Imperfection is the truest form of chic
NYX eyeliner, a half-read romance novel stuffed in a tote bag and a watered-down, overpriced latte sweating in your hand on the way to class: this is the scattered feminine of the modern world.
This perfect femininity isn’t always about being put together, but is more about being alive, chic and deeply human. In a culture obsessed with the clean girl aesthetic, where slick back buns and beige color palettes reign supreme, existing outside of those standards can feel like being a black sheep. However, wearing a shirt that has been sitting on the floor for two days doesn’t make you any less fierce than the Bella Hadid look-alike sitting next to you in your psychology lecture. The true divine feminine of the modern world isn’t curated on a Pinterest board full of productivity; it’s hidden in the small, imperfect details of everyday life.
There is something timeless about a woman choosing herself. Picture Aubrey Hepburn in Paris, gliding over cobblestones, her lipstick faded but her elegance intact. However, for Mizzou students, it’s not Paris, it’s Missouri, and it’s Jesse Hall glowing under campus lights, not a Parisian boutique. Instead of brunch at an artsy cafe, it’s lukewarm coffee to get you to your 8 a.m. class and conversing with strangers in elevators and classrooms. No matter the setting, romanticize your life, even in its chaos. That is where the beauty begins.
To live the scattered feminine is to see your life as a film, even in the most unglamorous moments. The scattered feminine is found in late-night walks when campus grows quiet and full of possibility or the bravery of joining a new club, even when you don’t know a soul. There’s beauty in laughing too loud, making countless mistakes and realizing that growth doesn’t require discarding the person you once were. Messy is chaotic to some, but it is real. Authenticity, not perfection, is the foundation for building a life your younger self would dream of.
College, and life itself, can pressure you to become an entirely new person. It’s easy to view starting a fresh chapter as erasing your past, but real change isn’t about abandoning yourself; it is carrying your imperfections with confidence. Society treats failures as disasters, but they are proof of being alive. Being unbothered is being free, to stumble is to grow and choosing yourself again and again is the bravest action of all.
Some mornings, you may yearn for the clean girl aesthetic: perfect avocado toast breakfast, pilates at 6 a.m., perfect heatless curls, but most days? You’re the girl with tangled hair, eyeliner smudges and to-do lists scribbled on the back of receipts, and that’s chic too. There is power in romanticizing your chaos. So, dance through Lowry Mall like you’re in Paris, carry your romance book that you probably won’t read that day with a cracked spine, and sip on the overpriced latte that will be watered down before you are halfway through.
In modern society, women try to be perfect all the time, creating a facade that they are more than capable of fighting the challenges everyday life brings. However, being soft, vulnerable and even weak at times is not a negative thing. Women try to appear to be tough, perfectly presented and successful in every aspect of life, but that is impossible. We need to break down the idea that being a chic, beautiful, successful woman means being perfect 24/7. It is okay to stumble, but there’s also beauty in failure. You would never learn anything if your dream life was handed to you on a silver platter. Working for your dreams, failing, then getting back up is powerful.
One day, you’ll realize that the Pinterest aesthetic of perfection lacks the authenticity that makes life so vibrant. True beauty in life is not in control, but in surrender; it is in the scattered details and in the moments that make you feel most alive, instead of merely existing.