Personal Style etc - general discussion | Page 50 | the Fashion Spot

Personal Style etc - general discussion

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I think SC is seen as cooler (for lack of a less lame word) because of her work, her last name and who she associates with. Whereas Aniston has been a prominent figure in a popular tv series, had a hairdo that was hugely copied, etc. She is pretty much the definition mainstream.
So the neverending search for uniqueness and edgyness of highbrow fashion commentary is bound to put the first on a pedestal and criticize the latter.
 
^That could be true. If S.C wasn't a Coppola and had not met Marc Jacobs, do you think she'll still be a style icon? And where does that leave ordinary people who don't have a famous surname or play iconic sitcom characters?

When does understated cross to become boring?
 
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^ You need to have an understanding of proportion fabric and cut to elevate what could be boring to something interesting.
 
^I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're saying. egs? :blush:
 
I think when one considers the previous mentioned elements, one cannot be boring.

I love to dress in an understated way, but I always like to think I have elements which are 'off' to make it interesting. Do I make any sense? =)
 
Yes! I love the off-ness too. Like maybe a proper pants and shoes with a shirt that is all the right cut and print/colour but with a fabric that might not have been traditionally used to make that type of shirt kinda off?
 
i don;t know what the heck a conversation about star style is doing here in personal style!...
folks...
please take it over there if you MUST discuss these things...
thanks!
^_^...

i am going to the museum today ...
and having lunch with my mum...
it's very cold and is going to snow...
oh joy!

what on earth can i wear to be comfortable ???
i guess i have to pick some appropriate shoes and dress from the feet up!

* i'm also picking up some gorgeous martine sitbon booties that i am having dyed black...(they were a very pale pink/blush colour-which is lovely buy i was always afraid to wear them in case i might scuff/ruin them, etc...)
can't wait to see how they turn out!~!!
:clap:
they are also reviving an old pair of favourite blk suede booties for me...
you know how suede gets all scuffed and lighter around the toe?
well- they SAID they can fix that and put a new sole, etc...
we'll see.....crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...
these guys are the best in town, so if they can't do it, then no one can!

-now i'm off to get ready...what am i going to wear!?...
:ermm:
 
I love mixing designer with some key vintage pieces...

Here is what I wore today.

that looks great---why don't you post in the what are you wearing today thread???..

:woot:
 
softgrey, I'm not trying to debate board policy, but I think at least for me the discussion about the difference between understated and boring has a lot to do with my personal style. Every morning I need to remind myself that pair of trousers and a t-shirt does not an outfit make. I guess we got a little too tied up around the examples that were used. :)
 
Sorry to intrude on the thread! I'm really hoping I'm not throwing the thread out of context.

I'm pretty casual (cardi, t-shirt, skirt, skinnies, leggings) most of the time since I'm no night-clubbing girl (and thus no partay dresses), but I know how to rock red lingerie like a formal evening dress.

Everything in my wardrobe is so versatile and I think I use that to my advantage because although the majority IS casual and essentially repetitive, I still get to pull of simple, but eclectic looks with the most basic statements.

I think I try to avoid constantly buying because I tend to get attached to a cut and style in one specific colour- and end up forgetting the rest because I'm having too much fun with the one item. I think its one of a weakness which really needs addressing for me. (Though I can see how it must also be a good thing). Hopefully I'm not alone, haha.
 
softgrey, I'm not trying to debate board policy, but I think at least for me the discussion about the difference between understated and boring has a lot to do with my personal style. Every morning I need to remind myself that pair of trousers and a t-shirt does not an outfit make. I guess we got a little too tied up around the examples that were used. :)

yeah- that's all i'm talking about..carry on
:p

btw- the boots both turned out awesome
 
^I apologise. The reason why I was using celebrities so much was because it makes explaining easier. I guess my main question was, why do people who dress similarly not only in terms of clothings, but also accesories, hairstyles, makeup, etc. with similar body shapes have such different styles.

Because if personal style is personal expression, then i feel that knowing why the above happens can help me express myself better.
 
Taste, accessibility, financial freedom... Personal style does not necessarily equate to personal expression. Take this for example: If you earnt enough to only scrape $1 per month, and all clothes/accessories/shoes/etc were replaced with $1 price tags- people's wardrobes would look... much different.

