“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
The quotation above from the English artist and designer William Morris is more than a century out of date and was written about decorating houses, not choosing clothes, but I find it to be equally applicable - particularly in this age of celebrity designers. I have a love/hate relationship with the world of fashion. On the one hand I love the ongoing process of developing my own style and choosing just the right pieces to bring a look together and the whole fashion industry is an integral part of that. But at its core I believe it is an industry that’s misogynistic – less about helping women be comfortable in their own skin than in pushing them to purchase the latest designer-labeled “it” item in the belief that it will confer a sense of panache that they are currently lacking. It’s less a celebration of women than a manipulation of them.
That doesn’t mean I don’t “indulge” it just means I do so in the complete knowledge that the motivation behind all the magazines, catalogs, blogs, books, TV shows, stores etc. is to get me to buy – and hopefully buy the item with the highest mark-up, not the one that is necessarily suited to me, my lifestyle and what I already have in my closet. I’ve found that as you get older it’s easier to ignore all the noise. It really is true that you can become more comfortable with yourself and realize that there is less to what people look like than society would have you believe. It’s not that you don’t care what you look like – you just don’t believe that the latest runway trend that looks kind of weird on the pasty-skinned anorexic model in the magazine shoot is going to look anything but ridiculous on you. Even if it is the latest designer look.
There is no shortage of beautiful clothing and accessories that help a woman put together her statement of “this is who I am today” and look fabulous without shouting from the roof tops which brand she is wearing. The celebrity trend with designer clothes and accessories has become so ubiquitous that for some people it’s all about the logo, not the item. That’s not style – that’s advertising. And you’re paying them to do it! Think about it……
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