Fashion and it's Friends

Whilst being at university for 3 years a lot in my life changed. Most obviously my style. I took my first footsteps into Primark (er..what a lovely experience), I also began my first wave of 'charity shop shopping' with my friends and once spent a whole friday night trying to make a fuscia pink silk skirt. I'd rather oddly convinced myself it was a brilliantly artistic and innovative way to make clothes that I didn't see in the shops. And as I spent around £40 (money I will never see again) in John Lewis, I remember feeling full of hope and pride that I was going to construct a garment so beautiful I'd have a queue of friends wanting to be fitted for ones similar...

Ahem. Famous last words. Cue to me four hours later sitting in a pile of pink fabric, pins, zips and my own self pity. I still don't know to this day how I managed to ever get my head around believing this was a good idea. It was only on my fourth attempt when my friend asked me if I had ever made a skirt before that I realised I had as much hope of making a Vuitton-esque creation as he did of finding a girlfriend.

So this post is dedicated to my friends and our fashion throughout university. I was lucky enough to live with two incredibly stylish girls in my second year who lured me out of my comfort zone in order for me to truely experiement with fashion - how could I ever thank them. Well I've promised them the skirt episode will never happen again...However I have been tempted by old Vogue templates. No? Maybe I'll leave it to the experts.

A couple of my best friends feature in this post and although there have been times (Mr Wakeford especially) that we have raised eyebrows regarding their ourfit choices, all I can say is at least they had the guts to raise eyebrows in the first place. Who else could pull off a velvet jacket on New Years Eve and get nothing but compliments? (and alot of odd stroking). Although much of his style is based upon what he can get in a skip (don't ever ask him about his Levi's) and the odd charity shop buy for under a tenner, he has a brilliant sense of style and without a doubt the only person who could look at something on the hanger that everybody else would steer clear of for fear of being looked at in jest and actually pull it off. Congratulations Stu, you'll never get a girl, but at least you've got some style.

Another of my best mates, Miss Case has an eye for some rather interesting pieces. She too holds investment in velvet - this time in the form of a mustard coloured dress. She also once owned a pair of leather trousers (I know no other girl who could look as hot in them) and has so many corsages she could probably open her own shop. She's a bit of a clothes whore. She's a clothes hoarder. She is one of my only girlfriends who I have fun shopping with because we are completely honest with each other. There are no niceties when we shop, no "Yeah, it's very you" or "Oh yeah, you look so cute in it". We are more to the point with the "As if you are gonna buy that" and the "It's actually disgusting". It's fun because even when she tells me she thinks my clothes are hideous, it doesn't stop me from buying them it just makes me want them more. She is confident with her clothes and that is one of the things I love about her. And she's the most hilarious drunk you will ever meet. Fact.

THE END.

Fashion Errors of Modern Society

Now I am not usually one to moan about things I dislike about fashion; anything neon (obviously), River Island and conspicious consumption (I heart Thorstein Veblen)...to name a few. This is because I don't enjoy wasting my time expressing dislike for things in fashion I have no passion for - I mean how long could I moan about how the inventor of crocs should be condemned to eternal fashion 'hell' alongside the 'Mac in a Pac' guy and Rachel Zoe? I'd much rather revel in the things I do. However recently I've had a bit of a 'fashion block' and I think I've finally put my finger on it.

The things I do adore about fashion are grand and vast, including the way fashion can be outrageous and the way it affects everybody, whether you like it or not. I recently stumbled across two quotes that made me quite frustrated and confused with different people's reactions to fashion. Some people say fashion is friviolous and flaky, but these people who mock fashion, do so because they don't understand it and they are scared of it. Not everybody who follows fashion becomes a conformist or becomes part of a specific harem of airhead girls who flick through the glossies every month and wear horizontal stripes in February because Vogue says so. Fashion for me is about enjoying designs, creativity and extroverness. Of course I like (ok, love) shopping, but I'd much rather be backstage at a David Koma show or sitting front row at William Tempest than wandering around Topshop for 2 hours on a saturday.

"Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are" - Quentin Crisp.

This quote made me annoyed because it is simply not true. In fact it is so untrue, if you take out the 'don't' then it would make sense. It is foolish to think that fashion isn't everywhere - I don't say this because I am addicted to fashion, but it's because it's everywhere. It's not just hanging from rails in shops, or looking immaculate in magazines or strutting down a catwalk or being sewn in a factory. Everyday you wake up, you make a concious decision (because who do you know that gets dressed in the dark) to put particular pieces of clothes on depending on where you are going and what you are doing. It is a simple fact. You wouldn't wear jogging bottoms to an interview and you wouldn't wear a skirt to the gym.
Now, I'm not saying that this is the 'all being' of fashion because maybe it is just pure logic for some people, but by wearing a suit to an interview you are providing an instant impression of smartness - which only a suit can imply. You go wearing the joggers and you ain't getting a call back.

People put on clothes for a night out because they want to feel sexy, confident and relaxed. Nobody wants to go out dressed like an idiot - because deep down everybody knows how they want to be portrayed. Clothes are the most instant first impression you can give somebody without speaking to them. It may be vain and it may be shallow but if somebody looks at you from a distance, they will automatically make an assumption about you based on your attire.

What Crisp is trying to say here is that fashion can lead people astray and make you think that you should all be wearing whatever 'trend' infiltrates Vogue, ELLE or InStyle. And to some extent he is right, because a lot of people think if they grab the first thing on the front rail of French Connection then they are 'In Fashion' and it's just not true.

Fashion is something that you don't 'adopt'. It isn't a choice, it is something that everybody has the chance to experiment with. Whether or not you do it well, that's up to you.