Such a great piece. I love the way you and Cathy Horyn have written about this. Trends come and go so quickly now, and reach saturation in an instant, so I try to not get sucked in and instead think about what makes me feel confident and comfortable and … elegant? Presentable? Dapper? But I still get tempted by that One Perfect Thing - coat, shoe, sweater, pant — that will the item that magically turns my random clothes into that amazing dream, the curated and flexible Wardrobe. I’m trying to get off the dopamine rush of buying stuff, and I stead playing with what I have. I appreciate your substack for it being a collection of links and trends!
Thank you! I think images are very powerful and so much of what we see is professionally crafted to illicit desire...hours and hours of labour spent to convey a perfect, coherent look (think of all the styling at Miu Miu) and we immediately feel like what we have isn't good enough. I think realising that made me understand why the fashion industry could only ever be just one of many sources of inspiration! It makes me chase perfection and it makes me want to shop, when in reality, what sustains us can't be bottled and sold.
This very much resonated with me- I have no desire to look like anyone else much less a runway model (snort, not gonna happen). I look for pieces that elicit joy and excitement and that speak to me…and then I integrate them into my own style.
Me too! And yet for decades, even now, fashion really sparks desire in me -- there are still talented designers making very polished things (besides Lemaire, I really love Mame Kurogouchi for example) and I get the urge to look up their stuff (new and secondhand) and I imagine myself becoming that perfect image. But I don't feel this way about the "normal" stuff I encounter in real life, like my rugby shirt...when I saw it I thought about myself and why the item made sense to me.
The woman with the pink hair in the IG video tho! She is really powerful in her own style.
I really enjoy your posts- it’s amazing the reflections I have reading them. How do I look at the world of runway and designer fashion? It’s a fantasy, and has no real bearing on what I wear, but sometimes I feel like if I had money or lived in a metropolis I could embody a glimpse of that glamour. That je ne sais quoi though is legit I don’t know what.
Yet I also don’t know my own style yet. I feel a victim to the watered down looks available to the masses and also I don’t want to be made fun of for looking different from my rural peers.
Fashion has always been the same linear dream since I was a child. I’m fascinated by those of you who have the choice to emulate Paris fashion week lol!
Yet, I feel recognized in all your pieces somehow. It just goes to show that fashion is art, it speaks to some kind of longing and aesthetic in all of us.
You're right, she is! I hesitated a bit about including links at all, because I in no way think poorly of people feature.
Designer fashion is pretty out of my league too, but for years it really fed my consumerism - it made me crave a fantasy self that ultimately wasn't attainable (and also wasn't very me), and I used to shop at brands like Zara to "get the look for less". And it doesn't help that as you said, what's available at the local mall feels so shabby in comparison...there was no relief for the craving and it made me idealise designer fashion more. Eventually, the industry lost its glow for me (the overproduction, the hype, the lack of respect for human rights), and that helped stop idealising fashion imagery. I found myself more interested in the history and cultural context behind fashion trends (reading biographies of designers, or about style movements like prep) and it really helped me appreciate fashion as a cultural movement rather than a consumption exercise. And it helped me shop better... I understood my tastes better, and started seeing the clothes available to me in a different light.
I'm lucky I've always lived in cities where it's really easy to blend in no matter how I choose to dress... one thing that struck me about Cathy Horyn was that she was a successful person in a very gilded, glamorous circle and yet she took a long time to understand her own style and buy the right clothes for herself too. Goes to show that truly learning how to dress oneself takes a lot of time (and motivation).
I hope you know that not only are you an incredibly eloquent writer, you are very thought provoking. Def a breath of fresh air. I feel jaded by fashion through the lens of media, which is really the only way I have access. Getting back to basics though- appreciating history, raw materials, pattern- that’s still exciting and feeds my want to take part in dressing myself thoughtfully. Thank you for being such an honest writer.
It's a good piece! I read it three or four times before I really fully appreciated what she was saying, and I loved the little anecdotes peppered throughout - her mum, and that fax from the great ALT!
