Are you me? I am more and more aware of how very uninterested in accessories I am, the more I see other people claiming that a change of shoe/bag/earring makes all the difference to a look. I'm becoming aware that apart from the marketing around must-have accessories etc, there is also a lot of marketing around the idea that style is an activity, which can be intellectualized, made aspirational, and ultimately monetized... so that, as far as I can see, more people can look like a homogenized version of each other, adhering to a standard that really only exists online. Most people, as you say, make decisions about their footwear in particular based on practicalities (am I going to be walking a lot? Is it raining? is it way too hot for closed shoes?) and hope that the end result is ascetically pleasing as well as practical. It took me a while on Instagram to figure out that while I was religiously posting pictures of what I wore, lots of other people were just "styling" random pieces of clothing (I'm very literal, so I particularly can't deal with outfits that look as though parts of the person would be overheating, and parts would be goosebumped with cold).
I didn't mean to go on a rant about styling, I just hopped on here to absolutely agree with you. Style isn't about accessories, it's about wearing what you love and what works for you, and yes, self-expression in the details.
Thanks for your comment! Yes, it can be hard to figure out an approach to dressing for the real world when you’re constantly exposed to all these aspirational looks that wouldn’t survive 5 minutes of your actual day. And there’s so much messaging from the “fashion writers” telling us we need trendy accessories to inject interest atop the expensive minimalist clothing we’re supposed to have. Style is so personal and tied to our lifestyle needs — I wish there was more content around what people genuinely like to wear all the time, instead of all the advertisements/editorial shoots in outfit-of-the-day form.
Are you me? I am more and more aware of how very uninterested in accessories I am, the more I see other people claiming that a change of shoe/bag/earring makes all the difference to a look. I'm becoming aware that apart from the marketing around must-have accessories etc, there is also a lot of marketing around the idea that style is an activity, which can be intellectualized, made aspirational, and ultimately monetized... so that, as far as I can see, more people can look like a homogenized version of each other, adhering to a standard that really only exists online. Most people, as you say, make decisions about their footwear in particular based on practicalities (am I going to be walking a lot? Is it raining? is it way too hot for closed shoes?) and hope that the end result is ascetically pleasing as well as practical. It took me a while on Instagram to figure out that while I was religiously posting pictures of what I wore, lots of other people were just "styling" random pieces of clothing (I'm very literal, so I particularly can't deal with outfits that look as though parts of the person would be overheating, and parts would be goosebumped with cold).
I didn't mean to go on a rant about styling, I just hopped on here to absolutely agree with you. Style isn't about accessories, it's about wearing what you love and what works for you, and yes, self-expression in the details.
Thanks for your comment! Yes, it can be hard to figure out an approach to dressing for the real world when you’re constantly exposed to all these aspirational looks that wouldn’t survive 5 minutes of your actual day. And there’s so much messaging from the “fashion writers” telling us we need trendy accessories to inject interest atop the expensive minimalist clothing we’re supposed to have. Style is so personal and tied to our lifestyle needs — I wish there was more content around what people genuinely like to wear all the time, instead of all the advertisements/editorial shoots in outfit-of-the-day form.