Stealing Style...

[gius]

i think if you are drawn to something, it's natural to copy...
and i'd say if you never saw that 'thing' or person that first inspired you to change how you dress ,
you'd probably come across a person/something else who had a similar style ...and that would inspire you to change your style as well

does that make sense...
it's like what we like, our tastes are deeply rooted ...

on the other hand,
i have met a few people who just change all the time. "oh i wanna try that" is what they often say. and i usually find myself feeling that maybe they have some sort of personality disorder

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

I don't think I could or would ever want to completely copy someone's style. It's not likely I would be able to without adjusting it because something about it doesn't quite fit my taste or how I like to wear things. With some people though, it could easily look like I'm trying to dress like them because some people wear things pretty much exactly how I would.

 

[misstarshine]

My sister often has friends who steal her style by dyeing their hair the same, buying the same clothes,wearing their make-up the same. I haven't had anyone steal my style, one friend said she was inspired by me, but everyone is usually inspired by someone. Stealing style is more when you see your clone.

 

[softgrey]

i find that some people who are very fashionable actually have no personal style...

it is all 'borrowed'...
from a magazine or a stylish friend or just someone they saw walking by..
a great many people are not creative or talented..
but still manage to look good every day by stealing someone else's style...

 

[misstarshine]

Thats very true, in the style desert that i live in often i see someone looking really good but they have completely copies some celebrity but get away with it because no one here knows anything about fashion/style/celebrities.

 

[fashionista-ta]

i find that some people who are very fashionable actually have no personal style...

it is all 'borrowed'...
from a magazine or a stylish friend or just someone they saw walking by..
a great many people are not creative or talented..
but still manage to look good every day by stealing someone else's style...

And I think that's OK

Everyone's not going to have the same level of creativity ... better they should copy something attractive than be a schlumpadinka ...

 

[melt977]

I think that I agree with you on this fashionista-ta... some times I see people who are so badly dressed that I think to myself, "why don't you people get a magazine and copy it rather than get out of your house looking like this..." Not everybody cares enough or has the basic aesthetics to put together a simple, nice outfit that won't scare the birds away...

Also, no matter how hard they try, people who just copy will rarely look creative or like they own the look... it shows that they have copied it or that somebody else put it together for them... I think that people can tell.... the trained eye, at least, can tell...

On the other hand, I also get what softgrey is saying... it can be frustrating, especially when the people who copy have the necessary flair or stylishness to pull the stollen outfit off without aknowledging that they got inspired by their friends or acquaintances... I think that that's the most frustrating part... if they looked horrible in their stolen styles, I think that the "owner" of the inspiration would not care as much...

 

[softgrey]

ta-ta...
i think it's OK too...

but OK is not great......

 

[rollagasper]

I think if I had enough money and lived in NYC then I'd be stealing looks from others more often. But most of the time good outfits from others can only serve as inspiration because I don't have the budget for or access to the pieces anyway. I've rarely copied any way of styling literally. Most of the time I just get inspired more by their aesthetics.

As for being copied by others, I don't really pay attention to that. People read fashion magazines and walk around the streets, so you can never be sure if your school mate copied from you or from someone else. I know that I was probably the first person at my high school to wear skinny jeans and vests, and later a lot of people started wearing those, but I don't think it's because of me.

 

[wheneveriwakeup]

I find one's sense of style so incredibly personal,
that I'd feel as if I am enroaching on another's territory
if I were to lift their look...
I may end up looking great, but that gratification
that comes with doing something 'your way' feels so good...
& complacent, too...
When a person truly has style,
the minor but siginifcant details that person employs
will only look stunning on them, imo...
It is much more than the clothing itself..
It is the details, the way the person carries themselves, the little touches...
too personal & intuitive to ever truly be replicated...

I also find that avoiding or viewing catalog-esque mags
and 'stylish' celebs/models w/ keen discrimination are rly great methods for honing one's creativity..
& also looking for inspiration outside of the fashion realm...

 

[snowqueen]

I borrow alot of style ideas.. not like a whole outfit but i know i get highly influenced by alot of editorials and oads by street style shots

Its also like i love items of clothing but know i could never wear it but if i know my friend can pull it off.. so i say why not go for it and will tell them about the item ive seen etc.

Also being a true girl before a night out we always phone each other up for advice .. i guess its hard not to steal some style ideas.. but its important to have your own flare never wear an identical outfit top to toe or get a uniform look .. its more helping each other to know what looks good rather then stealing style i think

 

[quimby]

i think a lot of people steal style from stores, rather than individuals. you can often look at a person and tell exactly where they shop. there is the nordy-girl look, the urban outfitters look, the abercrombie look, etc.

i used to be so amazed at how put together and stylish people were, having no idea for myself of how to put myself together. then my friend remarked to me, "you just have to march yourself down to neiman marcus, and you can acquire that look, too." to some degree, you can, it's true.

that isn't to say that if you shop at a particular store, you're a clone. but what i credited as creativity is often ... something else.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I think there's also something to be said for the ability to mimic ... that's kind of a talent too There are higher talents of course ... but not everyone gets those ...

