Fashion vs. Style

I courted with slight controversy on twitter earlier tonight when I admitted that I frequently judge people based on their clothes, something I’m not always comfortable with. Lots of people got rightfully quite cross about this – but I wasn’t talking about those who follow fashion, but those who have style.
What’s the difference? Well, I have a friend who couldn’t care in the least about what is or isn’t in fashion (admittedly she’s much older than myself and says those days are behind her – but that’s a whole other blog post on age) but always wears amazing jewelery, or an interesting scarf and has a real eye for colour combinations. And she always looks fantastic. This is what I’m talking about – people with a sense of style as opposed to those who slavishly follow fashion regardless of what suits them or looks good. I’d rather have someone dressed like an escapee from a lunatic asylum for the colour blind criminally insane than wear jeans and a dull t-shirt., just because it shows a sense of creativity which is pretty much the indicator I’ll get on with someone. To me, clothes are about expressing myself to the world. Whether you like it or not, the way you dress says a lot about you to other people, from ‘I’m an important business woman’ to ‘I really love the colour pink’ or ‘The Pixies are my favourite band’. To me, someone who clearly hasn’t thought about their appearance probably doesn’t have much of an imagination.
But jeans and a t-shirt doesn’t always equal boring – a well cut pair of skinny jeans and a classic jersey t-shirt with converse is one of my favourite looks and still shows a definite sense of style. I’m thinking more a pair of blue bootcut (whyyyyyy) jeans with a primark black t shirt. No love from me there.
Lots of my friends who would claim to have no interest in fashion actually have some of the best looks I know. And its not about the size of your wardrobe either; my friend Heather claims to have a small wardrobe but always looks ridiculously stylish. It’s knowing what suits you, mixing it up and showing a bit of your personality to the world every day. It could be always wearing interesting necklaces, having a series of exciting hairstyles, an armful of jingly bracelets or a raspberry beret. Y’know, just something that says ‘Hi, this is me’.

I know it is probably massively shallow, but I have the general rule of thumb that if you dress boring, you’re probably not a very creative or interesting person and I’m pretty much always proved right. And I love those who have a definite ‘look’: for example, my boyfriend will literally only wear black clothing and has done for many many years now. It’s limiting in terms of buying him clothes, but I really enjoy that he picked out his own definitive style. (and pretty great when another friend with the same name started wearing entirely white – it was alex and anti-alex for a while).

I often think that my obsession with fashion/clothes/style stems back to a childhood spent dressing up and on the stage. I still see my wardrobe as a bit more of a dressing up box than any 24 yr old really should and I sometimes find myself dressing ‘in character’ or heavily influenced by someone I admire. I can be a total hypocrite about this though, as I frequently roll into work wearing whatever I found on the floor but I always feel a million times better when I’ve given my outfit some thought in the morning (and I’ll frequently refuse to go out after work if I hate my outfit that day).

I don’t really know what the point of all this was, other than to try and clarify myself and seem like less of a fashion nazi (which I’m not, at all) but I’ll round up with a list of my style heroes of late:
my friend who got dressed up in costume especially for his first gig – the girl I see at my bus stop with huge blonde dreadlocks and amazing pinstriped suits (if you know her, tell her I love her) – my sister and her top hats – my boyfriend and his dedication to black – the girl I met last night with amazing sleeve tattoos and an awesome fringe – my work BFF and her gorgeous drapey dress that I’m coveting – my parent’s dog Moke, who is currently sporting a green glittery top while her stitches heal as she kept ripping the bandage off and chewing it (my parents dogs will actively bring clothes to you to be put on them!)

And very, very finally: do you think you have a signature look that anchors your style together? Mine is probably my fringe, which has been a permenant feature of my style since the age of about 6, or my alice bands or my liquid eyeliner.

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