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Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Monday, February 20, 2006 4:11 PM (Eastern)
I hope to write more about this rather than trying to cover everything in one go. It's certainly not simple; not simple at all. I highly disagree with those guides that presume to solve all of your wardrobe problems in one page's worth of writing.
I suppose I should start with a few of my early influences.
One was a book entitled Cheap Chic. I think there are updated versions but the one I read was published sometime in the 70's. I remember a picture of Lou Reed (still young) in it, iirc he was wearing black nailpolish (I was so jealous! This was in the days before Wet 'n' Wild).
Cheap Chic introduced me to the concept of "cost per wear." The idea was to figure out how often you actually wore an item. If it became a staple item that you reached for again and again, the cost per wear could conceivably be lower than that of a cheaper item that you hardly ever wore.
Another early influence of course was Annie Hall, with the luminous Diane Keaton.
Admittedly, emulating any of the looks from Cheap Chic or Annie Hall in the 70's in ultra-conservative Norfolk, Virginia, was impossible. I knew people back then who flew to New York City to do their clothes-shopping, they were that desperate. Still, the influence was there and remains to this day. How to simplify and yet remain beautiful and complex, without breaking the bank over it.
Later on I would be influenced by The Clash. :D Yep, the rock band, The Clash. Shortly thereafter, naturally, there was Madonna. People too young to remember early Madonna do not appreciate how ingenious she was. Both The Clash and Madonna embodied some Cheap Chic notions; again, that it wasn't how much cash you spent (mind you, this came during the time when fancy designer clothes reigned). It was how wisely you spent what you had.Building a basic wardrobe for me personally, is a relatively new experience. For quite some time now, I had access to an outrageously cheap source of name-brand clothes...Banana Republic, J.Crew, Ann Taylor, etc. The extent of my game plan was to go there every year and grab everything I saw that I thought would work. But, the place is no more. So I've had to do some planning.
One sad thing I've learned, and it's hard to say, but Levi's jeans are no longer any good. I know they're based here in San Francisco, people work for them...but the gold-standard Levi's of my youth are gone. I bought two pairs in September 2004 (archived fashion blog) and they're already at the point where they don't look that great anymore.
Before you snort "that was over a year ago," I had had visions of those jeans lasting year after year, the way the old Levi's did. I mean people used to age their jeans. They used to splatter bleach on them, wash them over and over again...an old pair of Levi's was a treasured object.
I'm not sure what I'm going to replace them with. I'm thinking J.Crew or Land's End...dunno...I'll have to do some research.
Image courtesy www.popmatters.com
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