on the right path

May I start with a cliché? Well, hope you don’t  mind me saying London Fashion Week was like my dream coming true. Getting a press pass and invitations with my name on was enough. But then, using them while entering Somerset nearly left me fainted.

This dramatic swap from my hometown steadiness to this big hectic world where you casually approach Laura Whitmore or Brix Smith to find out they’re wearing Bora Aksu or Isabel Marant feels like I’m living in one of these slushy comedies about teenage girls making their lives incredible. For me, LFW was big fashion and life lesson, no matter how exaggerated it sounds.

And it’s all because first day was a shock. It felt a little bit like being thrown into a place you want to belong, but you keep convincing yourself will never be a part of. But I quickly learnt no one knows me there, no one know where I come from. If I wear some obtrusive colors another day, I can be as noticeable as any other fashionista entering Somerset with  an iphone in hand and sunglasses on her head even though the sky is grey.

Yeah, some people were snobbish, but some inspiring. It’s your choice whether you look for those who can share your fashion taste or keep your head down because you don’t feel good enough to make a statement with your outfit. That’s right, two clichés in one post may be too much as for an aspiring writer, but it is genuine true to say while I felt confident, I was most stylish.  As simple as that. Wish I knew that earlier.

But LFW was not just about ‘what to wear’ dilemma. It was also my final fashion test. Can I handle writing, watching, feeling, being it. Well, to be honest, I was just living fashion. Now, I don’t need any more assertion what shall I be doing, how to make it work. I’m eventually on the right path. Let’s keep going then. 

style is

Style is… I think every single fashion-lover would  finish this sentence in his own way.  Style can be about clothes or attitudes. I talk to two 20-year-old freshmen about how they see it without thousands of pounds to spend on designer’s pieces and too much in love with second-hands to give up their sweatshirts  for cashmere sweaters.

Doma studies international relations and wants to stand out at her uni. In a positive way of course. She does not necessarily associate style with Audrey Hepburn or Twiggy. She defines it as consciousness and lifestyle to be complete. It must be integral. Thus when she enters the tube she can discern this person right away.

She dubs her style as ‘casual hipster’, striving for a balance between comfort and being noticeable.  Her fashion major rule is ‘three-colours outfit’,as she thinks any more patterns or hues will destroy it. Her apparel base are socks which let her complete the rest of it. Well, no surprise then her collection includes all types of them with fox, deer or tigers prints.

Kuba may seem a nerdy type with enthusiasm for his biology studies, but his wardrobe is far from the dull one. He associates style with composition and Lana del Rey’s 50’s  inspired image and music videos. He admits he has been through a tough ‘fashion time’ recently, as his personal style was in a state of considerable change. It may be due to his weight-loss and resignation from wearing tees with tacky prints. Kuba opts for street -like and comfy clothes. Vans and ‘Fruit of the Loom’  raglan sweatshirts are his religion.

Why is fashion important for them? Doma does not hesitate to say, no matter how harsh it may sound, it allows her to select people she is sticking up with in the belief she may find like-minded friends. On the other side, there is also the sweet pleasure of creating an outfit people will think mean she’s living a cool life, despite it may be really badly screwed. It is just satisfying.  And what about Kuba? He just wants people to see him. They may like or hate the way he dresses but it is just about making people aware how much fun fashion can be. Especially at uni, where the majority of style-unaware students keeps going for winter polar hoodies and trekking shoes.

Doma wants her style to evolve into more girly with investing in purple colour garments, chiffon skirt and dyeing pale-pink highlights. Kuba claims he will be on the quest of more skate style as a fullcap is on the top of his must-have list. But no matter how it changes, the way they define style shouldn’t change. At least for now, when all they want is to have fun. With clothes and with life.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

new york/london/milan/paris

Fashion week season about to begin with New York on the top of the list. It is tough to predict trends and that is why we should leave it to people who perfectly grasped fashion history and craft. We’re just an audience to judge, bearing our influence and applauding.

 What Autumn/Winter 2013 will be like? I cannot envisage but can wish. So I want sheepskin jackets and lots of leather. Leather gloves and jackets, leather bags and vests. No more military motives.

 Then I want full-length coats with wide collars and belts complemented with silk scarves. They will be loose and huge and cosy. So nicely looking with wedges and boots. All black and dark brown.

Okay, I agree, there will also be a bit of colour. Cashmere sweaters in white, burgundy and nude. That’s the only concession I make.

The edgy element of my perfect AW 2013 season forecast will be a hat. Classy and simple, black with a huge brim, worn by long-haired models with a plait underneath.

I wish I could make this collection on my own, show it to the world. But all I can do now is follow the upcoming fashion weeks and see how many of my wishes come true. 

bloggers

I will never fully grasp the phenomenon of fashion bloggers. I know they’re cool and, most importantly, their clothes are cool but what’s the deal of making some photos of oneself wearing half of his wardrobe at the same time?

