Personal Stylist Leeds - Personal Shopper Leeds - Image Consultant - Arash Mazinani
Often when I mention the word ‘fashion’ people get very disturbed by it. But none more so than men. You see, despite there being rapid growth in menswear over the last few years, there’s still a stigma attached to being male and overly interested in clothes.
If you’re a guy and you take an interest in your personal style you run the risk of being the butt of the jokes amongst your peers. So instead, you end up looking nondescript, happy to be average, like a poster boy for a Grattan catalogue.
This last week I’ve been keeping an eye on notesfrommycloset after Rachel tweeted she was going to be posting an update on her investment closet project. I knew this would be right up my street so was eager to check it out. Rachel and I almost met at the Fabb Leeds event a few weeks back (so many faces, so little time) and since the event I’ve been following her updates on Twitter and her blog, I recommend you check her out too.
What I loved about her project was the aim to build a great, hard working closet full of clothes that she can wear everyday. When I work with clients on a one to one basis or over the web, this is what I strive to do with them. But for many people the first step in being able to achieve this is actually changing a few fundamental things; their relationship with shopping and the way they think about clothes.
I was reading my twitter timeline the other day when I noticed a link to an article or blog post discouraging women to dress ‘sexy’ for Halloween. My immediate thought upon reading the tweet was “what’s wrong with being sexy?” I can’t find the exact article they were referring to but I wanted to write up a post just to ponder the notion. The first thing I want to clear up from the start is the difference between ‘slutty’ and ‘sexy’. The best way I’ve seen it explained was on a feminist blog which I’ll quote
“If we want to use the word slut, we have to realize that in the context that we ourselves use it, it has more to do with actions, and nothing to do with clothing. And even then, we use the word “slut” to control a woman’s sexuality. It reflects the double standard that men can sleep with how ever many people they want and not be tainted or lose worth but rather gain praise. And yet when a female is very sexual, she loses value, to the point where we shame her, calling her a “slut.”
So coming back to that question what is wrong with ‘sexy’? When I consider some of the most celebrated fashion designers, names like Christian Louboutin, Tom Ford etc Their careers have been based on flattering and celebrating the female form with sexualised silhouettes and design. Tom Ford was celebrated for upping the ante season after season at Gucci when it came to statement sexy pieces. Everyone seems to love Mr Ford, yet if someone was to say the word ‘sex’ and ‘fashion’ I’d instantly think of Tom Ford.
For me the thing about ‘sexy’ clothing is it’s designed to make you feel great. Who doesn’t want to feel sexy when they look in the mirror? Not only that but it empowers women to celebrate and rebel against the restraints society places on women’s bodies. That’s not to say that you can only be sexy when you have flesh on show, but equally why do we ostracise women that do choose to bare a little flesh? After all come fashion week we’ll be tweeting how much of a genius certain designers are, that have collections with both sexy and revealing pieces.
I’d really love to hear you views so please leave a comment.
I’ve touched on this topic before, but recently I’ve noticed a lot more similarity between the womenswear and menswear trends. It’s something that seems to become more prevalent as each season passes. In this post I want to highlight some of the similarities in the trends for both men and women and what implications that actually has on the average guy when it comes to fashion.
Why is it happening?
Well society has come a long way, the gender divide is a lot more vague than in years gone by. I mean we now have make up for guys, the popularity and rise of the ‘meterosexual’ man means that as a designer you have more freedom to explore and push the envelope with what is considered ‘mens’ fashion. It also allows the fashion house to have more continuity between it’s collections, similar prints, materials and cuts can then be used amongst both collections. But this can be traced back even further, Gaultier in the 80’s with the male skirt, the flared cut of trousers, remember earlier this decade when all of a sudden it became ‘cool’ for guys to wear pink?
Examples
So let’s have a look at some of the current autumn winter 2011 collections just to highlight what I’m talking about.
Implications
Well I guess this can only benefit us guys for years girls have been able to get away with wearing mens clothes. This sort of merging of trends will result in ultimately more choice for ourselves, it will also help designers continue to push the envelope and question what menswear actually consists of. I’ve often talked about how stylish men are sometimes looked down upon as effeminate as it’s not masculine to experiment with clothes. Anything too ‘dandy’ is considered a no no, the transcending of fashion ultimately means trends will filter down to the high street and become mainstream. And for those of us that don’t care, then now we have more options to experiment with fashion; be it vibrant colours, prints or the choice of fabrics this gives us a whole new world to explore.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinions on the transcending of fashion?
