And no, I can't just pose normally, okay? It's not that simple. It's not that simple!
Monochrome vs. Menswear: Let's ignore that my leather jacket is hanging halfway down my legs, okay? So as I mentioned in a previous post, I was really taken with the simple, clean lines prevalent in Stockholm street style. I haven't been wearing color for... a while. I don't know why. This isn't some conscious pursuit of monochrome - I think it's honestly just that all my favorite pieces happen to be black, white and gray, and my wardrobe has expanded around that. So I had kind of already been doing this monochrome thing, and I was really inspired by the simplistic elegance of Scandinavian style. There's no need for ostentation - just do your shit, and do it well.
And yet as I also mentioned in a previous post, I've really felt a passionate rekindling for my #menswear love these days. What I love about menswear is the attention to the cheeky little details - showing some excessive ankle, the playful exuberance of patent leather brogues (with a contrast sole to boot!), the hidden monograms. Traditionally, menswear and suiting are quite staid, and so I love that #menswear manages to be silly within those parameters.
I think those details play really well with simple monochromatic outfits - you get this very clean look, but if you take the time to look at the details, there's just a little wink. In this fit particularly, that wink is more of a nudge: the badly rolled sleeves and the jacket around the waist, the too-large belt - they're all very youthful, very tomboy, and so you get these very serious colors and serious shoes becoming something completely different.
Thrown Together: One of the problems with growing up being a really poor dresser is that it created this deep seated fear within me of being sloppy - historically, I've shied away a ton from grungy looks because I was pretty terrified of doing them incorrectly and just looking like shit. So it was kind of a landmark moment for me when I pulled those torn-to-shreds shorts out of my drawer one day - they're Abercrombie Kids, I've had them since I was 14, and I stopped wearing them like 4 years ago. I actually have no idea why I still own them, but I'm glad I do.
Lately I've gotten really into being a little bit playful with my clothing - I mean, as stated above, right? This is such an ideal late summer look to me. The white shorts, the oversized men's tee, the leather jacket - they're all things that I can honestly say, for once, "Oh, this? I just threw this on." Who cares anymore, you know? It's New York. Where whatever the hell you want, no one's looking. (Just kidding, yes we are.) Adding the leather jacket honestly was a matter of function, but now it's an important detail to me - I've always used this jacket as the black blazer I don't own, so it was cool to take something too simple and casual and clean, and add something with, you know, at least lapels and a collar. It's still really simple and clean, but there's something about it that just works without trying to work. That's what I want.
The hat, it's ridiculous, I haven't decided how I feel about it. I'm open to opinions on this one. But the thinking was that it kind of adds to the playfulness. Again it's a menswear element, and just a silly little flamboyant detail in an otherwise very non-descript outfit.
This also comes at a very (oh god I am rolling my own eyes so hard at what I'm about to say) at a very feminist point in my life, okay, where I just want to wear whatever shorts and no bra and be super comfortable with my body because fuck you, I love it, so, you know. Which transitions us well into...
Fuck Flattering: I'm not going to pretend I made up that phrase because I definitely did not. This isn't the best picture to show it, but those pants are a loose black cotton trouser that taper just slightly at the knee and again at the ankle. The result is a drapey (lol fashion buzzwords) black pant that does absolutely nothing for me, and I really enjoy that.
Historically I've followed the well-prescribed formula of tight top/loose bottom and vice versa, but this was one of the first times I've gone for a drapey, oversized-tee on top in addition to a loose pant. The result is something very casual and yet somehow elegant. The front of the tee dips quite low, and that lets the outfit be still very sensual, although not sexual. There's a certain ease of movement here as well that lets the body speak for itself.
Because ultimately I'm not getting dressed to make my body look like someone else's ideal body, you know? It already is ideal, for me. Clothing for me is about aesthetic far more than it is about sexuality, although I love dressing in a way celebrates the body but does not hide it. I think the intersection where you get very cheap, ohmygod I am not shaming other women I swear, but trying to force your body into someone else's image of sexuality with your clothing can often go awry. Maybe someday this will become an entire post, maybe should shut up and stop copying Man Repeller, I don't know.
Anyways. Your early Fall 2014, ladies and gentleman.
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