This is actually why I never really mind if I walk out and someone wears a similar outfit. Even though people may dress similarly or want the same things, people don't all think identically or have identical access to identical things.

This is where I think the 'distinctive' part of your personal style comes about. We may have bought the same clothes, in the same colour and the same size- but I make everything I wear individual by personalising it and tailoring it to me.myself.i. So they'll never be the same- and I won't need to spend thousands on exclusivity just to feel different.

I mused a month ago on something I tagged as the difference between distinctive style and trademark identity. I've actually started using it to explain why i think people who choose the same clothes, have the same body shape and wear the same face- but still possess distinguishable styles.

There are many other factors/explanations/alternate hypotheses I did not mention or cover, but I feel as time goes on, and I do more research- I'll be able to put my thoughts down deeper. Maybe when it comes to writing my thesis I'll do a 'The psychology of personal style' wooo!
 
^I agree that accessibility and financial freedom have an impact on personal dressing. But I don't think people will look MUCH different at all. If we take $$$ and accessibility out of the equation, I think people will still dress like how they are dressing now. Instead of the AA tee, they might get the alexander wang tee. Instead of the dupe at Topshop, they're going to get the real Balmain sandals, etc. I'm also not so sure about taste. If we get the same item and wear it the same way, don't we have the same taste?

Also, erm..., it's not about being different. As such, it's not about spending a lot(or very little) to achieve "individuality". It's not really about trademarks, because that becomes a little like branding, a from one person to everyone else concept whereas I'm more interested in why do we look at someone and think they have a certain style(even though there is someone else who wears an almost exact copy of the things he/she wears and have the same hair and makeup and even maybe looks slightly similar but we think they have a totally different style), an everyone to one person concept.

My original question was why do people who wear similar things(clothes, bags, hairstyle, shoes, jewellery, everything), in similar ways, are percieved to have such different styles? The original example I used to illustrate my point was Sofia Coppola, Alexa Chung, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. Is it looks and body types(eg super model off duty look doesn't quite work as well for anyone I've seen unless they're a supermodel. or have supermodel proportions)? Heritage? Pedigree? (famous directing family vs 90s sitcom star)? And for every question I asked myself, I found or was provided with an example that contradicts it.(details in older posts). I'm not sure if they were exception rather than the rule. And if they were, what made them the exception?

personalising it and tailoring it to me.myself
How do you do that?
 
Oh my god. I apologise in advance for the wall of text.
I really hope I've caught your point, because otherwise- maybe we are talking on two different wavelengths.

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like" I've use Will Smith's quote to highlight a similar point I haven't just made up myself.
When you think about all the women who buy clothes they never wear, it sort of makes sense why taste does not necessarily equate to what a person wants to express.

Same item, same way ...may not always = same taste.
This lends itself into same item, same way but different taste. How do you know that person waltzing in the same garb as you is really keen on that particular outfit? How do you know that person is wearing something uncommon with their taste, for the sake of trend? It could be that they're aiming for a 'pay per wear' because the item was an expensive gift, or that they're 'laundry day wear' because everything else they own is much more cooler. What you wear and how you wear it therefore doesn't always necessarily equate to what you want to wear.

Tastes can change
Have you ever come across a dilemma where you could only afford one item? Instead of that AA tee, what if you chose those dupe Balmain sandals instead? If everything was replaced with the dollar price tag, who's to say you won't buy something else than a tee? If you could buy one piece of clothing every month, wouldn't it be different than if you were to purchase everything all at once? Tastes change.

When you're out shopping, not everyone
a.) keeps within their budget
b.) buy ONLY what's on their list
c.) finds what they intended to purchase in the first place.

Putting 'choice' into the equation
When the markets you have access to are saturated with 'choice', why are people going to simply change the brands they wear opposed to the many other articles of garments they can now get their hands on? What stops that person from buying those Miu Miu teacup heels instead of that AA tee in the first place?

If a conservative society meets a contrasting society- I can bet my bottom dollar someone is going to change/evolve/upgrade/downgrade (whatever) their taste. I mean, how can you know what you like if you don't even know about it?

