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I am not really a firm believer in following fashion rules. To misquote a very, very prevalent cliche, what are rules for if not to be broken? That's why I love casual looks for night time, and dressed up glam for day. There is nothing to stop me wearing something sequinned and fabulous to a lazy lunch, just as there is nothing to stop me wearing a tracksuit top out at night - to the ballet, even. The thing is, Glamour, Elegance and Sophistication - well, they're all a state of mind. I firmly believe this. I believe that style is not so much about the clothes, but about how you wear them. If you truly embody glamour and elegance and sophistication, even in a simple tee shirt and jeans, then you will be Glamorous and Elegant and Sophisticated. That's why true style is very hard to put your finger on. People were musing on this in the Alexa Chung thread, how she has very similar clothes to a lot of girls out and about, yet she always looks so good, that she will wear something completely out of the blue - like a black maxi dress - that you would never think alexa would be able to pull off, but she does. That's because i think Alexa has a way of wearing clothes that is different to a lot of people. It's not what she wears, because when it boils down to it what she wears is not very remarkable (excepting Chanel Haute Couture, of course, now that is a different matter all together). It is all in the WAY that she wears them. She's said this herself, she has a bit of a sense of humour about clothes, she'll whack an old guitar strap on her brand new Mulberry bag, she'll pile on the cheap bling over a Chanel shirt. She loves clothes and fashion, but doesn't take it seriously. This is the same for other truly stylish girls, like Yasmin Sewell.
You'll find the girls who regularly feature on Garance and the Sart have a way of wearing clothes that is different to anyone else. They don't just WEAR the new season fashions, they'll twist them, turn them and make them their own. That's why, with the right state of mind, you can wear a sequinned duster coat and silly little clutch bag in the day time, just as easily as you can wear the most casual of looks out at night. Today, the rule books have been thrown out the window. What is exciting about fashion is that there is no more slavish following of looks, trends and it-bags. There is a way of dressing that is truly individual. I like to think that today, if two starlets were to turn up on the red carpet wearing the same dress, it wouldn't be the "DISASTER" that Grazia and Who magazine spell it out to be. In fact, two girls wearing the same thing is an opportunity to see just how diverse we are - in looks, in body type and in fashion sense - and to celebrate it. I know that's how I feel with my friends. When we own the same necklace or pair of shoes it is a chance to show to each other how we can put a different spin on the same item.
As Cleo Gyde said in this month's Vogue Australia, this era of dressing is something truly, truly magical. We have begun to "use our imagination more than out credit cards - not shopping dazed, but dazzling". I read a similar article in the March Harpers Bazaar US that heralded the end of fashion rules. I was reminded by that time Sarah Harris wore couture all day long - in an article entitled "excess all areas" - for Vogue UK's December 2009 issue. Surely, this idea of imaginative, open, truly liberated dressing has been long coming. However this really hit home for me recently. I was going out to a friend's birthday and was troubled. I had nothing, nothing to wear, as a girl always thinks when she contemplates a full-to-the-bursting closet. I was going to wear a flimsy, summer time dress I bought last year, mille-feuille layers and completely impractical for the winter weather. When i tried it on I realised I wouldn't last a minute in wind and rain, so I changed... into the first thing I stumbled onto, my topshop shirt in buttery camel, a simple black skirt and my fur gilet. Sure, I jazzed it up with a pair of heels and loads of jewellery and lashings of glitter on my eyelids, but the look was essentially very casual. Did I feel out of place in a "happening" club (loath as i am to use that word, there is really no other way to describe the place we went to ) where my friends had little party frocks emblazoned in jewels, studs and sequins? No, not at all. In fact, I had a really good time, much better than I would have had in a summer dress ill-suited to winter weather.
It was a lesson learnt. Stop worrying about being "dressed up" or "dressed down". Just dress. It is all in the way you wear it.
Night for Day
Day for Night
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