Archive for the ‘When fashion crashes’ Category

image courtesy of http://runjun.blogspot.com

I am sorry that my posting has become a bit inconsistent lately. Work and laziness have played a major part in my procrastinations and I promise I’m going to make more of an effort from now on.

I’ve recently become obsessed with the art of spring-cleaning my wardrobe. I’m just so sick of hoarding items I wouldn’t dream of wearing any time soon and pointless impulse buys that just make you think “whyyyyy?” So, from now on I’ve vowed to be good and really take care when splashing out on those deceptive absolute-must-have-buys.

How am I going to take care exactly? The answer, my money-saving-expert friends, lies in the following rules:

1.) Only buy something if it can be paired with at least 3 other garments.
This is such a great point and something which has stuck with me from my dailly scanning over at the Lookbook forums. Whether it’s a top, pair of jeans, or even a fluffy feathery ra ra skirt, it has to go with 3 or more items you already own. Otherwise, you won’t wear it and it will just get discarded at the back of the closet with those other must-have mistakes.

2.) If the price is unjustifiable, WAIT until the sales.
Chances are, if no one else is grabbing it off the rack then it will be in the sales, in which case you’ll end up saving yourself a lot of money. There’s nothing worse than finding that gorgeous dress slashed by more than 75% several weeks after purchase.

3.) Avoid buying more than one item which follows the same trend.
Not as self-explanatory as the first two points, so I shall explain. Basically, if you already own a pair of harem pants, don’t buy another pair. Trends come and go, meaning you’ll have more items to add to the “strictly unwearable” pile by the time that trend disappears. Instead, try the 60/40 rule. 60% of your wardrobe should contain staple items that remain acceptable from season to season (jeans, cardigans, basic tops etc.) and 40% should feature really trendy items which will only last 1/2 years at the very most.

4.) Know what suits you.
Never buy clothes in the wrong size in the hope you will one day fit into them, and never ever buy something you’re not 100% sure about. If in doubt, always take a friend shopping with you for a second opinion.

5.) Work out the money-for-wear equation
You’ve probably heard of this before. Basically, if you’re buying something you will wear a lot, such as a new jacket or pair of boots, expect to pay considerably more than a top which can only be worn so often. So, for example, if you pay £100 for a pair of boots and wear those boots a grand total of 100 times, those boots will cost £1 each time you wear them. Of course, it can be difficult to work out how many times you will wear a certain garment, but if you can’t think of more than one occasion when you would wear it, then either don’t bother or pay less.

Now, I understand I would have been better off posting this back at the beginning of the year when it was genuinely appropriate to make new years’ resolutions. But it’s never the wrong time to change bad habits, so why not join me in the beginning of a new ‘careful shopping’ regime?

Question time:Do you have any bad shopping habits? Are you an impulse buying? What tips do you have to avoid making silly buys?

Several months ago River Island started selling these knitted panda bear bobble hats (pictured right on Katy Perry). I admit, when I first came across them I was in love. I loved the idea of skipping into University with the knitted face of China’s most endangered species attached to my head. It was sort of cool and ironic, in a “Look at me, I’m cute and I very obviously support WWF” kind of way. Upon trying on the item however, I realised I looked perhaps a little special as opposed to cute and ironic. I hastily replaced the item on its shelf.

Three months down the line, everyone and Katy Perry is wearing the damn hat. And no one looks cute in it. Unless they’re Japanese and have the naturally awesome ability to look super kawaii with every living, breathing second of the day.

But we are not all super kawaii. We are adults, we like money and power and deceit and other evil things. Knitted panda hats are so not us, and such a lie.

Time to stop venting and hand it over to you, gorgeous fashion-conscious readers. Knitted panda hats: cute or just plain silly? You decide.

p.s. Sorry for the late post. I had an exam. It was bollocks.

Fashion: the right industry in which to work?

Of all the many hundreds of fashion blogs out there, I always wonder how many of those blogs’ bloggers have a direct link to l’industrie de Mode.

The answer, it seems, is probably a lot. Yet there are also probably a lot of bloggers in the same community who blog for the sake of pure label love, as opposed to work.

Personally, I’ve always enjoyed frolicking in fashion, and I’ve always enjoyed the art that is writing. Combining the two has resulted in my ambition for fashion journalism, yet I can’t help but be left with a few niggling doubts.

See, it’s all very nice blogging about those tried and tested outfit posts and slagging off those edgy, boxy, bubble-hemmed trends that never quite seemed to work, but is fashion journalism really like that? Isn’t fashion journalism more about agreeing with absolutely everything, then admitting the awfulness of those gut-wrenching trends some months later? Isn’t fashion journalism more about celebrity sycophancies and excessive portion control and serial dressing competitiveness, a la Devil Wears Prada?

See, one piece of advice that has stuck with me over the years is that working with what you love will inevitably result in hating that thing you love. Which could, inevitably, mean fashion. Could you imagine hating fashion? As I write this, nightmareish images of myself draped in mossy-coloured flannel tops and Grandma’s favourite floral patterns come creeping into my cerebal cortex. Hating fashion? Who me? What? Never.

