This week I read and gawped at the wonderful images in Amanda Brooks'
I Love Your Style (New York, 2009). Having recently read
Fashion and Sustainability: Design for Change (by Kate Fletcher & Lynda Grose, London 2011) it seems to me that guides to perpetual style are increasingly required in this world of fast disposable fashion. The making of clothing is so fraught -- from the production of textiles using dangerous pesticides and water polluting fabric dyes, to questionable labour conditions and the sheer volume of discarded goods destined for landfill -- that it's actually mind boggling.
For me the solution is to love what you have, buy vintage, support the few brands that care about how their goods are produced, make your own or have someone else make things for you. And to know what suits you and makes you happy. While an imagined "Jackie O in Capri '65" look is one of my favourite style aspirations, this rather more formal Chanel suit
above would still get a good work out if it was in my wardrobe, though probably not worn together.
Another perennial favourite for me is 1970s preppie.
Above: Jodie Foster, 1979.
Above: Style! Gotta love a woman who is so at ease wearing so very little. The magnificent Josephine Baker, 1925.
Above: so simple, beautiful and timeless. Louise Brooks, year not cited, 1920s.
Above: Nina Hagen, the ultimate rock'n'roll bad girl. Love that fringe and eye make up. 1979.
Above: the author's mother's wedding, 1966. Custom made Lilly Pulitzer dresses with matching green shoes. Bring back the fun in wedding attire, I say!!
Above: reminder to self that I must make a replica of this coat before next winter (rather unlikely).
Above: Let's be realistic about this whole style thing. If you have a face like Catherine Deneuve's you
can get away with wearing (and possibly doing) ANYTHING. Those cheekbones are perfect. 1966.
Brooks' book contains some beautiful, colourful and fantastically inspiring images. I have chosen a relatively dull selection, but that's where I am at right now. I would love to know what (or who) other people would choose as their style aspirations....
5 comments:
I can see you in that Josephine Baker get up Sand
Of course you can, O Blight of My Life!!!
Lovely post. I think it's anything but dull. I have never thought much about fashion (at least not in this way) but it will cause me to think more about it. And having to think of fashion trends that speak to me; what fun. Here goes: the 80s Debbie Harry (if you google her and go to images you will see a wealth of fantastic outfits and so timeless), Diane Keaton has got it going on, what a true individual and she has never been out of style (never), Frida Kahlo, what a woman (no further explanation needed), Katherine Hepburn (again, explanation not necessary), Nick Cave (deliberately styled but pulls it off every time), Atticus Finch, Pj Harvey, Tilda Swinton... I could go on. But after all that I realise I have listed style icons rather than fashion trends. Oh well, I enjoyed it. :)Thanks Sandra.
YEAH!!! I LOVE all of your choices Jo, what a fantastic colourful post THAT would have made....such a great mix of the colourful and the practical too. Thanks so much!
ACE post Sandra. Not a dull selection at all. I say yes to Nina Hagen! Yes to vintage! Yes to Josephine Baker! Yes to your glamorous mum! You've got me thinking. Here are a few ladies I admire for their unique/impeccable style: Peggy Guggenheim, Iris Apfel, Anna Piaggi, Vivienne Westwood, Debbie Harry, Katherine Hepburn… I could go on, but my response is in danger of becoming a mini blog post!
PS. I will be extremely impressed if you make a replica of that coat.
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