Well, it is quite nice they show us their fashion world. Fashion needs to be shared, in fact. This is what lets it develop and change – a complete medley of ideas. But what amazes me is what happens once the blogger gains popularity, including stacks of brand new samples of clothing , free entries to most desirable fashion events and millions of instagram followers(well, that is not a real perk, but I just had to mention it).

I think my question here is so closely related to the one I formulated while writing about Alexa Chung. Where these people got with their ideas? Were they enough creative and innovative?  Why fashion world so eagerly greets people without any merits really?

I think it has changed now a lot. Not so long ago you had to bring something, love it, crave for it and then, after struggle and hard work, make it. Sometimes, I just wonder how much of real fashion there is left in this mass-culture dominated world. Hopefully, it has not completely changed yet. I still my name to make  in the fashion world. And not as a blogger, please.

barcelona

Hi dear,

I just do not know how long can I keep waiting for you. Is it this holiday or the next one? Uncertainity is what I hate most.

Do not know really what to start with. Shall I just say I’d love to stroll down Barri Gotic with shops and bakeries and have some tapas. Then I will go to take some rides at Tibidabo. No matter how many times I have been there, I just can’t give up on amusement parks. Especially when I am on the tallest ride with the quite amazing view of all you’ve got best. Pure epic.

It is winter time in London. It is cold. People are like pushing and shoving in the tube and shops and bars in their down jackets . You are not like that at all. You just keep waiting with no pressure. And you’re sunny.

You know what? I want to take boat ride along the coast like the last time. Just want to have messed up hair and shorts and a tee. No tea. I drink tea all the time here and I give up. 

But the thing is I do not know when I will be back. But remember you’re my top one holiday destination. Well, top destination in general. Hope you will keep waiting for me.

Cheers,

X

london people boredom people

Walking down the London street is like sitting in the first row of the catwalk show. No surprise the city of seven million people is diverse/exciting/creative in terms of style. But despite it all it seems quite old-fashioned and tedious for me.

Of course if you take a walk to Camden Market or Brick Lane it is likely to spot these individualities with hair dyed to salmon pink and turquoise highlights. Of course if you get closer to Central St Martin’s campus there will be plenty of stylish students carrying leather bags filled with their cool projects. But to understand why I dare to say ‘Hi London, you’re fashion is boring’, just get on the northern line tube at 9 am and mind the gap.

I think who accounts for that are ‘City’ people, tired of climbing up the stairs to the 20^th floor of their offices instead of taking the elevator cause they are on a diet. And what I observe all these ladies in thirties and gents in their forties do is not merely overlooking the ‘what is in fashion now’ aspect, but opting for being old-fashioned. Wide-legged black pants, square heeled pumps and grey, worn-out suits are on the daily basis. Then come faded scarves, awful gloves and well-worn bags in awful hues of browns, including cafe latte.

It is easy to generalize and I’m probably doing that while jotting all these complaints down, but this is what I see every morning and evening. There are taste, opinions, views, I know, my parent repeated it to me like mantra not to judge. But it’s hard when you come to London with some precise fashion expectations. Not everyone have to care about this superficial aspect of life which style can be perceived to be. For me, it’s too relevant to dismiss. 

i love/hate you

A few years ago I would describe her as an icon, it-girl, role-model. I would sigh at her outfits with no relief, fantasizing about somehow robbing her wardrobe.  Then I may open my drawers and do the tidying-up procedure so as to tell my mum I have nothing to wear as I have changed my style. My style would be a copy of Alexa Chung’s.

I really used to look up to her in terms of fashion. I still do sometimes. She has this edgy, tomboyish look. Timid outside, bitchy inside. This is a motto she probably and I’d love it to be my creed. Not because I am her fan, not anymore. But because I can identify with it.

Why I started to dislike Alexa Chung? Well, maybe it is too strong to say ‘dislike’, but at least lost interest in her person. It was when I was caught up with her career. She is pretty, thin and has cool clothes. She did as a TV presenter. Then, it seems, in a second, out of the blue, became an it-girl with a bag named after her and Alex Turner holding her hand. I got preoccupied when I’ve noticed there was no vision behind it. No particular struggle to promote her one-off  fashion idea or design. She just came mixing up Topshop with Chanel  and that’s it.

Maybe there is envy somewhere deep inside me, but I hope there’s not. It is just that I always imagined every time new fashion celebrity is born it is due to something. They are designers, editors, stylists, artists. Alexa got it without any special talent really. Not I am not jealous. It’s some sort of disappointment. Anyway, she’s coolly dressed and has lives cool lifestyle with cool friends. Fair or not, fashion remains open for people with unique ideas. Let’s hope there is space for lots of them.