 

[softgrey]

my mom is one of those people...
she always always looks very put together...

but last night at dinner she confessed to me that she cannot picture things herself...
she has to see them...and then she basically tries to copy them...

even with food-
she cannot imagine what a dish will be from reading the menu...
she always orders from the food on other peoples' tables...
...

that was sort of shocking to me...

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I would be totally shocked too

With menus, I'm not really trying to figure out what it will be like, but whether I will like it ... I love when I'm surprised (in a good way). [But I remember being really ticked when sugar & spice quail, or maybe it was squab, turned out to be 5-spice, which I don't like ...]

It's really rare for me to consciously imitate anyone else, or even something I've seen in a magazine. Honestly there are very few people I see around here that I think even set a good example ... for anyone ...

That's why I agonize over decorating--I'm always trying to do something that hasn't been tried before (AFAIK of course). And it's not like clothes--if you put an outfit together & it doesn't work, you just switch things around. With decorating you're a bit more committed

 

[gius]

rollagasper made a good point ..

do you guys think it would be easier to be original if a person had the resources...
there are people who wouldn't have the income to buy designer pieces
and by designer, i mean unique 'designed' pieces...
but also there might just not be that kind of varied selection where someone lives
varieties of different clothes in different styles
that you could put together in your own way

 

[quimby]

I think there's also something to be said for the ability to mimic ... that's kind of a talent too There are higher talents of course ... but not everyone gets those ...

i totally agree. i think i'm just a mimicker, really. sometimes i think i'm being original, and then whatever i like becomes a trend, so i think instead that i just was unconsciously conscious of the zeitgeist. originality is just relative, anyway, i think.

i remember that someone wrote on a thread about acquiring style (i think it was softgrey? i can't remember) that one method of doing that was just to find someone whose style you admire and then appropriate that style. this to me seems like good advice for those of us who need help in this department, although i do think it's better to appropriate a public personal style (like a store, celebrity, editor, or someone in the public eye) rather than a personal personal style (a close friend's).

and to answer gius' question, i think it depends. some people become more creative when faced with limitations--like budget--and others give up entirely. i would say that most people do the latter.

but then again, maybe we need a definition of original. is it original if it's just rare...a designer piece?

 

[baddabling]

rollagasper made a good point ..

do you guys think it would be easier to be original if a person had the resources...
there are people who wouldn't have the income to buy designer pieces
and by designer, i mean unique 'designed' pieces...
but also there might just not be that kind of varied selection where someone lives
varieties of different clothes in different styles
that you could put together in your own way

i think style is something that a person has to be inherently born with. granted, one can look "trendy" or fairly put together by simply mimicking others, but to have true style, you have to be will to cross some boundries and look beyond what celebrities, magazines and trends tell you is "trendy" to wear.

personally, i wear whatever the heckeroni i want. it may not always look fantastic, but i always try to put my own spin on things.

 

[softgrey]

it's true ta-ta about decorating...
it's much more of a commitment/investment...
which is why it takes me forever to make decorating decisions......

regarding this

i remember that someone wrote on a thread about acquiring style (i think it was softgrey? i can't remember) that one method of doing that was just to find someone whose style you admire and then appropriate that style.

yes it was me...guilty as charged...
i do think that if you don't have any ideas of your own..you can often learn from someone who already knows what they are doing..
ie- learning a language...or an instrument...or even babies learning to walk..
it's much the same...

but that is just to start you off...hopefully once you learn the foundations, you can experiment and expand and learn what works best for YOU...

style is something personal imo...

re-having money or access to clothes..
i didn't grow up in a fashion capital...ok- near one..
and a LOT of the girls all wore the same 'uniform'...even the guys were trendy...*which sort of annoyed me...i didn't want to look like a clone......
and i had a VERY limited budget ...

these factors only spurred my creativity..
if anything...it pushed me even more to expand my options and push the limits...
frustration was the mother of invention in my case...

 

[softgrey]

but then again, maybe we need a definition of original. is it original if it's just rare...a designer piece?

original is not necessarily designer...it could be anything

it is self explanatory...

it is something different...not like anything else...
something that is unique...

and style is not about the individual pieces...
it's about how you put them together...

*i always say that it is like a COLLAGE...
you take a bunch of stuff and put it together in your own particular fashion and it becomes something new...something that is your own...
and hopefully something different/original...