Thank you so much for linking the Cathy Horyn piece!!! I read the first half of it at work but didn’t get to finish it — I was just thinking about it again a couple days ago, but couldn’t remember where it was published. Synergy 🙌
I’m sure it’s partly my age, but at 40 I’m feeling so disconnected from trends these days and it’s a great feeling. I love admiring the barrel-leg pants, metallic fabrics, motorcycle boots…but I don’t feel like I *need* to wear them in order to belong to some imaginary in-crowd. I’m really starting to nail down what I like on my body in terms of comfort & function, and also how I want to express *my* self to the world. And having the confidence to just stay true to that, regardless of what anyone else is doing.
I still have inner work to do in terms of using shopping to self-soothe, but it is getting easier to resist. Slowly. :) And writing like yours really is so helpful and inspiring!
The article is good! It’s one I’ll be revisiting for a while. I’ve never been into micro-trends, but I will admit I’ll fully swayed by broader ones - I wore skinny jeans like everyone else did and now I’m all about fuller, voluminous trousers, not sure if it’s an age thing or just the “eye adjusting” every few years.
I love this and it feels so freeing. I imagine those on or near the runway in these specifically put together looks don't feel their best in those moments. I often find I like the way something looks in a photo but I felt like SH*T in it. Vulnerable, insecure, heartbroken, ill at ease, whatever. Something I like to do is try and explain that when I write. I think there is a community of some kind in knowing that people who look "nice" or "happy" or "rich" (as someone recently called me in a comment - "rich and oblivious" and they caught me on a bad day and really made me hurt like hell) can be feeling lots of things. Most of us are.
There's such a dark side to putting yourself out there, and I am sorry you've been on the receiving end of hurtful comments. I hesitated to link to the images of the Lemaire show-goers because I'm not dissing them or think I'm better than them; for me, it was just realising the most beautiful fashion images are still promoting a brand in some way, and I have to recognise that to curb my impulses to want the same things. I think something about current culture really seems to reduce human beings to content (images, videos), and while I now tend to view fashion imagery with a heavy dose of cynicism, I also need to remember not to assume I know everything about what someone is going through.
I think you are very real and thoughtful and not someone who assumes. And I just so agree with you that we are all in some way the most beautiful when we feel like our realest selves.
Such a great piece. I love the way you and Cathy Horyn have written about this. Trends come and go so quickly now, and reach saturation in an instant, so I try to not get sucked in and instead think about what makes me feel confident and comfortable and … elegant? Presentable? Dapper? But I still get tempted by that One Perfect Thing - coat, shoe, sweater, pant — that will the item that magically turns my random clothes into that amazing dream, the curated and flexible Wardrobe. I’m trying to get off the dopamine rush of buying stuff, and I stead playing with what I have. I appreciate your substack for it being a collection of links and trends!
Thank you! I think images are very powerful and so much of what we see is professionally crafted to illicit desire...hours and hours of labour spent to convey a perfect, coherent look (think of all the styling at Miu Miu) and we immediately feel like what we have isn't good enough. I think realising that made me understand why the fashion industry could only ever be just one of many sources of inspiration! It makes me chase perfection and it makes me want to shop, when in reality, what sustains us can't be bottled and sold.
This very much resonated with me- I have no desire to look like anyone else much less a runway model (snort, not gonna happen). I look for pieces that elicit joy and excitement and that speak to me…and then I integrate them into my own style.
Fantastic piece, thank you!💕
Me too! And yet for decades, even now, fashion really sparks desire in me -- there are still talented designers making very polished things (besides Lemaire, I really love Mame Kurogouchi for example) and I get the urge to look up their stuff (new and secondhand) and I imagine myself becoming that perfect image. But I don't feel this way about the "normal" stuff I encounter in real life, like my rugby shirt...when I saw it I thought about myself and why the item made sense to me.
The woman with the pink hair in the IG video tho! She is really powerful in her own style.
I really enjoy your posts- it’s amazing the reflections I have reading them. How do I look at the world of runway and designer fashion? It’s a fantasy, and has no real bearing on what I wear, but sometimes I feel like if I had money or lived in a metropolis I could embody a glimpse of that glamour. That je ne sais quoi though is legit I don’t know what.
Yet I also don’t know my own style yet. I feel a victim to the watered down looks available to the masses and also I don’t want to be made fun of for looking different from my rural peers.
Fashion has always been the same linear dream since I was a child. I’m fascinated by those of you who have the choice to emulate Paris fashion week lol!
Yet, I feel recognized in all your pieces somehow. It just goes to show that fashion is art, it speaks to some kind of longing and aesthetic in all of us.
