Fashion bloggers this week are sharing our “views on fashion, consumption, individuality, and the importance of fashion in our lives” through Black Friday. For more info and background see my initial post. http://clothingcult.com/?p=42


Wear it, wear it well, wear it with confidence.

In an earlier post I commented: “Open yourself up to people with your posture (don’t glare, cross your arms, slouch) – be confident!” http://clothingcult.com/?p=48

A couple of days ago I came across this at fashiontribes.typepad.com:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/3717363l

Personal style can only come from our own internal knowledge of what gives us a little kick in our step. When every girl in town is running around in M-K style bobo or an attempt at Ms. Moss’s madcap mix, there is an authenticity that is lost. It’s that authenticity that makes their style work on them-no matter who you are, you aren’t going to be comfortable in hot pants and wellies. Kate pulls it off because there is no doubt, no convincing needed. That carefree attitude can’t be emulated-that’s why so many girls are clearly self conscious when they walk down the street wearing their ‘Kate Moss’ outfit.

(and then another article from Style Intelligence http://styleintelligence.blogspot.com/2005/11/fashion-as-expression-of-individuality.html
)
Which made me start thinking more and more.

Wear it, wear it well, wear it with confidence. Wear it with confidence – whatever it is. Stop doubting in yourself. Maybe this is at least part of what fashion is made of beyond the general shapes of fabric that fit our body type best.

Almost Girl responded to Fashiontribes’ post:

I think the trouble for many of us is that personal style evolves with own own conception of who we are and in a world where identity is so largely determined by PR reps many women don’t have a clear identity of themselves.

A thought I had the other day, something I want to ponder:
Was boho chic really the result of celebs like Mary-Kate trying to exude that “leave me alone” look? The one many celebs seem to don when ducking from paparazzi and trying to live some semblance of a normal life? Are we mistaking their loungewear and disguises as fashion as a result of the paparazzi ‘s exuberance to get these people on film?

Ok – just something I was pondering – I didn’t manage to follow any of the boho chic style evolution because I didn’t really like it and knew what the stores were carrying wasn’t going to look right or even good on me. At least I have the sense to realize it’s not going to look good on me.

That’s part of the problem, people see it on a celeb, the celeb looks good, they look happy, they have their makeup done, they might be airbrushed , and the regular people out there say “hey, I want that – I want to look like that – she looks cute – I’ll go buy that shirt – I’ll go buy those pants – I’ll be cute.” Wanna see what happens when they aren’t wearing makeup and haven’t been airbrushed or photoshopped? http://www.ebaumsworld.com/celeb.html

So here’s a little experiment I want to propose:
Send me your photos and I will select 3 people to do a photoshop makeover (I promise this will be good – and I’ll get your approval to post the final product in case you’re worried.) Before and afters will be displayed here so that people can see how much difference a little touching-up will make. In order to have a chance and being one of the 3 photoshop makeovers you must certify that you are 18 years of age, you must certify that you or a friend have taken the photo, and you must be fully clothed (or a modest bikini at minimum.)

Because I don’t know how quickly you all will send in pictures, I will post here again when I stop taking photo submissions. E-mail to: photoshopme@clothingcult.com

This will be fun! 🙂