I just want to take a break from fashion news and lay out a little dish. So there is this website, that shall remain untold, where really fashionable "ordinary" people are photographed in the street and posted and everyone comments on. Usually the pics are REALLY avant garde and fabulous or at least interesting but sometimes there's just an outfit that makes you think, THIS is fashion?!Case in point, the above picture. Now, yes this outfit tells a statement. It says, "I auditioned for Pirates of the Caribbean and didn't get it and I'm crazed and obsessed". Well, maybe not the latter part but still. So yes, the outfit is very cultural. Obviously. But to have it posted on a street fashion website and have people comment on it as an "amazing and inspiring" outfit is ludicrous.
This is something that the homeless people in the streets wear when they're collecting cans for recycling. This is fashion in the sense that it is indeed clothes being worn and it tells a statement. But the statement told is not, I'm fashionable. Aside from being ill-fitted, the outfit appears to be just filthy. I'm all for posting these kinds of pics and having a "what was she thinking?" moment but to post this outfit and praise it for being "fashionable" just does not make sense. Go down to Jamaica and wander the dirt streets and you'll see everyone in the same look. Maybe that's where the photographer got the pic and just photoshopped it into the streets of NYC.
At any rate, it's important to know the difference between fashion and fashionable. Culturally inspired garments are definitely a win in most cases but when you get too cultural you may just need to be deported.
2 comments:
I would have hoped that a contributer to a fashion magazine would be more enlightened than to completely disregard something as "unfashionable" (and hopefully in a much less racist, class-ist way as it was done here). You make a distinction between fashion and fashionable. My own perception of fashion was of the individual article of clothing, the piece of art (yes, art) worn by someone to convey the message. Fashionable is how it looks. What you are missing in your distinction is one of the trinity: style, or the way one carries oneself and the attitude with which they wear their fashion. One might not be wearing something of high fashion or very fashionable, but they could have style out the ass. While I personally wouldn't wear the pirate outfit, I would say that this woman has as much style as any high fashion doll who copied a look from the Dolce & Gabbana adverts.
A little more cultural sensitivity wouldn't be missed on this posting, either.
Grow a brain.
Careful with your 'racist' and 'cultural sensitivity' remarks here Lexie baby (i LOVE Jamaica!). Maybe you're right, people who wear these types of outfits on a day-to-day basis can totally be found roaming the streets of Milan, Berlin, Miami, LA, NYC (case in point) (pardon my eye roll). To be clear, my annoyance stems from the acceptance that this ensemble is revered as stylistic and dare I say, ground-breaking. It's obvious that this person doesn't think too much about what she wears. I just can't picture her ogling herself in the mirror and deliberately dressing this way to convey a remarkable fashion statement...and that's FINE! I just don't think it appropriately represents edgy fashion, which is the point of most street fashion websites. Furthermore, another point in addressing this was that culturally inspired outfits and garments can be tricky to pull off by those who actually are interested in how they look and are presented to the world and that this is definitely not the way to go. You may disagree as you so obviously do but that's your prerogative. Thanks for commenting, we'll be sure to send you a free t-shirt for playing.
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