'My personal style was non-existent. A bright yellow Zara jacket changed everything.'

Eight years ago, while on holiday in Italy with my husband, I spotted a bright yellow quilted jacket in the shop front window of Zara in Venice. 

I have to have that jacket, I thought.

I was in Italy. It was the middle of winter. Zara’s shop front window says this is what I should be wearing. 

I went inside to find the jacket, only to be told it was sold out.

While you're here, watch what the Mamamia team are wearing. Story continues after video.

The proof was in the pudding - if it was sold out then it must be the in thing to wear.

And so the search began. From Venice to Milan – sold out. Milan to Florence – sold out. Florence to Naples – sold out. The further we travelled and the more stores we visited, the more obsessed I became with needing this jacket. The world was saying I couldn’t have it, which made me want it more.

Finally, as we roamed Rome, there it was in the Zara shop front window. I dared to be disappointed one last time.

But there it was. On the rack and in my size.

I grabbed it off the hanger, and right there in the middle of the store, I tried on the yellow jacket. 

And I didn’t love it. 

Can you believe that? I didn’t love it. My husband said it looked good, but I just wasn’t feeling it. 

By this stage I felt obligated to buy it. I had worked myself up and led my husband down many dark alleys in every Italian province to buy this bloody jacket. So, I smiled and bought it. 

I didn’t wear that jacket in Italy. Every time I looked at it, I thought, where would you even wear this jacket? It’s so yellow. We returned home to Australia, and I put the jacket in the cupboard, where it has stayed for the last eight years. Unworn. In perfect condition. Until now.

I continue to be amazed by Mia Freedman’s love of clothes and her daily self-expression through jeans, dresses, vests, sequins, and prints. I tune in to Mamamia’s fashion podcast, What Are You Wearing?, always feeling a little more confident to try something new. I follow StylebyDeni’s Instagram for the confidence and glitz; I follow Tamara Holland's Instagram to drool over her look of sophisticated cool.

Recently, on a sunny winter morning on the Gold Coast, as I readied for a small birthday breakfast gathering for my sister, I caught the yellow whisper of the jacket sleeve poking out from my open cupboard. Suddenly, I was compelled to try it on. I felt as though a fashion fairy godmother – a mishmash of Tamara and Deni – tapped me on the shoulder and said, do it!

When I put that bright yellow jacket on for the second time in eight years, it was like seeing it for the first time in the shop window in Venice. I loved it. 

And this time, I loved it on me.

The Zara jacket. Image: Supplied.

I paired it with my boyfriend jeans, black ankle boots, and a black t-shirt. I kept repeating to myself, you can pull this off because you actually love it. I strutted all the way to breakfast feeling radiant. I remember thinking to myself, this is me. This is who I truly am. 

When my sister saw me, she said, "What’s going on with you lately? The last few times I’ve seen you, you have looked amazing." To which I replied, "I’m finally dressing like myself."

The reality is, I probably thought that yellow jacket would make me seem like a certain person. Maybe an attention seeker? Maybe a person with zero fashion sense. Maybe I just didn’t really understand how to wear it because fashion has never been my strong point. Because I’ve never cared enough about it. 

Image: Supplied.

But as I’ve been marinating more and more into my thirties (I'm 36), I realise what I do care about, and what I am passionate about, is being more myself in every way possible. Of experimenting and wearing every new version of myself, despite what anyone else thinks of me or my clothes.

Before now, I was dressing in a way that helped me to fly under the radar.

The yellow jacket hasn’t changed a single bit in eight years, but I have. I’m becoming more myself every day. One yellow jacket, and sequinned dress, at a time.

Tiare Snow-Thompson is the founder of Guiltless, a book and wine subscription box launching September 2022. Tiare is an author, mum of three, wife of one, and works towards abolishing #mumguilt one book (and wine) at a time.

Feature Image: Supplied/Mamamia.