You're right, she is! I hesitated a bit about including links at all, because I in no way think poorly of people feature.
Designer fashion is pretty out of my league too, but for years it really fed my consumerism - it made me crave a fantasy self that ultimately wasn't attainable (and also wasn't very me), and I used to shop at brands like Zara to "get the look for less". And it doesn't help that as you said, what's available at the local mall feels so shabby in comparison...there was no relief for the craving and it made me idealise designer fashion more. Eventually, the industry lost its glow for me (the overproduction, the hype, the lack of respect for human rights), and that helped stop idealising fashion imagery. I found myself more interested in the history and cultural context behind fashion trends (reading biographies of designers, or about style movements like prep) and it really helped me appreciate fashion as a cultural movement rather than a consumption exercise. And it helped me shop better... I understood my tastes better, and started seeing the clothes available to me in a different light.
I'm lucky I've always lived in cities where it's really easy to blend in no matter how I choose to dress... one thing that struck me about Cathy Horyn was that she was a successful person in a very gilded, glamorous circle and yet she took a long time to understand her own style and buy the right clothes for herself too. Goes to show that truly learning how to dress oneself takes a lot of time (and motivation).
I hope you know that not only are you an incredibly eloquent writer, you are very thought provoking. Def a breath of fresh air. I feel jaded by fashion through the lens of media, which is really the only way I have access. Getting back to basics though- appreciating history, raw materials, pattern- that’s still exciting and feeds my want to take part in dressing myself thoughtfully. Thank you for being such an honest writer.
Thank you, this comment really made my day ❤️
I loved this! And interestingly Amy S referenced the Cathy Horyn piece in her Style Class yesterday so I was grateful you included the link.
It's a good piece! I read it three or four times before I really fully appreciated what she was saying, and I loved the little anecdotes peppered throughout - her mum, and that fax from the great ALT!
And I am her same age with many of the same feelings ( and yours!) about what is “trending” and “in fashion”!
And yet, my style is important to me ! I live in Salt Lake City, Utah and do not dress, nor want to, like anyone around me🙃
Thank you so much for linking the Cathy Horyn piece!!! I read the first half of it at work but didn’t get to finish it — I was just thinking about it again a couple days ago, but couldn’t remember where it was published. Synergy 🙌
I’m sure it’s partly my age, but at 40 I’m feeling so disconnected from trends these days and it’s a great feeling. I love admiring the barrel-leg pants, metallic fabrics, motorcycle boots…but I don’t feel like I *need* to wear them in order to belong to some imaginary in-crowd. I’m really starting to nail down what I like on my body in terms of comfort & function, and also how I want to express *my* self to the world. And having the confidence to just stay true to that, regardless of what anyone else is doing.
I still have inner work to do in terms of using shopping to self-soothe, but it is getting easier to resist. Slowly. :) And writing like yours really is so helpful and inspiring!
The article is good! It’s one I’ll be revisiting for a while. I’ve never been into micro-trends, but I will admit I’ll fully swayed by broader ones - I wore skinny jeans like everyone else did and now I’m all about fuller, voluminous trousers, not sure if it’s an age thing or just the “eye adjusting” every few years.
I love this and it feels so freeing. I imagine those on or near the runway in these specifically put together looks don't feel their best in those moments. I often find I like the way something looks in a photo but I felt like SH*T in it. Vulnerable, insecure, heartbroken, ill at ease, whatever. Something I like to do is try and explain that when I write. I think there is a community of some kind in knowing that people who look "nice" or "happy" or "rich" (as someone recently called me in a comment - "rich and oblivious" and they caught me on a bad day and really made me hurt like hell) can be feeling lots of things. Most of us are.
There's such a dark side to putting yourself out there, and I am sorry you've been on the receiving end of hurtful comments. I hesitated to link to the images of the Lemaire show-goers because I'm not dissing them or think I'm better than them; for me, it was just realising the most beautiful fashion images are still promoting a brand in some way, and I have to recognise that to curb my impulses to want the same things. I think something about current culture really seems to reduce human beings to content (images, videos), and while I now tend to view fashion imagery with a heavy dose of cynicism, I also need to remember not to assume I know everything about what someone is going through.
I think you are very real and thoughtful and not someone who assumes. And I just so agree with you that we are all in some way the most beautiful when we feel like our realest selves.