Less Fashion More Expression

Fashion is all around us and in the time of social media it may feel like it’s popping out of your fridge. It’s waving at you from the shop windows, saying hi online and lurking from the pages of glossy magazines. So while the fashion wheels are spinning producing new trends for each season does it even make sense trying to keep up? Is following trends the easiest way to kill your personal style? Do we need less fashion and more expression?

So, as we all know, trends come and go, and all we can do is to choose what we like or don’t and add it to our closets. That process of filtering is the part that gets me so interested. Where do you draw the line and decide to say no to fashion? I love that all the boundaries and rules that we used to have before (like match your shoes and your purse) are long gone. Our personal liberties are higher than ever, but I still feel like we didn’t do much with it in terms of fashion. Even worse, it feels like we mainly turned into lazy uniformed people who don’t express a lot with their styles. Fast fashion shops that all offer very similar things probably don’t help, as whatever you buy there you’ll end up seeing on other people. Other thing that makes me frown is this celebrity obsession where it seems like everyone wants to copy Kim K’s style which results in a bunch of ‘fashionistas’ (god, I hate that word) that all look like clones. We can all get inspired by others, but copying doesn’t let you put that personal touch into your style that you should try to make your own.

So chasing trends and blindly copying some celebrity’s style is not a good solution. Getting to know yourself and developing what you like is. Taste and style are like magical filters that will help you choose from a huge fashion offer, to find pieces that are great for you. I talked with some of my girlfriends to see what they would never wear and we had some similar points of view. Whenever you’re shopping you should try things on and see how they look on you. We have different body types and sometimes things may not look good on you no matter how pretty they are. With time you’ll learn what cut, length and colour looks best on you. Sometimes your inner voice will just tell you if something works, but bringing a shopping buddy can also help plus it’s tons of fun. No matter how big a trend is and how good it looks on others don’t fall for it if it’s just not your style. What we say no to is a big part of style too, and we all need to know what lines we don’t want to cross. For me it’s the shoulder-pads that I would never ever wear, for Doina it’s animal print and for some it’s Ugg boots. My sister stays away from neon colours, I run away from those tight short dresses like Herve Leger and I hope at least some of these fashion ghosts will stay in the past. And when the haunting trends that you don’t like get their moment of revival just smile and walk away. After all trends come and go, but style is forever.