I want to make the world a lovelier place

by Stephanie Emma
(Shrewsbury, England)

I'm almost nineteen and have grown up in a house of good taste but not necessarily elegance. My parents were very sporty in their youth and so my mother isn't really bothered with girly things like make-up - however, as I've grown up I have got more interested in clothes and make-up, having attended a girls' school for four years, and thus being suddenly thrust from a tomboy's life into a world of hairspray, skirts and high heels!

Taking inspiration from my prettiest peers I have taught myself how to look elegant, and now adore fashion and wearing make-up. Much to my delight, as I've got older and more ladylike, my mother has lost a lot of excess weight and discovered her own love of shopping for lovely, good quality clothes.

This year is my year out between school and university, and it has allowed me a lot of time for self-reflection. What I've realised is that the idea of elegance and loveliness really is of paramount importance to me, and indeed, that the modern world is tragically lacking in the charm and happiness that I so value. I love Austen's novels, and dream of a world like Emma's or Elizabeth's where such elegance is a feature of everyday life.

Unfortunately, my two brothers and father are NOT elegant people, though they have very good intentions; and as much as I feel elegant myself I find it hard to think lovely thoughts in a house full of their clutter and dirt. They get food everywhere, slob around in pyjamas all day and my brother's room smells awful!

It is my hope that next year, when I go up to university and can garner a little more independence, I will be able to make the life around me an elegant one, and so begin to fulfill my life's purpose - which is, naturally, to fill the world with pretty things and cake; to look like a true English Rose; to behave with courtesy and good manners; and generally further my education to become an accomplished young woman, whose example might be followed by the people around her.