I want to say a few years ago, I am unsure exactly of when it happened but I started following the label “Mister Zimi” on Instagram.

Being someone who always wears black, people assume that I do not like color or patterns but they are very, very wrong.

I gradually fell head over heels for the incredible prints and colors from the brand and started dreaming about buying a dress from them. The biggest problem being, they were all very flowy and maxi style dresses, jumpsuits and two piece sets, none of which usually suit my body type. But I kept stalking their feed anyway.

When in Byron Bay last year, I dragged my Mom in to look at some of the dresses in their store. But I just kept saying to her sadly, “they just won’t suit my body type”. For years my poor Mother had put up with the daily sharing of instagram posts from Mister Zimi. Each time I would always exclaim “I just wish this would look good on me, but I know it won’t”.

After what must have been hundreds of posts, one day I finally said, “I might be able to pull this one off”. I didn’t think much of it or even remember doing this because at this point I was basically spamming my Mom’s instagram DM’s with photos of Mister Zimi clothes and cute schnauzer pictures.

But my adorable Mother remembered and she went out and bought me the dress, which was waiting for me on my bed when I came home to Sydney for a few days. My heart honestly melted but at the same time I was super nervous that she had gone to all this effort and it wouldn’t look good on me.

So I tried it on and suddenly realized that it had all been in my head. I loved the dress on me. I didn’t even look remotely large in the dress. I even wondered if maybe I had convinced myself I looked okay in the mirror but if I saw a photo of myself later that I would look awful. I didn’t even want to look when we took a photo at dinner. But lo and behold, through one eye I looked at the family photo and I didn’t look bad at all. In fact, I looked really happy and slim!

My Mom facetimed me last week in her new Mister Zimi blouse and I have already sent her photos of other dresses I am definitely buying from Mister Zimi. Not only am I obsessed with my new dress, I definitely learnt that sometimes we tell ourself things in our heads that really aren’t based in reality. I always thought I had a pretty strong grasp on what suited my color and body type, but suddenly I am questioning everything and the world seems filled with opportunities. Opportunities filled with fun prints and bright colors!

Bring on Summer!