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Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, February 20, 2006 8:39 PM (Eastern)
Okay...so now you've written a short list of your earliest fashion influences. The people and styles to whom you were drawn.
Now start another list...okay, I can admit I usually hate doing this sort of exercise. But in blogging about it, I'm realizing there are quite a few concrete examples of my early style influence. It's funny.
For the second list, you write down why you liked the items in the first list. What attracted you, what did you like about the influences? While you're at it, you'll probably remember more things to add to the first list.
Here are my additions to the first list:
- Military clothes
- Indian sari's
Cheap Chic, well that's obvious. It was all about cutting edge 70's style, the stuff I kept seeing in magazines and movies, but never in my local stores.
Annie Hall...oh...everyone was wearing high heels and conservative clothes around me...she was wearing men's clothes, and flowing things...everything looked soft and touchable and elegant.
Flashdance...I guess the legwarmers got done to death at one point. But I loved the dancers' clothes. It was all about function.
Brooke Shields...the shock value part I suppose was aggravating, but she always looked good. Whatever people thought, she never showed much skin. She was model-tall but she never, to me, looked skinny, just tall and slim.
Later on she would appear in the heavy makeup of the time but what you remember is when she hardly wore any.
The Clash...black and white. I'm not talking about the green hair portion of The Clash fashion story *g* It's the stripped down, black-and-white period...something as simple as black jeans or pants with a natty Clash or Pretenders tee shirt. I was terrible at tearing these properly.
Madonna...early Madonna. Very innovative. Think of Desperately Seeking Susan--the pyramid jacket? Do you ever forget this jacket once you've seen it?Seventeen magazine...still remember some of the images to this day. One was a girl wearing simple black clothes...a black flowing skirt...she had long dark, almost black straight hair, and wore this incredible warm red lipstick.
One was a cute piece pairing models of different ages. The idea was the older model would give a favorite piece of clothing to the younger model. Since it was a teen mag, the models all had to be teens, so...
One was the notion of pairing lace with denim or leather. Again that's been done to death since, but it was novel back then.
One...I'm almost sure it was Seventeen...had a pic of Phoebe Cates before she became a model and actress. She was wearing, I believe, this cute Catholic school uniform.
Military clothes...Norfolk is a military town, so it's not uncommon to see people in uniform there. I liked the uniforms...fatigues...Army Navy store stuff.
Indian sari's...keep in mind this was before cable tv, before the Internet. It was the most exotic and beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
So...? I am very cheap, yes, but I like clothes that are based on function...the military clothes, the dancers' clothes, Doc Martens shoes. Something that is entirely basic, but if you do it right, it's foolproof shopping.
I like to wear something different, something that is individual. Madonna's clothes, Cheap Chic, Annie Hall, the idea...I wear it, therefore it's right for me.
Something a tad beautiful...Indian sari's, the stuff in 1970's Seventeen magazine.
Something stripped down...early Brooke Shields (didn't she always wear very basic clothes?), The Clash...the idea, less is more.
Another thing. I like old items. Perhaps that comes from the vintage, antique stuff that was all around me (as it will be in the South).
Image courtesy www.nostalgiacentral.com
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