Fashion and style into perspective

Last Friday, while I was catching up with friends we happened to have a serious and animated discussion about fashion, style and rules.

All of this started with the following statement, from a man (obviously-pardon the cliché):

“Since all of us have been working within the fashion industry, we are brainwashed to see it as essential and beautiful”.

The first point was that we, “fashion characters”, don’t have enough objectivity and we are following the trends like sheep.

The thing is not all fashion lovers are followers, some of them have the discernment to see fashion trends more than just prescriptions.

They reveal so much about how a society is doing. For example, during the 2007 downturn, fur become all of a sudden outdated.

Moreover that night, each of us was dressed differently. That was a very visual proof that although we do work for the same industry, still we have very different tastes.

Then one of the girls stated: “Fashion and style are not the same thing”. And she is absolutely right.

There is a huge difference between dressing in brands from head to toe and being stylish.

Style is actually about revealing your individuality, letting your personality and own tastes shine and most of the time style is about not following the rules.

Of course there are plenty of fashion magazines (Vogue, L'Officiel, Harper’s Bazaar, etc) that are featuring the major trends and telling us which designer is hot right now.

But at some point it’s not Anna who are going to come into your dressing room to tell you what to wear and how to wear it.

We just no longer buy into it as it was before since customers are more and more educated about the ins and outs of the industry.

These magazines and fashion editors can inspire us.

But, to some extent you are the one and only one to decide who you are and how you want people to see you through the clothes you are putting on.

The other part of the discussion was also very funny.

Indeed, he was claiming: “Well that’s great to be stylish. Still, unwittingly people interested in fashion are more or less following the rules and I am not. Look, my clothes are not fashionable or stylish.”

From that moment it reminded all of us of that scene from “The Devil wears Prada” in which Miranda was proving to Andrea that even though she thinks she is out of the “fashion system”, the Cerulian blue sweater she was wearing were actually chosen by the people she thought she has nothing to do with.

Thus that was very ironic as a situation.

As good “fashion characters” we are, we did not miss to remind him how this industry matters not only for the turnover it generates but also because it is a part of our lives.

You cannot escape fashion, even if you are a loyal customer of thrift shops.

This is where some people might be confused: fashion is not only Louis Vuitton, Chanel or any other big brand.

Fashion embraces so many things, so many aspects of our lives that it is everywhere. Therefore, it will be too reductive to limit it to brands.

In the same way, style cannot be reduced to fashion trends.

For it is about not following the rules, playing with trends or not and doing it your own way.

How about you? What do you think?

Because you adore fashion and like to perfect your style, does it mean that you are a pure follower?