PERSONAL STYLE AND A WORD AGAINST TRENDS
1:46 AM |
| the OG of classic, unstudied, breezy cool. nobody can say "sit your narrow ass down, hot shot" quite like Lauren Bacall can--with her eyes. |
And so when it comes to clothes, I detest trends. Trends only exist to convince women that they need to buy more things. I don't think you should have to do that.
And seriously, most trends are not that flattering. Do side cut-outs or dresses made of netting and strategically placed doilies flatter most women? No. When people look back on this time period, they will marvel at the fact that so many celebrities and fashionistas walked around in full-body pantyhose. Remember super low-rise jeans from the early aughts? God help us. I was in elementary school then. It was apocalyptic. I don't know how anyone survived.
Right now, the seventies and the nineties are both massively on trend (which seems odd to me as in silhouette and color palette they are disparate) and I hate the fads from both these decades, which means I have been continuously vomiting and ping-pong-ing back and forth between shops looking for something, anything, that is not fringe-y or suede or a velour turtleneck.
I AM NOT SUGGESTING that if you want to try out trendy things that you are wrong. I am saying that you don't have to. It's just marketing. You can still be stylish without constantly adding lots of different pieces to your wardrobe.
And this brings me to my point about personal style: it comes from consistency, not trendiness. Why does any of this matter, you ask? And you are absolutely right. The fact that any of us worry about such things shows us a) how privileged we are, and b) how blown-out-of-proportion-important image and personal branding have become in this digital age. It is not as important as feeding the hungry or protecting the innocent. But we can't get away from it. And if you want to create a personal style, that requires understanding which silhouettes, fabrics, and colors work best on you and running with it. You will find that if your top priority is flattering your body, similarities and themes will emerge. Most of us are best suited to a few silhouettes or styles. For me, this means shirt-dresses or shift-dresses cut well above the knee, high-waisted and narrow jeans and trousers, muscle tees, and motorcycle jackets. I can tart around with the Free People gauzy maxi-dress thing, and I can do WASP-y tweeds and cable knits if I really need to convince someone I'm a good student and/or employable. But I don't feel my most confident in those things. I feel most confident in red, blue, white, or green, in little shirt-dresses and simple sandals, in cuffed jeans and a muscle tee with my Vans. (I'm 1000% a closeted bro.) I love ornate embroidery and beading but I save that for evening wear. My style is very specific: it's what Betty Draper would wear if Betty Draper went to high school in Venice in the early seventies and dated a Z-boy. (Z-boys would rather cut their own hearts out than wear fringe. You can bet on it.).
So, you know, I've created a character of sorts. For you it may be totally different. You may be that New England prep school girl who nonetheless has a weakness for skate shoes and leather. Or maybe you're a total IDGAF diva in the vein of Rihanna, or a breezy bohemian languid under the weight of turquoise rings. Maybe you're that rare person who was born to wear yellow sheath dresses. If you're having trouble, think about the movie stars you admire. We often subconsciously choose to admire famous people who share our coloring or body type. For me, that's Lauren Bacall and Francoise Hardy. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out. But when you find a look that makes you smile in the dressing room in that half-embarrassed, half-exhilarated flush of I feel like a goddess, that's your look. Stick with it. It will serve you better than hi-lo hems.*
*Remember those? What a time to be alive.
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