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—Yves Saint Laurent
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A Fevered Dictation
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101 Cookbooks
As with most things I do, I've taken the charge to compile a fall shopping list less literally and more conceptually. Rather than specific items I intend to buy, my list focuses on the overall idea of what I want to purchase. I can get bogged down quickly in trying to find the "perfect" item, whether it be in clothing, makeup, decorating, whatever. While it's nice to find clothing that fits and flatters, obsessing to the inth degree on fit, fabric, and whether the item looks just like Ashley Olsen's (and makes me look like Ashley Olsen) isn't healthy or necessary. Clothing either fits or it doesn't, and beyond that, the thing is to find those things that make you smile and feel more like yourself when you put them on. The following are a list of items that have always flattered and made me smile and that I hope to find again.
I tried this shrunked blazer on at the Gap and was amazed at how well it fit. Generally their clothes don't fit me - too baggy, too bulky, too much of an "American cut" (as if Americans have weird bulges and sags randomly popping out of their bodies). Regardless, this blazer avoids the typical Gap fit pitfalls. It's cut narrow to the torso, nicely giving my narrow shoulders definition without overemphasizing them (see: every Balmain collection). It falls square at my hip and looks good buttoned and unbuttoned, which I find remarkable rare in jackets of any kind. The catch? The Gap in my area didn't have my size, and I'm not too much of a blazer fan. So instead of reverting to my usual obsessing over trying to find another perfectly fitting blazer, I'm going to take this as inspiration: With a whole lot of effort, it is possible for me to find flattering jackets. I hope to carry this enthusiasm all the way into finding a jacket that fits and works for me.
I cannot be bothered to wear jewelry. I just don't like the weight of it, and I have so many skin sensitivities that it's easier to bypass wearing it in the hopes of staving off an allergic reaction. While I could try harder to work with jewelry, at some point you have to accept your limits. It just isn't a priority for me, no matter how dressed up I'm meant to be. However, I can always work a great scarf and often do, hence the inspiration taken from Ashley Olsen (back) in a scarf over her evening wear. It's easy enough to tell, even from this distance, that it's quite a posh scarf. As such, it works with her outfit, maintaining its general air of luxury and minimal elegance. It's now a fashion goal of mine to find an oversized, really nice scarf that can work on the level of evening wear. This excites me to a degree that could never possibly be matched by a fine jewelry purchase, plus this choice of accessory is far more "me" than jewelry.
I've been on the lookout for a great pair of knee-high boots for years. I'd like something a bit strappy like this. Essentially, when I find the right pair of boots, I'll know them when I see them. In addition to these, I'm pretty open to lace-up boots and very minimal pairs. Just no cowboy or motorcycle boots - the soles just kill me.
I'm also on the lookout for a very nice, nicely fitted "background" sweater, like the one Ashley Olsen wears here. Again, I'm open to a variety of options. Rather than finding a particular type of sweater, I'm more interested in finding a neutral sweater in a soft knit and texture (no ramies, no cable knits) that skims the torso, fits well, and serves as a nice, basic grounding piece for jackets and scarfs. It sounds simple. I am having a hell of a time acheiving this feat. There are masses of "basics with a twist" out there - sweaters with empire waists, puffed sleeves, strategic cutouts. However, try finding a simple, straight-down-the-line basic (even more difficult, one without animal fibers) and it's like looking into the abyss.
Here's how much I dislike wearing jewelry: should anyone ever propose to me, I don't want an engagement ring. Call me naive, but the engagement is enough, thanks. Jewelry would not help me to seal the deal.
The only jewelry I can stand to wear is a watch, without which I feel naked and lost. I've worn watches since I was six years old. I am used to having them to fiddle with and distract me. They are the only type of fine jewelry that excites me and catches my attention. My particular favorite is the Movado Museum style, black dial with gold detailing. This manages at once to be both a very posh looking watch and to blend into the background. It screams luxury, not bling. As such, it wouldn't be out of place with a laidback outfit or something a bit more posh, such as the elements laid out in the post. Worn oversized, I think it could even serve as a great offkey bracelet with evening wear, and unlike a diamond choker, chandelier earrings, or a cuff bracelets, I'd actually wear it. While I can't say I need a watch - I have two as it is - one this nice would allow me to incorporate jewelry to the limit of my interests and keep evening/party outfits from looking quite so bare.*
*Of course, these reasons are just conceits. I really just want a nice watch in black and gold. Desire: it is what it is.