I don't know about you, but people do buy brands for 'exclusivity'. I mean, can you really say no luxury brand would concerned about diluting their image if the differences are in the high price tag? Also, people do buy the clothes they because because they consider them to be 'individual'. Again, it depends on the society you live in as some tend to be more conformist.
Perhaps for you, it's not about being different...or about spending to achieve individuality. But for someone else's personal style- maybe they are considered.

Trademarks are important to attribute differences to people because they are the things that define. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the 'one to everyone and everyone to one' concept though (I'm assuming you refer to an inductive/deductive approach. The trademark identity vs. distinctive style was to highlight the difference between them as they can be seen as the same thing). Although it seems to you that trademarks/distinctive styles uses one approach, you can always change an inductive approach into a deductive one.

Allow me to reapply them into your point:

When considering people with 'totally different styles' who 'look the same', it's pretty much a matter of deciding on each individual's 'distinctive style'. This could be that perhaps, although people wear the same clothing, they have distinguishing features that contribute to their difference in style. It could be the way they walk, the way smile...their personality, their attitude. A person can completely rock a dress another person can't...despite LOOKING similar. But that's because 'looking similar' is only one factor in considering someone's distinctive style.

As such, the things you consider can be seen from this perspective. What defines difference; what distinguishes one person from the next? Sometimes, it's not just single attributes that distinguish a style from another. It can be down to bias, how much of the individual you know about, the media image portrayed etc etc. If you strip the people you mention down nude, would you say they possess different styles? I would. After all, as touched in the link, style doesn't just come down to the clothes you wear.

____________
Of course, this is just my opinion and my view of the situation. How you apply your own awareness and knowledge may contrast with mine. (eg.// Just because it exists in my world doesn't mean it exists in yours and vice versa)

When you consider social behaviour and individual opinion, there will be individual difference, so what you see and what I see can and probably will differ. As such, I'm not intentionally speaking for everyone nor saying everything I've written or you've written here is absolute. I'm only comparing and contrasting similar behaviours and applying those to possible answers in the given scenarios.
 
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^Even if we are on 2 different wavelengths, I'm much enriched by your "wall of text" :D (though I think we might be)

A question, are we using style and taste interchangeably?

The one to many, many to one concept...
Eg. :shock: and :blink:. Assuming that there's no problem with accessibility/financial/are wearing what they want. They tend to dress alike. Has the same hairstyle, makeup, etc. In that sense, they have the same branding/one to many. But when the media or other people see them, they are perceived to have very different styles(what I mean by many to one). Why?

As in, you can try to create a look for yourself, that is branding/one to many but how people perceive you/many to one is not entirely dependent on your dressing(or is it? that's my question. if it's not, what else comes into play?) Is it looks?(bone structure, facial features, body shape, etc.) Is it other variables? What are they?

The other thing that is often mention is how one carries oneself/personality. I agree that it does affect people's perception of one's style. But unless one has a very outlandish personality or goes to the extremes, the difference in one's personality is less than proportionate to the difference in perception of one's style. Why?
 
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Oh. In that case. The answer is simple. Media :D In general, when someone is more confident about what they are saying compared to everyone out there who does not speak a word, you are more likely to feel convinced if you are unsure of it yourself. (I won't go into depth about people who purposely rebel this sort of conformity, but you get the sequence). I bet someone out there could make a convincing argument to suggest that these celebrities do not in fact dress similar. (Sort of like when media flashes ugly trends in your face and you know you don't dig it, vs. a trend you don't really feel strongly about that everyone is seemingly committing to.)

Lets use animation as an example (given yours). Japanese anime is a great example. Many characters have different identities yet appear nearly identical. They dress similarly, act similarly ... but somehow have distinguishable features which separate them from each other. It may be their voice, the world that they're in, their name, their past. etc Ultimately, I reckon how people perceive you depends on how much they 'know' about you.

I think I sort of see what you're trying to say with one-many, many-one. I guess in those words you've chosen, 'trademark identity' uses the one-many concept (you create it for yousrelf) and 'distinctive style' uses the many-one concept (the public creates it for you).

