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When in My Jammy, Wear Satin & Gold
Style's a matter of place, not headlines
Style's a matter of place, not headlines. Something to remember.
This morning shopbop.com sent out an e-mail called "What we're craving," and it took me a second to remember there is no real "they" there. Shopbop's a store, just a digital one, despite the common dot.com ruse of passing as a community. (Check out a recent posting on Fashionista on how not community-minded they feel about shopbop's redheaded model, for instance.) Magazines do it too: Editorial murmurs "Support our advertisers," while cover lines shriek 100 times as loud. But on the Net, with its less clear seams between art and commerce, we pay attention for a millisecond — not long enough to make a judgment call.
Part of writing about fashion and design is sweeping the radar across the trendo-sphere and gauging the difference between propaganda and the real thing. I'm not saying the real thing as in substance, because what makes you grab for that brass ring of looking good can be just as superficial. But you don't need a fake headline to tell you what to do. All you need is a sense of place.
Walking down Fifth Avenue makes you want that handbag with the chain handle. Shuffling along in Portland reminds you of Frye boots. I know a guy who decided to go totally plaid based on a chance encounter with a Tribeca babe in a black watch miniskirt. "If I wear plaid," he reasoned, "maybe that fox in the tartan will want me. 'Cause it's like we're a tribe. Like people who own white cars gravitate to other people who own white cars."
This morning shopbop.com sent out an e-mail called "What we're craving," and it took me a second to remember there is no real "they" there. Shopbop's a store, just a digital one, despite the common dot.com ruse of passing as a community. (Check out a recent posting on Fashionista on how not community-minded they feel about shopbop's redheaded model, for instance.) Magazines do it too: Editorial murmurs "Support our advertisers," while cover lines shriek 100 times as loud. But on the Net, with its less clear seams between art and commerce, we pay attention for a millisecond — not long enough to make a judgment call.
Part of writing about fashion and design is sweeping the radar across the trendo-sphere and gauging the difference between propaganda and the real thing. I'm not saying the real thing as in substance, because what makes you grab for that brass ring of looking good can be just as superficial. But you don't need a fake headline to tell you what to do. All you need is a sense of place.
Walking down Fifth Avenue makes you want that handbag with the chain handle. Shuffling along in Portland reminds you of Frye boots. I know a guy who decided to go totally plaid based on a chance encounter with a Tribeca babe in a black watch miniskirt. "If I wear plaid," he reasoned, "maybe that fox in the tartan will want me. 'Cause it's like we're a tribe. Like people who own white cars gravitate to other people who own white cars."
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