Home is wherever I'm with you.

Sorry about the delay in posting (and the completely irrelevant title), but this past week has been tres busy due getting back to school and adjusting to the arctic conditions (7 degrees, REALLY?).

One thing I forgot about my school was the insane amount of capital people put into their clothes. I remember my first week at school when I saw a girl carrying her books in a Lanvin tote, let me just say I was a little astonished. Anyway, It was pouring the other day, of course I think my Frye boots will suffice..they did not, but on my way to the bookstore I saw a pair of rain boots from 20 feet away that I knew were too nice to be J. Crew. Alligator print, check. Grommets on the strap, check. Hunter logo, check....Oh...this girl is actually wearing $395 Jimmy Choo for Hunter boots...on a college campus. Upon closer inspection I also realize she is wearing an Alexander Wang blazer and toting a giant LV bag.

It probably seems like I'm bitter or jealous (I would be lying if I said I didn't want a Wang blazer), but to be honest I don't understand the need to display oneself this way. With so much visibly designer clothing it eventually lacks originality. This is not to say that Anna Wintour cannot dress because she wears designer labels. Jesus, the woman can dress, but when someone just throws together the most must-have items without any thought, it's like their clothes own them. I think style should be an extension of your personality and only be a description, not a packaged deal.

I guess this brings up the bigger question, what is style? Who am I, or anyone else to decide that something is acceptable. We judge based on knowledge of trends, is what someone is wearing relevant to what was most recently on the runways. We live in a style hierarchy and cycle. I could go all The Devil Wears Prada with Miranda Priestley's very accurate monologue about Andrea's blue sweater, but I feel like it goes even deeper than that. Also development of style interests me. We obviously take inspiration from others and consistently incorporate all those impressions into a look we call our own, but where did it begin? I don't have the answers, maybe someone does. I would love to know what you think about this.

Jean-Paul Gaultianna?

Photo: http://www.wwd.com/

Oh boy. Not awk at all.

I didn't intend on posting today, but when I saw this picture I was inspired...that sounds awful, but you know what I mean.

I woke up at 5:50am this morning, which I don't think I have done since some stressful high school morning where I had a million things due, anyway I woke up at this godawful hour because I had my driving test today. Yes, I am a 19 year-old in suburbia and didn't have my license (I passed!!) until now, but I have managed to get by these past 3 years by much mooching. To the point, I was reading yesterdays Wall Street Journal which published a fantastic article by one of my favorite fashion writers, their fashion columnist, Christina Binkley, about the death of the trend. Considering Trend Forecaster is a dream job of mine, I found this article not only interesting, but also frightening.

In brief, the article discusses how the modern structure of the fashion industry (i.e. H&M and Zara producing runway ripoffs months before the actual designs hit the stores) leaves little room for trends. Unlike decades before, where hemlines and silhouettes were strict, we live in time where everything is okay. In the past two decades, designers have exhausted every trend and style from years past to the point where its a diluted market where nothing is out. Binkley makes the good point that we live in a time where people don't dress the same way, in the sense people now dress for themselves rather than following rigid style guidelines set by store buyers and trend forecasters. I think its a great change, but also it leaves little room for excitement and new ideas. 

I love that fashion is completely accessible to every socioeconomic group, but I think it needs to slow down. Look at mens fashion, it's the slowest moving part of the fashion industry trend-wise. The staples have stayed the same, but its the details that change. For example with men's suiting it takes a while for the pleat to either go in and out of style or the type of lapel to change. I like this. That is what makes things fresh, small details, not overproduction and decoration. What I think would be good and could happen to the womens fashion industry is their version of the slow food movement; a cleanse.

I'm not saying to make every design look like Jil Sander or Calvin Klein, but get fashion focused again. We need to look back at what made this industry so successful to begin with and bring that into the future. Maybe take away the celebrities and glamor, and keep the shows to fashion educated and industry people, people who actually know what they are doing. People need to learn to be patient again, especially in a time where we tire so quickly over everything due to constant exposure. Fashion and design are elements we can't avoid in our everyday lives, so why not start there?

What is a Liz?!!?!

I felt like making a fashion unrelated post, but I am me...aka that would be impossible.

Last night, two of my friends and I witnessed something that is hard to find these days...something that made us scratch our heads. There is a new show on MTV called "My Life as Liz" which was thoroughly confusing at first. We had all seen the advertisements during commercial breaks for the Jersey Shore, that featured a Chuck Taylor clad girl with an asymmetric haircut saying witty shit, basically Juno the television show, but it was all pretty vague. We started to watch the show, but even 10 minutes in we were still unsure if it was reality or not. MTV is the king of scripted reality and was doing an excellent job making us think if it was just another episode of Made or something different. After a quick Google search we confirmed the tales of the anti-LC were not actually true. That didn't stop us from watching an episode...or two.

The show follows Texan teen, Liz, who is fighting her way through high school and for her by-the-book-alternative-society-hating voice to be heard in a sea of cookie-cutter blonds. Her life is punctuated with the tunes of Lykke Li, Chromeo, and Passion Pit, which, for me, made for a fun game of solitaire name that tune (but also aggravated the shit out of me that MTV is whoring out these artists) and the overuse of the word "douche."

More to the point, I want to talk about Liz's appearance. Liz wears red lipstick to school (gasp!) and a backpack among a sea of Vera Bradely totes (You go girl!) which shows how ballsy she is (please sense sarcasm here, I beg you). There was a scene in the first episode where Liz is giving the popular girl a makeover at a thrift store (alternative!!) and has her wearing 1) an oversized Harley Davidson eagle shirt circa 1996 paired with skinny jeans and 2) an oversized ugly sweater worn with sweatpant cut-offs. MTV tapped into the indie/alternative fashion psyche pretty damn well... to the point where I was almost yelling at the TV. I felt a little frustrated, it was one of those moments where you wanted to scream "IVE BEEN WEARING/LISTENING TO/DOING THAT SINCE 10th GRADE," but you don't because you don't want people to think you are a closeted hipster/douche.

photo: www.mtv.com

I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, but I'm interested in how this show will continue to package the stylings of an indie chick for the sponge of a teen culture MTV has created.

Also, I'm now just as confused as I was before about the authenticity of this show because she has a friggin Twitter that is too perfectly obscure AND she gives Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros a shout out. THIS SHOW IS THE ULTIMATE CULTURAL MACHINE.