So there’s a little piece of philosophy to see you through this snowy, snowy day. To work in fashion or not to work in fashion? What do you think? Do you currently work in any part of the fashion industry? If so, why? If not, why not?

Who’s seen the abomination of outfits at the recent 2009 British Fashion Awards? I have to say, I was rather disappointed. Apart from Victoria Beckham’s fabulous zipped floor-length creation, I wasn’t terribly impressed by the very commonplace appearance of black, black and more black. I mean, fashion always states that you can never go wrong with a LBD (little black dress), but when everyone and their mum is wearing it to the BFAs… then it’s a bit much.

I was also very saddened to see Kate Moss’ pick for the evening. Either she got dressed out of a very limited suitcase or her status as Britain’s best dressed woman has started to get the better of her – either way, I disliked her outfit. Very much.

Image courtesy of Guardian.co.uk

Ok, so I like the sheer elements and the fact that she chose to team her LBD with this season’s absolute must-have: The Blazer. But literally, that is all I like about this look.
As for everything else? Excuse my language, but it all sucks. The spotted floor length gown, the unnecessary ruffles, the combination of floor length gown and grungey belt and sophisticated stilettos… nu-uh. Sorry Kate, but not even you can pull this off. Also, please don’t scrape your hair back like that again. You look like an alien.

So, that nicely arouses my suspicions that Kate is most probably living up to her “CoKate” alias again. That, or she’s just not able to pull off the random and unlikely assembles anymore. Stick to the waistcoats and denim shorts, Katie!

On a far less bitchy note, there are some great giveaways going on elsewhere in the community that is Fashion Blogging. Fashion Lolita is hosting a fantastic crockery giveaway with a china cup and plate to die for!

Fellow Brit Blogger KB is also hosting a fabulous giveaway to celebrate her 1st blogging anniversary (so don’t forget to say Happy Birthday to I Want You To Know It!) This time the giveaway is a pair of House of Holland alphabet tights – now who wouldn’t like that as a stocking filler?!

Oh, and finally, if you’re a US resident, you should really check out Amber’s Perricone giveaway, which sounds like an absolute miracle product if you ask me!

One thing I love about reading fashion blogs is that I’m always being alerted to the latest, and often-times craziest, of trends.
And don’t get me wrong, I love crazy. I love a bit of Alexander Mcqueen platforms and Miu Miu madness, I do I do I do, but sometimes designers take it just one step too far.

And this time, it’s not the female collections which have caused many a pore to sweat profusely by the side of the runway. It’s the menswear.

Over the past few seasons, menswear has taken on some radically weird and arguably wonderful changes. For me, it started with the “handkerchief” scarfs. You know those things with the tassles and the frayed bits and the Arabian checker design? Yeah, those. It always struck me as queer (excuse the pun) how heterosexual men and women could live harmoniously side by side whilst very obviously wearing matching accessories, fascinating as those hankie-scarfs were.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, fashion suddenly dictated that men wore skinny jeans and across-the-body satchels, thanks partly to the rising success of chat-show weirdo / comedian Russell Brand.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think skinny jeans can work on the male species, providing they’re worn by guys with an alternative edge and are not so tight they appear to strangle the upper thighs, henceforth revealing the truth that yes, only women do seem to suffer from the hideously-termed “thunder thighs”.
After all, why can’t men mess around with the skinny jeans fad, especially since us women long-ago decided to steal the trilby and “boyfriend” garments from them? (Sorry about that boys…)

But now, the line must be drawn. Meggings, a.k.a “man leggings” have hit the runway, and it’s time to make a stand. From the simple mock-denim to the less inconspicuous PVC and sequins… this new trend is giving us women all the more reason to hang up our own leggings for good.

Personally, I believe that if your name isn’t Batman, Robin, or Superman, you shouldn’t go within a yard of this trend. Bright red, yellow and green spandex highlighting perfectly toned gluteus maximii should be left for the television screens, and nothing more. The thought of average Bob strutting down the street in his straining PVCs… it’s enough to wipe out everyone in the ‘hood, that’s for sure.

As for sequinned meggings; I’m not sure I can say the word without wanting to retch. Does the fashion industry really have that little respect for its followers that it would sell this monstrosity to mankind?! I can see Mr. Marni and Calvin Klein right now, laughing and snorting most amicably as they sort through their rails of exotic fabrics and patterns; Mr. Calvin emerging from his rail donning a pair of gold sequinned leggings, and deciding over several tumblers of Vodka and Whisky that this shall be the new trend for Menswear 2010 (giggling and mocking all the while, of course). After all, sequinned meggings could hardly have been decided in all the seriousness and soberness of a boardroom, could it?!

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the meggings. From the slightly more subtle and stretchy denim to the hideously bright and shiny and sequinned: make of it what you will, but there is no way my boyfriend, nor any man I know, will be donning this trend. (Unless it’s “Superhero” night down at the student union, of course).
What do you think of this trend? Is it harmlessly embracing men’s inner femininity, or is it emasculating the once scruffy, rugged-looking men we all once knew and loved? For all those shameless “anti-fashion” males who read this site, will you be donning this trend once it hits your local high street? I sincerely hope not…