Labels: ashley olsen, fashion notes, gap, movado, shoes
9/25/2009 [2]
I enjoy perusing a variety of fashion trends and looks, each of them inflaming the imagination and widening the horizons of fashion references. Still, only a few of these resources directly influence how I dress. The following are my personal fashion inspirations in ascending order.
STYLE COMMUNITIES/BLOGGERS
One of my more passive hobbies is sitting back and browsing various style sites. This is in part to keep up with hipster trends, because as much as I openly despise the hipster mentality, I really like a lot of their clothes. I also enjoy following what fashion editors wear and learning how to mix luxurious clothing with the more quotidian. That said, there are very few hipster items that would suit me, and the majority of fashion insight I glean is in the areas of styling, layering, and proportion, the last moreso from men than women. I have specifically followed The Sartorialist for lessons in proportion, as with the man above; Chictopia for layering and visuals of how specific clothes look on a variety of body types; and Jak & Jil for specifics on styling and proportion, including where on the arm a glove should end and how to wear ankle pants.
SCANDINAVIAN STYLE
Having lived in Scandinavia, I don't buy into the fervor over how cool Scandinavian fashion can be. Some of it is, some of it isn't. Like anywhere else, there are some girls who know how to dress and end up on all the fashion blogs, perceived as the face of Scandinavian style when they really elevate the foundations of Scandinavian style - leather jackets, boots, scarves, cool trainers, and tight jeans - into their own unique orbit. Still, I took away some lessons from Scandinavian style, including what to layer with leather jackets, how to wear scarves, and to wear clothes that fit. Occasionally, I still glance at Lisaplace (above) for the photography and styling.
PRIMORDIAL SOUP
There is a vast store of fashion imagery that acts at the subconscious level to form my impressions of what exactly is fashion and my relation to it. All of this imagery resonates with me because it realizes my golden mean in some way, whether because it moves me, it features a look I aspire to, or it offers a reflection of my inner self. None of these images directly inspires how I dress; instead, they are the foundation of how I perceive fashion at large, my measure of great fashion design and photography, and my personal aesthetic. Even though none of this could be directly noted on what I wear daily, it is the foundation upon which all the more direct influences take root. Rather than provide a detailed account of all these foundational images, which would take a whole blog, I have chosen to include the above image of Kate Moss. This comes from the first editorial I can clearly remember loving and incorporates the themes of my most perennial fashion loves: minimalism, the 90s, austerity, the avant-garde, fashion photography, Kate Moss. Other themes not seen here: street style, sportswear, 90s couture, Harper's Bazaar under Liz Tilberis's editorship, exaggerated design.
ASHLEY OLSEN
Though not as rabid a follower as I once was, Ashley Olsen has had a greater influence on my conception of style than any other individual. She's the person who's first influenced me to notice the particulars. She doesn't just wear a scarf - she wears deliberately oversized scarfs to balance (or offset) the rest of her outfit, trousers cut to specific shapes and proportions, and plays with the masculine dress, layering, and bagginess/shapelessness. She's the first person to make me realize how the cut of a pant can dramatically alter proportions (both of the outfit and the wearer), that it is possible to dress in a boyish fashion and maintain feminity, and the limitations of dressing for a petite frame. It's that sense of deliberateness that puts Ashley Olsen at the top of my list. Due to her, I now pay attention to how an item's particular shape and proportions fit into my overall outfit. I realize the effect of something so simple as altering a pant leg by an inch or two, that these simple changes in proportion can greatly affect an overall silhouette. I've also picked up from her how to "accessorize" with clothing. Since I don't wear jewelry, other than a watch, I've learned how to add interest with jackets, sweaters, scarves, and texture.
As for the picture above, probably the single greatest influence I've received from Ashley Olsen is how to dress boyishly and get away with it. This is just a great outfit - the oversize hoodie, the chunky necklace, the general laddishness of it - but she gets aways with it by cutting everything down to her proportions. She doesn't look like she's borrowed clothes from her boyfriend (I've never understood the appeal of that look, it's too sloppy). Everything fits her frame, it's just the aesthetic that points away from the feminine. Of all her looks, it's Ashley's boyish dressing I love best and how I came to appreciate the thoughtful layering of standard American fare, such as grey athletic sweatshirts, worn out t-shirts, and beaten up work trousers. Let's face it: if not for her, I would still to stuck with the delusion that Audrey Hepburn was the greatest dresser of all time. Thank God for Ashley Olsen, Kate Moss, and the rest, or I'd still be wearing dull, basic "smart clothes" in an ongoing failed attempt to look "nice." No, bring me the disordered and the quotidian, please.
Labels: ashley olsen, fashion notes, kate moss
5/13/2009 [6]
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