In hearing range (in this case, field
of vision) of any smart, thoughtful women who give
sensible consideration to what they wear and how they wear it, the
mention of the word "trend" is bound to bring all kinds of
scoffing that can range from good-natured ribbing to downright nasty
verbal lashing onto the head of the mentioner. It's a justifiable
reaction, especially for the savvy woman beyond the first blush of
youth. Better always, I agree, to wear what suits you, thrills you,
and make you feel and/or look amazing and shun popular trends that
are problematic for your personal style.
Got it. So true.
But sometimes, a careful examination of
a trend can teach you a thing or two about yourself. For those of
you who have read here before, you'll remember that I make a
deliberate practice of thinking of trends as just ideas.
IMHO, one possible definition of a trend is just an idea that a lot
of women are adopting, successfully or not. And I'm always
interested in ideas about personal style!
One recent trend/idea for the last
couple of warm seasons has been that we're seeing pastels again after
a long winter's fascination with "jewel tones" and
saturated colors, brights and neons. Pastels have been less frequently
available in recent years, and I got the idea that pastels translated
somehow into the girlish, or the trivial, or worst of all, the
grandmotherly (yikes!) Perky pinks and baby-boy blue, and especially
the gender-neutral nursery yellow were not my friends anyway,
especially close to my face. But all this time, I've harbored an
affection for pastels, and I've been delighted to see them around
again. Feels like it's time.
(Not here, of course. Instead of the
pastel pink coat that I so wanted this winter, I saw every color but.
And my Spring Lust List included a pastel pink dress, but I'm seeing
lots of brights, especially the corals and hot pinks that have been
around for a while. I probably will not be able to shop without
tripping over pale pink everything next summer, but not yet. Trends
are, in fact, much of what I have to choose from, even if they are a
year or two old. That's the stuff of Big Box Country, y'all.)
So I dove deep into my wardrobe
archives and found this dress. I'd worn it exactly once, and I'd had
trouble styling it but it avoided recycling because I just loved it.
I'd bought it trying to make a tea-length dress work for me, and I'd
never found shoes to make it look really good. In spite of the fact
that I was no taller, thinner or any younger, I tried it on again to
see if anything was miraculously different.
Yes. There was a lot different! All
this spring, looking at the magazines, I had oohed and ahhed at the
pale but dusty pinks and purples, muted blues and cool mint greens.
TAA-DAAA! Here they all were with some deeper but still soft hues,
right in this little old Simply Vera dress! They had looked a
little subdued and poky when I bought it, but no longer. Because I'd
seen the colors in a new context, my eye for them had changed and
evolved.
Also different was my perception of
what proportions work. Hoisting the hem from the top of the calf to
the knee looked much better, especially with my newly cropped head
changing the way so many of my older clothes look on me. I also
jettisoned the self-belt, allowing the dress to fall into more of a
column than into an awkwardly divided shape that my short waist
created.
I'd worn it originally with plain,
light beige court shoes. I decided to try it with newer shaped (and admittedly trendier) blush sandals with ankle straps. And when it
came to the delicate necklace and rings and watch I'd worn before, I just decided to go absolutely minimal ... trending right
along .... and was completely happy with the result. (Dan is happier
when I wear my wedding rings, and I agree that some jewelry is
doable, but there's something liberating about not needing any! )
What was different was my perception of
what this little dress could do for me based on newer ideas. Newer for me, anyway.
From where I sit, it seems that the
consideration of trends is just another tool to evaluate new ideas,
new combinations, and strengthen a new "eye" based on the
ideas presented by designers that please me and excite my
imagination. Really, there's nothing new under the sun. EVERY
season, there are retrospectives and reintroduction and re-imagining
of old (often truly ancient!) ideas about how the body can be
clothed. Which is why most vintage pieces can look wonderfully and
uniquely contemporary. And most vintage pieces can be firmly placed
in the era when they were a re-imagined trend from an earlier period,
or a natural extension of a recent idea. The re-imagining is what
makes "closet shopping" such a gratifying process, and what
inspires our current designers and innovators to bring us "new"
ideas.
So I've come to the conclusion that
trends and new ideas are:
1) the same thing, and only good or
bad depending on use. And ...
2) useful information for the
evolution and education of my own taste.
I won't admit to the ignominy of being
a "trend chaser" but plead guilty to using the ones I like
to my advantage. Don't mind if I do, thank you.
"Trend aware, don't care!"
That's me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Linking up with the Every Fabulous and
Floral Patti at
Come see what a whole bunch of the glamourati are up to!
