Personal style: Rejecting trends..

[Kimkhuu]

To be honest, I think it really depends... I try not to buy into huge mainstream trends, but even if I do, I won't admit it....

But generally speaking, I try to follow my personal taste. to be honest I think it's impossible NOT to pay attention to trends.. As long as a trend hasn't hit the mainstream or "trend setting" celebs (olsen twins, nicole richie, sienna miller, kate moss) haven't been seen sporting that look yet, I am quite ok with it...

 

[vintage_princess]

twilight fairy...I love your new avatar! I also went through that too..I used to love stripey tops but now its so trendy Im put off wearing one right now.

 

[twistelette]

interesting topic! I'd say my personal style springs from the colours and the fabrics that I like (now that I write it down, that sounds so stupid... not at all as coherent as it sounded in my head ) and when I go shopping, that is what I am attracted to - colours and the way fabrics feel. also, my taste is constantly influenced by whatever else beautiful catches my eye. like someone said in a thread on which editorials are inspriring to them (sorry, too lazy-boned to look it up right now...), that opens your eyes for a different kind of beauty - there are so many kinds of beautiful things to be found outside of what current trends show us.

 

[Melisande]

You know, the worst part about the whole trend thing sometimes...is the unavailability of certain pieces until they become a trend.

I totally agree. That's the worst part...you can search all your life for an item, and then when you finally find it, everyone else is wearing it. Boo!

I agree w/ Tott, even supposedly classic styles are usually decade-specific. Chanel suits made in the eighties have humongous shoulder pads and shiny gold buttons. It's totally true that barring the retro sensibility, the really unique styles like CdG and Yohji are the ones you can enjoy the longest. B)

I still like and dislike the same kind of styles I did 15 years ago, so I know I'm not a trend victim...But I do also love finding new inspirations that wink at me and speak to me personally!

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Yes I find that polka dots wink at me constantly ...

 

[Mr-Dale]

To be honest, I think it really depends... I try not to buy into huge mainstream trends, but even if I do, I won't admit it....

But generally speaking, I try to follow my personal taste. to be honest I think it's impossible NOT to pay attention to trends..

I agree. There are people who just blantly copy from what they hear is the trend, they do not realise you can look 'hip' when you just take small bits and pieces from a trend to influence your look and make up your personal style. And it is inevitable to be influenced by trends. It is what the market offers you. People saying "But you can always sew your own stuff" are missing something as well. Not everyone wants to sew or can sew, so they will have to do it with what the market has to offer them. Which makes trends, as I said, inevitable.

 

[mlsnts]

The thing that annoys me is.. when people deliberately dress soo differently not because they like it, but they just wanna scream "Hey! look at me! I'm so different, I'm not following any trends! I'm the coolest!"

Even though that person actually likes the current trends and hates the way he/she dresses.
Eh, you know.. something like that
They're worse than fashion clones!

 

[QuirkyCool]

^^^^True,above me.

"Reactionary dressing" is not personal style.But then,it is usually the province of very young people who are not yet very secure about who they are and what their own fashion identity is.

I have always worn a lot of black in winter and I'm not going to stop because many other people are doing it now too. I wear "my" black,which has come to be associated with me over the years,and which I know that I am not doing in the same way as everyone else.

I don't feel threatened by the prevailing trend at all.I see it as an opportunity to invest in some good quality examples of what I love anyway.Very easily distinguished from the magazine-inspired "must have the look" brigade.

 

[softgrey]

couldn't agree more quirky....

 

[Benzo]

I'm definitely not a pro (I just think a bit of how to mix before I get to my closet), but I'm 90% anti-"fashion". I just hate those fashion victims.
e.g. recently found the ppl around me who don't used to be in black turned black, esp. when they gather around, one thought pop up into my mind, "Are we attending a funeral?" So these days, I deliberately wear more white .(+ I don't like black, clothes can affect my mood) I know it's a bit silly, but I dunno why I still do this...

I'm experimenting everyday with styles, experiment is fun. Try to hide the weakness and bring out your strength. E.g. if u've got a nice frame, i.e. broad shoulders, try to wear sleeveless tops.
And one thing: once in a while, if u're too hurry to mix & match, a hat will do the thing!

 

[cosmocat]

Yes 'reactionary dressing' is bad.