I personally don't think how people perceive celebrities is entirely dependant on their appearance so much as their public image and what is already published about them. Unlike celebrities though, people walking on the street may not have that sort of 'tabloid history' you can refer back to...so everything you see in front of you formulates your entire opinion of them in that split second. As such, I do think first impressions in 'appearance' play a fat role in determining how you get perceived.

Lets use the 'happy goth' example. If you were to take identical twins and put them in a small sl*tty black dress, you'd logically get seemingly clones. Now, if one were to have a sunny disposition (lets just say, Hilary Duff) and the other one had a more less-sunny disposition (lets say, Lindsay Lohan)... the difference in personality would generally affect how you perceive the type of person each of them are despite the identical clothes they're wearing.

When you think of celebrities, you're comparing personalities a lot more than you're comparing your first impression of a person walking on the street. The reason is because you 'know' more about them (I think anyway) and can attribute factors to accommodate what you're seeing. So the difference in one's physical appearance is proportionate to the perception of who they are and how much you know about them already.

Take another example. There was an article I read that I won't be able to replicate with the same image- but we'll try anyway!

Take a look at this 'person' on the left: [here]
You can formulate quite a few opinions based on what you're seeing without knowing anything about them.

Now go to paint and add the words:
'' I think I'm ugly'' and you'll formulate more opinions

Edit the clean image again and add these words:
'' I think I'm gorgeous'' and your new opinions about this person may contrast.

TL;DR... If you know nothing about the person and you just walk past them on the street once and once only - your opinions on their style will be different and more veered towards physical appearance.

If you know something about the person and you just walk past them on the street - your opinions on their style will be different and veered towards comparing the type of person you believe them to be.
 
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The media makes a lot of sense but how does the media know how to brand celebs in the first place.

Again, using my example, of A.C and S.C(i really do think they have a lot of similarities appeareance and dressing wise), why A.C a hipster and S.C an indie director extraordinaire? Of course, we generally accept them as true now, and it's a bit hard to shake off this image, but what happen at the start when both were still unknown to the media/general public???

i.e You can take someone who looks, dress and behaves exactly like A.C and suppose the media didn't get to her first, she's wouldn't be the style icon/hipster she is generally perceived to be?

If someone who dressed exactly like S.C didn't look like her/have coppola as a last name/muse to Marc Jacobs, she wouldn't be known as a style icon either? (I frankly think a lot of her assembles would look very boring/even ugly on the common person on the street.)
 
Did you have particular visuals in previous posts you could refer me to? I just googled both of them (i rarely spend time googling someone else's dress sense for various reasons haha) ...and maybe I'm just not seeing how similar their styles are to the level you seem to be emphasizing. Style icons are usually dubbed once they have media attention. How do we know there isn't some person who's dressed like Lady Gaga all their life who never caught media attention? etc etc

I mean I'm comparing:
http://star-style.fabsugar.com/Girls-Style-Sofia-Coppola-1844285
with
http://star-style.fabsugar.com/1807342

In your defense if you were to switch their wardrobes I wouldn't be able to differentiate who would own what piece. Additionally, I would also not be able to tell which one was wearing other person's style if you had thrown them in a garment worn by someone with different styles as them.
 
geez- you guys are really making it difficult for anyone else to participate in this thread and we are BACK to the dang celebs!!!...
:lol:

just a note...
Again, using my example, of A.C and S.C(i really do think they have a lot of similarities appeareance and dressing wise), why A.C a hipster and S.C an indie director extraordinaire?
FYI- since you seem so interested in research and such...
you should research sofia coppola...
NOW she is 'an indie director extraordinaire'...
but before she had made one single movie...she was modeling in the 90's with other kids with famous last names...and she WAS just a hipster...
the only thing is that the term hipster really hadn't been coined yet, so no one used that term...
but it's still the same thing...

maybe if alexa chung actually DOES something other than look cute...then we will all think of her as something other than a hipster...

but i don't even get what you are trying to say...
if people look the same and dress the same...and wear the same make up etc..
then i don't think they look different or individual...which is what you seem to be trying to say...
but i just don't think that is true...
i think you are starting with a false statement so it's impossible to prove it cause it's not true...

i don't think that they look different...
i think they look like clones and are really boring...

:ermm:...
 
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