Have you ever wondered why some people have a certain allure when it comes to their style? It’s almost like no matter what they wear they always look good? While no matter what you wear you don’t feel you look as good? It’s a dilemma that you’ve probably discussed with your girlfriends. Why does she always look so good? Which could be referring to someone you’ve spotted in a magazine or someone you pass on the way to work everyday. It’s a style that causes heads to turn and tongues to start wagging for all the right reasons. But what if I told you that ‘thing’ is something that everyone can achieve?
It’s hard to define that ‘thing’ some people may just refer to it as stylish, chic, cool, trendy when referring to someone that has it. It’s an elusive concept but a timeless one at that. See if you peel back the layers of clothes, you actually begin to see that we’re actually talking about an attitude rather than a particular ‘way’ to dress. That ‘thing’ is really a self assurance, not to the point of arrogance but an inner confidence that you look good to the point where you just know, it just feels right and becomes effortless.
If you view style as a whole made up of various parts you have the external which are made up of the clothes, the hair, the make up then you have the internal which is all about the confidence. This is the reason that you can copy an outfit head to toe that you may have seen in a magazine or on someone else and still not pull it off.
Look at certain icons through different generations, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe etc at how they exude confidence.
So how do you build up confidence?
That’s a difficult question to answer, it’s about knowing you look good and having the confidence in your ability to put clothes together. The only way you can build that confidence is to practice. That’s why I stress the importance of look books and modelling in a lot of my posts, yes copying for copying sake is not the point but in copying different outfits you start to build your own sense for what looks good which will allow you to then start to co ordinate pieces that work well together yourself.
Don’t forget, confidence alone won’t make you turn heads, you still need good clothes and that all important attention to detail.
I’d love to hear you thoughts on the matter
After my last post on Lingerie I was looking at the fabulous blog The Lingerie Addict. It’s a great site for everything lingerie related. While browsing I stumbled upon a fantastic post on the 7 deadly sins of lingerie. So I thought I’d do a similar post but looking at the 7 deadly sins of style. What are the common sins that most people make when it comes to style? Keep reading to find out…
Lust
We all lust for things, it maybe the new Versace for H&M or the latest McQueen or even something you’ve spotted else where. But do we actually need it? We often splash leaving us admiring our new item that doesn’t work with anything else we have. Remember the ad’s are designed to get us drooling at the prospect of owning the piece, the reality of owning it maybe a different story…
Pride
You may think you’re still a size 8 or 18 but if you’re not, they ain’t no shame in dressing in the correct clothes for your shape/age. Instead of trying to squeeze into pieces that are too small or trying to dress like your daughter, get things that actually fit and look good. They’ll be more comfortable and actually make you look a million times better.
Sloth
What’s the point in spending a fortune on clothes if you’re going to store or maintain them incorrectly. Make sure you have quality hangers, ditch those plastic ones that you get from the dry cleaners. If you’re serious about shoes, invest in shoe trees. Make sure you put your clothes away at the end of the day rather than throwing them on the floor. Your clothes will thank you for it.
Envy
Being jealous of your friends, random woman in the street or even the model in the advert is sooooo last year. No matter what size or shape you are there are fabulous pieces out there that will flatter and make any woman look gorgeous. It’s about knowing how to dress to enhance what you have rather than worrying about what other people are wearing.
Gluttony
This is a big one, buying things because you get a buzz of ‘buying’ or just buying things to stuff in your wardrobe. You don’t need a huge amount of clothes. You don’t have to keep buying things to look good. If any of you saw Mary Portas’s new show last night you’ll see she wanted to focus her collection on 7 key pieces. Why? because with those 7 pieces in your wardrobe you can mix and match them to create hundreds of outfits.
Wrath
There are a lot of haters in fashion that’s why it has a reputation of snobbery. Keep it simple, don’t hate… you’ve all probably heard people say “what on earth is she wearing…” keep it cool and try and help dispel that snobbish reputation.
Greed
Greed is not good, despite what some may say…less is more so don’t be greedy when it comes to filling your wardrobe or even styling your outfit.
Can you think of any other style sins? Let me know by commenting below
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photos:bethechange21 & tylerphotography