Sunday, December 27, 2009

In style VS "In Style"


When people say they don't care what's in style right now, I get the feeling that they don't want to follow 3 very common street trends of now.
By street trends I mean 3 generally stereotyped styles.
I hate that these exist and I think they're unfortunate because people probably just cling to one and claim it as their own but here we go:
1. Confused early-teen (girl): Shops at places like Garage, TNA, Below the Belt, Sirens, Off the Wall so will generally stick to scoopneck shirts, discounted spaghetti-strapped camisoles of all colors, hoodies, flare jeans, dainty flats, long necklaces with cute pendants like anchors, hearts, etc. These girls have tendencies to resort to sweatpants and uggs, and have (in the past year) dipped into the flannel-and-skinny trend.
2. Chachi boy-friend girl of any age: Two words. Ed. Hardy. And I guess with this I should politely include Affliction, Christian Audigier, Juicy Couture, Armani, Gucci (keep in mind with these last two that I only mean too-tight jeans with diamond encrusting and HUGE names scattered all over) and I guess sometimes Guess. We're talking super-tight skin colored leggings with coyfish and skulls wrapped in shitty tattoo banners. Talking about trucker mesh hats, matching tracksuits, lots of velour and Puma shoes. Talking about anything that has brandnames pasted over the lady's breasts or butt.
Uh oh, I think my bias is showing.
3. Hipster: Looking at vintage as one fulfilling entity and thinking that absolutely ANYTHING that looks like it was made between 1965 and 1985 will be perfect. They like piecing together very seemingly random prints like floral with plaid, or houndstooth with stripes. They love onesies, cardigans, over-sized scarves, canvas shoes/converse, huge tacky belts and other obscene accessories.
(Patterned) tights.
Hipsters often are those people who are "artists" (or artists) and sometimes actually show some allusion (if they can take a few seconds to stray from this neo-vintage type) to modern fashion.
I guess it's seen as pretty daring.

Sometimes these types tend to overlap. People from one category will get bored with the one in which they've belonged to, or that their friends belong to and will dip into other ones. It's good to experiment with fashion of course but I think that fashion should mean more than these three subheadings.
I do believe these are safe common assumptions for street fashion as of the very moment that I'm writing this, for the three or four seasons preceding as well as those proceeding this.
When people say "Oh, I don't pay attention to fashion or follow trends, I do my own thing," I fear that all they mean is that they don't want to fit into one of these three commonly assumed fashion TYPES.
Really, I wish they were talking about what's in style as not what's on the street but what's actually blooming in the fashion scene.
I like to think that nobody's style should have to fall under ANY category. It is rightfully theirs and should be at the very least a reflection of their individuality.
And then I bet they'd be paying a lot more attention.

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