 

[mingminglei]

Mmm, I don't think I ever go out of my way to change my style because other people are doing it. It just seems then you worry too much about what other people think about you. I dress the way I want to, regardless of what people around me do. I like to think I'm an individual, not defined by what's going on around me but rather determined by what's going on within my own mind :3

But I will admit that if I like some trend, I will get into it. When it's over though, I will continue wearing it, even if people are like that's so last season. Because if I think it's pretty and I'm comfortable with it, it really doesn't matter what other people are going to say.

I don't see a need to prove I'm an individual, but at the same time I don't think I need to be like everyone else. I just think it's important to like what you're wearing, and to be secure as you are.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ You summed that up very well, mingming ... welcome to tFS I agree 100% ... karma for you

 

[Lena]

ok, i admit that i went as far as getting my bangs grow while everyone was having bangs, changed my hair from red to light brown when everyone started having red hair.. stopped wearing long skirts when long skirts became fashionable.. i cant help looking uniform with every girl pout there..

it may be 'reactionarry' but well, still i simply need to 'curve' my way when what i do (or wear) becomes 'mainstream'.. i cant bore myself

 

[pucci_mama]

But clothes, imo says so much about who you are it is unispiering that everyone is dressing the same, maybe some people here are older and they problaby are- that they 'rise above' these things. But when you were younger you problaby felt the same?

It's also when you get older, most have found their style, they don't run around being boho one second and gothic the other, I find jumping on a trend wagon each season like the 'mainstream' seem to do, i find it sad.

And like Lena said, you can't bore yourself. I know I can't.

 

[classic1908]

For me, I simply avoid them because many of them look ridiculous on me. I am a 40-something, thick woman, and would look like I'm trying way to hard if I do boho/Russian/what have you. But my own style did dovetail with a trend a couple of years ago, when "country club chic" ruled.

 

[twilight fairy]

I think magazines hold such a huge impact on the way many people dress. Unfortunately not everybody has a defined personal style..and I know too many girls/women that follow the "IN" rules for every season..
Also it's sad when some people spend quite big money on purchasing the moment's trendiest item of clothing and it ends up lying there, dusting, after the trend has passed..(I know someone who owns about 3 incredibly expensive bohemian skirts from some designer, don't remember who..and she only wore them this Summer and now they're just stacked at the back of her wardrobe)..

 

[Ruby_slippers]

It's true that many people (esp women if personality tests are to be believed) are reassured by rules ... I on the other hand run screaming

I agree that people tend to like rules, although I am not a member of this club. Women seem more inclined to follow trends that signal change, but men tend to stick to rules that last longer, ie., a pinstripe suit. Men seem to be reassured by math equation-style dressing:
black belt + black shoes = good
black belt + brown shoes = bad
I'm overgeneralizing, but people like boundaries when their lives are simplfied.

 

[Ruby_slippers]

I am so exhausted from seeing the lack of originality and imagination displayed by people my age in my country. I really hate California style, its so redundant and SO ultra
trendy. Like the whole Juicy Couture thing, and the whole So Cal punk thing.
My style has definitely developed because of a sense of dissatisfaction with
what everyone else wears around me.

I live in SoCal too, so I definitely encounter the same thing. Luckily I have creative, stylish friends that keep me on my toes. There is so much of the same thing here that I am constantly looking to other locations for inspiration. Mostly I buy what I see that I like. Sometimes these items are trendy, sometimes they are the 75% off items crammed in the back of the store. True style is about keeping the same theme when dressing, yet varying the items as time passes. Highly creative dressing is a style in itself.

 

[tott]

Men seem to be reassured by math equation-style dressing:
black belt + black shoes = good
black belt + brown shoes = bad

This is all too true for some men... I'm generalizing, but this seems to be most common among men who dress conservatively "gentlemanly". They have these rules they follow, and everything else is wrong. It's really a lot like etiquette... Old, stuffy etiquette.

There's this other forum I've visited in the past, don't remember the name, and there is a group of people there who discuss and dissect tailoring, fit and style down to the subatomic level. Mixing brown and black leathers would simply be unthinkable, the biggest faux pas imaginable. Except for the most adventurous, of course... But that would really be pushing it...

Rules like these annoy me, or rather it saddens me when people are so rigid and inflexible they can't even see what's outside the box, let alone step outside of it.

Edit: I noticed you're new, so welcome Ruby!