True Confessions

Soundtrack. . .

 

Oh, come on now.  Everyone has at least one!

It's time to confess. . . my dirty little secret. . .

I follow fashion.

There.  I've said it out loud.

It's not like I practice fashion.  Not at all.  I don't own any designer labels of anything (well, except a few carefully-selected pieces from Eileen Fisher).  No Christian Louboutin shoes.  No Prada bags.  No little Michael Kors dresses.  But that doesn't mean I'm not interested!!!  (And you can be sure I'll be checking out the new Missoni line at Target next month!  I'm all about affordable fashion.)

Anyway.  I do like checking out the fashion mags -- especially the September issues (when they cover all the new fall styles).  And I read a few fashion blogs -- preferring the ones that don't take themselves too seriously.  And I can't seem to turn away from Project Runway.

I'm not exactly why I caught the fashionista bug, but I did.  And I caught it early.  Like, as a pre-adolescent.  I learned to sew . . . and sew well. . . at a young age -- just so I could copy the styles I saw in Seventeen magazine.

I've always considered my fashion-thing . . . a dirty little secret.  Because, well, fashion just seems so superficial.  And I'm not a superficial person.  But I am a person who likes . . . clothes, bags, shoes, patterns, textures, color, form, line, and design.  I also think clothes DO make a statement about who we are, what we care about, how we feel -- and how we WANT to feel.

This summer, I'm reading a book called The Thoughtful Dresser: the Art of Adornment, the Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter by Linda Grant.  Superficial as it may sound, it's an interesting book.  (Linda Grant's blog -- The Thoughtful Dresser -- sports this tagline:  "Because you can't have depths without surfaces.")  The author explores the "dark side" and the "light side" of fashion, clothing, and dressing -- making the point that an attraction to fashion and beautiful clothing is not rational, but based on pleasure (sort of like. . . choosing to eat a chocolate eclair rather than, say, a container of Greek yogurt).

Here's a little quote from the book -- and actually, the passage that made me decide to confess all in a blog post!

“The purpose of this book is to advance no thesis, to break no ground in the history or theory of fashion, but rather to explore what is already known but rarely thought about by the ordinary mass of humanity who is interested in fashion and might, quite wrongly, feel a little ashamed of this passion.  Might fear that they are not going to be taken seriously.  That in announcing this preoccupation they will have confessed that women are not really fully grown up; unlike our male counterparts, who have mature and adult preoccupations without which the human race could not survive, such as moving balls from one end of a grassy field to the other with the aid of the human foot.”

So, yeah.  I follow fashion.

(Jenny does NOT follow fashion . . . but she does follow yougurt!)

But. . . I don't LOOK like I follow fashion!

It's just my Dirty Little Secret!

Comments

[margene]

Fashion was my passion for years and I had drawers full of jewelry, bags, shoes and closets full of clothes. The magazines are fun to read, full of easy ideas to incorporate into any lifestyle or fashion style. I'm now more into Eddie Bauer than Vogue.

[Vicki]

I think this is great. I love T-Lo!!

[Patty]

Love it! The closest I get is trying to get one or two things in the "color" that's out that season. What are we seeing for fall?

[Marilyn]

It is good to know what is going on in all parts of life...even fashion! :D

[Sue]

I love the Meryl Streep speech in 'The Devil Wears Prada' where she shows the new girl how fashion designers influence what she buys by talking about her cerulean blue jumper. Fascinating.

[Diana Troldahl]

I consider it an enjoyment of beauty, nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with just liking cools stuff, either :-}

[Sue]

My confession is that although classical music has been a passion for some years now I recently downloaded Katy Perry and Lady Gaga - for my bop around the kitchen playlist!

[Cookie]

Yay!

I think it's important to know what's going on in fashion. How else do we know what styles are current and what is going to make us look like we just stepped out of a time machine?