If you’ve ever scrolled past a sunrise yoga post or a “clean girl” TikTok, you know wellness has become its own aesthetic. But beyond sleek leggings and matcha lattes, there’s a wild, creative heart to living well—something more improvisational than any strict routine. Balance isn’t a static pose; it’s a remix, a blend of the body, mind, and something that feels like soul, whatever your playlist. Here’s how I approach wellness as an evolving practice, with a foot in culture and an eye on style.
Wellness Is More Than a Mantra
Wellness, in the modern imagination, is as much Vogue cover shoot as it is medical journal. It’s in the scented candle glow of a Sunday reset, the artfully arranged smoothie bowls, and the poetry of a solitary walk through the park. But the best practices aren’t just borrowed from Instagram—they’re absorbed and reshaped, like a great jazz sample, into something that fits your actual life.
A few years ago, after an exhausting season of work and social obligations (the relentless parade of gallery openings, late-night ramen, and the existential crisis that is “what am I wearing to this?”), I realized I was showing up everywhere but rarely showing up for myself. Fashion has always been my armor and my playground—a place to experiment with identity and flirt with risk. But I started to see wellness as a way to curate my inner life with as much intention as my closet.
Rituals to Ground and Spark
Wellness, I’ve found, is equal parts ritual and rebellion. It’s about creating boundaries as lovingly as you layer on jewelry—deliberate, but never rigid. I started small: a ten-minute stretch to Nina Simone before sunrise, a cup of mint tea in a vintage mug, a quick sketch in my notebook before my phone lights up with notifications. These micro-moments, so ordinary and so easily skipped, became tiny acts of self-styling.
Ritual doesn’t have to mean routine. Sometimes it’s as simple as swapping your doom-scroll for a short walk, headphones full of Solange, letting your mind drift beyond the algorithm. Or lighting incense and setting a bold intention for your day—a personal runway show, even if the audience is just your reflection in the mirror. The ritual is in the repetition, but also in the improvisation. Like accessorizing an outfit, it’s the little twists that make it yours.
Fashion, Movement, and Mindfulness
Let’s talk about the intersection of fashion and movement—how you dress, how you move, and how both can become mindfulness practices in disguise. The right pair of pants or a vintage silk scarf isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about embodiment. When you choose clothes that make you feel unapologetically yourself, you’re setting the tone for your day before you even step out the door.
Movement doesn’t have to mean a strict gym regimen (unless that’s your thing—shout out to the 7 AM Pilates crowd). It could be dancing in your living room to Robyn, running up museum stairs in a sharply tailored coat, or gently stretching in the golden hour light. Treat movement like an art form; the goal isn’t just health, but presence. Style and wellness both thrive on intention and play.
Nature’s Palette
Modern life is a masterclass in overstimulation—emails, deadlines, TikTok trends morphing before you can blink. Tapping into nature, even in a city, is one of the most reliable ways I’ve found to recalibrate. Seek out green spaces, even if it’s just a tree-lined block or a window box herb garden. There’s a reason so many designers, from Stella McCartney to Issey Miyake, draw on natural forms and textures; nature’s palette reminds us that beauty is both organic and accidental.
I keep a Polaroid from a solo trip to Big Sur tucked inside a copy of Joan Didion’s “The White Album.” The photo is blurry—mist, cliffs, tangled hair—but it grounds me every time I see it. Nature doesn’t ask for performance; it invites presence. A slow walk through a sculpture garden, a picnic with friends in last season’s linen, even a few minutes watching rain streak the glass—these are wellness practices too.
Rest as Radical Self-Care
In a world that worships productivity, rest is a statement—one as bold as a sequined dress at a daytime brunch. Sleep is the quiet luxury that no one can see but everyone feels. The cult of “rise and grind” is out; the new icons are the nap-takers, the boundary-setters, the ones who romanticize a night in with a hardcover novel and a silk eye mask.
Rest takes practice, especially when every device in your apartment is engineered to keep you alert. I started treating my bedtime as a runway show—soft lighting, crisp pajamas, a spritz of lavender on the sheets. Rest, like fashion, is ritual: it’s the playlist you choose, the textures you crave, the boundaries you defend. This is where restoration happens, so you can step into tomorrow with clarity and a little swagger.
Social Wellness, Styled
True balance is rarely a solo pursuit. Social wellness—choosing the company you keep, the conversations that nourish you, the communities that feel like home—matters as much as any superfood. The style world is full of iconic pairings and dynamic duos (think André Leon Talley and Anna Wintour, or the original Studio 54 set), and our lives work the same way. Curate your circle with the same eye you bring to your closet: quality over quantity, always.
Host a dinner where phones are banned and the playlist is pure Sade, or block off time for an art crawl with a friend who makes you laugh until your mascara smudges. Social wellness is about boundaries, too—knowing when to say yes, and when to ghost in favor of your own company. As with style, the best connections are those that feel authentic and unforced.
Embracing the Remix
Wellness isn’t about perfecting some airbrushed version of yourself or achieving influencer-approved habits. It’s about finding the remix that works for you—pulling from the classics, sampling new tracks, and giving yourself permission to change up the beat. Maybe you start your Monday with a green juice, but end it with tarot cards and a guilty-pleasure romcom. Maybe your meditation is sketching runway looks or arranging wildflowers from the corner bodega.
Each of us is an evolving mood board—a blend of influences, rituals, and sudden bursts of inspiration. Wellness practices aren’t constraints; they’re creative tools for living with more presence, more style, more ease. Balance, at its best, looks less like perfection and more like art: a work in progress, open to interpretation, undeniably your own.
