years since I started my fashion blog (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it was originally, and for most of those 10 years, called Graceful Rags). I can hardly wrap my head around it… I’m only 26, so that means I’ve been blogging for nearly 40% of my life. I’ve stuck with this through high school, college, a global pandemic, study abroad, and my first real job. That’s something to be proud of.

I wish I had better documented my motivations and thoughts when I first started Graceful Rags in 2016, during the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school (check out my first blog post ever!). I remember starting my cost per wear spreadsheet in my computer apps class sophomore year and logging my outfits every day in my seventh period English class (when I should have been paying attention…). I loved following some of the big-name blogs at the time, such as Gal Meets Glam and Atlantic-Pacific, getting home every day from school and reading the latest posts while I ate my afternoon snack. While I loved their outfits, they were so “out-there” and expensive, and I knew I wanted to share more realistic fashion on my own website.

Oh how times have changed! When I started blogging, the term “influencer” wasn’t even in the lexicon yet. And people still read blogs (at least a little) compared to now, where I can’t hold someone’s attention on a video that’s longer than seven seconds. The fashion has changed a lot too… I loved the bright colors and statement necklaces of 2016, even though those would be considered wildly out of style today (though I would be lying if I said I didn’t keep all my statement necklaces and skinny jeans in a box, waiting for them to come back into style).

My mom was very against me starting a blog when I first pitched the idea (truthfully, she still doesn’t love it). And looking back at my early blog posts, I understand why. I look SO young! Like I’m 12! And the internet is a weird place, full of creeps. I’ve had my share of creepy interactions but I try to keep those to myself…

I really loved putting together this Instagram post, which was a walk down memory lane of the many “eras” of my blog. I’ve grown and changed so much in the past decade, albeit slowly. Sometimes I wonder if I would have thousands and thousands of followers by now if I had “played the game” sooner. For so long, I resisted Instagram. And then I resisted making videos instead of posting photos. And then I resisted TikTok. All of these are things I eventually caved into, but I feel pretty confident that I would be more “successful” by conventional metrics if I had jumped on the bandwagon sooner.

Which brings me to two of the biggest lessons I have learned through blogging:

1. If you’re interested in starting a business/venture/hobby that you hope could make money some day, invest time and energy in the name. For so many years I was embarrassed and self-conscious about my blog’s title. I didn’t feel proud to tell people about my hobby, and the name didn’t convey well what my blog was about. The second I changed it to Grace per Wear, my whole demeanor and outlook towards my blog changed. Now I want to tell anyone and everyone about it! And that excitement shows through my work.

I jumped on a name too soon—because I was excited about my blog and just wanted to start—but that led to a lot of anguish in the long-run. A name change and rebrand isn’t impossible… but it’s a lot of work (and money) that could be saved by taking the time to fall in love with a name up-front.

. . . . .

2. Embrace change!!! (With caveats.) Like I mentioned, I’ve been slow to adapt every step of the way in my blogging journey—and I’ve been punished for it. Part of my resistance to videos, or TikTok, or whatever, was that I liked to do my blog a certain way and didn’t want to sacrifice some of my values in content creation. Yes, there’s something to be said for having scruples, but if you really want to be successful by conventional standards, you have to play the game (at least to some extent)—or be okay with “failing.”

This is something I’ve really carried into my other pursuits and into life in general. Resisting change can be naïve, slow you down, and even halt your progress entirely. I’m not saying you have to enjoy said change, or even fully support it, but you have to acknowledge and understand it instead of burying your head in the sand. Artificial Intelligence is a great example. Do I like it? I find it useful sometimes. Do I think it’s scary? Absolutely. But I’m not going to not learn how to use it in the hope it goes away… because it won’t.

. . . . .

I’m sure there are lots of other small things I’ve learned in the past 10 years (perhaps worthy of its own post), but those are the two big lessons I come back to time and time again.

Last year was the first time I truly celebrated my blogiverary by dressing up, buying balloons, and doing a fun photoshoot. It was admittedly a bit cringy—but I also feel it was worth celebrating, and I wish I had started celebrating my blog milestones sooner. I didn’t feel the need to do balloons again, so this year I decided (the night before, naturally) to bake and decorate a fancy cake as a fun prop for anniversary photos. I have somehow gotten sucked into the world of cake decorating TikTok videos and I can’t stop. They’re so satisfying to watch!

Since I made this cake with very little preparation, I used regular storebought frosting with food coloring—it was very difficult and soft to work with, but about halfway through I learned to chill the frosting first to make it a little more firm. I don’t love how the light purple frosting pairs with my dress (I tried to make them more complementary) but oh well! For a first attempt I am very proud of how this cake turned out. At least… on the outside. It tasted terrible! It was so sickeningly sweet (I used a GF cake mix I haven’t used before). Next time I will invest more time and energy to make sure it tastes as good as it looks.

As for the outfit… Originally I was going to wear my light purple prom dress, but it was really hot on the day I took photos—and I didn’t want to sweat through the dress then have to get it dry-cleaned. So I pivoted to this dark purple number instead, which was my bridesmaids dress for my brother’s wedding. The color is so pretty in person, though it photographs kind of funky—sometimes it looks eggplant, other times burgundy. I was too lazy to curl my hair so I did a little updo with a sparkly butterfly hair clip. After taking photos my boyfriend and I went out to our favorite sushi restaurant for a celebratory dinner!

Thank you to everyone who has followed and supported me all these years. It’s been such a learning experience, and I can’t imagine what life would be like without my blog—it really feels like a part of me! Cheers to however many years lie ahead.

 

Miles of smiles,

Grace

 

Dress: David’s Bridal, $165 ($55 per wear) | Silver Heels: DSW, $40 ($1.43 per wear), last worn here | Purse: DSW, $5 ($1.00 per wear), last worn here