The Pirate of Soho

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.

Doin' Too Much

The late great Coco Chanel always said, "When in doubt, simply remove the last thing you put on before going out". (That wasn't meant to rhyme btw) Well, maybe gal #3 should remove everything altogether and just start over, or stay in instead. I'm not even going to touch on that fur tote, and those acid wash jeans and gold pumps? Not so much. We all laughed when Mugatu revealed his Derelict collection in Zoolander, thinking how ridiculous it was! Well....take a look around and you'll see that what we have is a clear case of homeless 'chic' running amuck. I personally don't get it. I'm a well-traveled chap, I consider myself adventurous when it comes to style but I know when to stop. That brown Rick Owens yeti coat is nothing short of atrocious. Snuffeluffagus himself would not be caught in that. Can someone please tell me why I think of Sigourney Weaver when I see this pic? It's one thing to see it on the runway but quite another to go to Dean & Deluca in it. And that New Mexico pancho would perform much better has a chunky scarf. I think the little old Native American woman who made it is still trapped in there somewhere. My point is this: Tone it down a bit. We get it, you're eccentric! But you're also obnoxious, distasteful, and most of all, just plain not cute. Thumbs down all the way!