Copycats.

A lot of girls I know look stupid celebrity magazines to see what's in, what's popular, and what they should rush to buy next. I think this is horribly, horribly, stupid.

If I look to something to get inspiration for clothing, I either look to editorial spreads that are rather avant garde, or look to some of the real "it girls" of the past decades. Edie Sedgwick is an example of one of my favorite real girls.

I see girls looking at Mary Kate Olsen and swooning over her "original" and "vintage" style. First off, a style cannot be original and vintage at the same time, that contradicts itself. Sure, I like the Olsen's for being brave and going into the fashion industry when all the high designers pretty much laughed at them, I think that's swell. However, please remember that nothing is new, everything has been done, and being original is a difficult task to master. If you look to ANYONE for inspiration, no matter how creative you are, you are looking at something that has been done before and not gaining anything completely new and untouched.

Mary Kate Olsen has listed Edie Sedgwick as one of her style inspirations. End of story. Please stop idolizing celebrities, no matter if they are designers or not, and basing your entire wardrobe off what they wear each week.

The super flare is super exiciting.

I'm very excited about the return of flared jeans, now with even more flare. Heavily influenced by the bell bottoms of the 60's and 70's, the new "super flare" is supposed to be the "it jean" of spring/summer this year. I, for one, and thrilled.

You see, I never stopped wearing my flared jeans. Oh not, not me, I wasn't going to give into that skinny jean crap that everyone else was wearing. Not a hippy girl like myself. (And by by hippy, I don't mean hippie, but as in my family was blessed with child bearing hips.) Sure, the skinny jeans look cute on select (skinny!) body types when tucked into cute boots. Skinny legs look good in skinny jeans. Short, rounder, stumpier legs like mine do not.

I just ordered this pair from Victoria's Secret, because I love their London Jean brand and I still wear my pair of (flared!) highly worn out distressed jeans from them that desperately need to be retired.

I was going to splurge on a pair of shoes this season, but I've done it on a pair of jeans instead. Welcome back, flare leg, I've missed you dearly.

I always through Ariel was stylish.

I remember walking the seashore with my sister early in the morning and seeing who could find the best seashells before the beach crowds came and scooped them all up. Growing up on the coast of the Atlantic really made me partial to the smell of the saltwater, the feel of sand between my toes, and the look of seashells strung around my neck. Real ones, of course, not that fake Panama Jack hemp surfer-wanna-be costume jewelry that they sell in Wal-Mart.

I stumbled across this website, Oceanic Splendors, and it immediately took me back to the sunrise shoreline of home. What the actual website lacks in creativity, the jewelry makes up for in elegance and beauty. A mermaid would be proud.

Just thought I'd reminisce of the good ol' days of childhood summer. Oh, what I'd give to leave the cold snow in trade for a warm, sunny day at the beach...

Spring 09 Trends, Economic and Cultural Influence

The farther I progress in my degree, the more I notice about clothing, trends, and overall fashion and style. I guess this means I'm learning stuff, right? While looking at the trend report on style.com for Spring of 2009, I noticed some of the influences that designers had and expressed in their collection. Style.com names these trends as the following:

Depression Chic
Geometry Lessons
Goddess Worship
Marrakech Express
Sporting Goods
Trash and Vaudeville

Right off hand, I was biased after looking at the first few showcase pieces for Geometry Lessons, Sporting Goods, and Trash and Vaudeville. Seen it before, overly done, or just not plain interested. All-American, despite who the designers may be, came to my head with some of them, and that's just not what grabs my attention in clothing. Goddess Worship I can deal with because I'm hoping it means maxi dresses will still be in style (although I doubt it, I've already read that they weren't going to be... sadly), but it was Marrakech Express and Depression Chic that really grabbed my attention.

I'm glad to see that the ongoing wars dealing with Iraq, Iran, and neighboring countries has began to influence more than just our television. The Marrakech Express is full of vibrant, flowing fabrics that would made Aladdin go in for a makeover. While style.com more emphasised on the Moroccan and "Ali Baba meets Ralph Lauren" side of it, it was the model wrapped in a turban that sold me. The women of those waring countries are just as beautiful as any other, and just to know that they're being noticed enough to have even the slightest influence on a runway made me kind of smile. Why shouldn't we be exploring other cultural dress, even if it of a restricted religious type?

Now, my personal favorite and the one I think everyone should take special notice of this season is the 20's and 30's inspired Depression Chic. I'll admit, when I first saw the title I assumed that more of those annoying Emo-goth-chic trends were continuing (and worse, taking the runway), but after taking a closer look I was glad to see that I was wrong. These peices are heavily influced by the very similar economic age of our nation's history, the Great Depression, and showcase the flapper look alongside the modest, almost reclusive, rebuilding of the 1930's. Sound similar to anything happening in our country right now? The image displayed is from Burberry Prorsum, and accurately displays what our Nation is going through right now.

I could go on and on about why that is, but maybe I'll save it for a later post.

Information and image from Style.com.