Style Strategy 003: Don't be boring. 4 ways to elevate your personal style beyond the landscape of neutrals
How to tell a story with clothes, and a reminder to have fun with fashion.
The perfect T-shirt is held up by some as a symbol of the ultimate luxury, explains Natalie Olah in her book Bad Taste. It strips away everything other than bare, functional necessities.
Famously, it was the pursuit of the perfect white T-shirt that inspired Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen to start The Row, as it was written in US Vogue about their debut in 2006. Back then, prices ranged from US$150 for a T-shirt, to US$850 for a “floor-sweeping cashmere vest”. From the article:
“The shirt’s simplify belies the fact that its genesis was so drawn out, but that's the whole point. ‘We wanted perfection, or as close as could get,’ [Danielle] Sherman [The Row’s then-designer] says. "And we didn't have to rush to achieve it.”
The current paring back of excess isn’t new for just our modern age. As Olah writes:
“Normcore recalls a trend that occurred in the nineteenth century, when the capitalist class yearned to be taken as seriously as, or even to usurp the social dominance of the aristocracy. The status anxiety of the bourgeoisie would lead to a paradoxical tendency in which it ultimately rejected the more frivolous tastes that had reigned supreme during the earlier Regency era, such as the Baroque and Rococo, with its ornate embellishments and exaggerated silhouettes, choosing instead to favour styles of a more pared back and modest variety.”
Sound familiar?
It’s this ‘white space’ aesthetic, coined by Kyle Chayka, that has permeated what we understand to be ‘good taste’ now.
As I’ve written before, ‘The search for good taste is a trap’:
Chayka is a pre-eminent cultural observer, and picked up on the white-minimalist aesthetic of certain coffee shops and gave it a name in his landmark essay about Airpsace (a must-read, and to think it came out almost 10 years ago in 2015). You know the type — sleek with mid-century accents and plenty of natural lighting, they have a sense of being local and community but also social media-friendly. It probably offers cold brew. This type of aesthetic has become a type of visual language to communicate a certain type of ‘taste’ — worldliness, but also efficiency and being aesthetically aware.
I wonder how the presence of this common visual language applies to what is happening now in fashion. I really, really hate the term ‘quiet luxury’1 but at the moment, that is the look-of-the-moment. Wearing grey cashmere and a tan MaxMara coat is considered ‘good taste’ now, with the inference that anything that is not minimalist — say, embellished, colourful, eclectic and not at all tonal — is the opposite of having good taste.
It’s been a few weeks since the designer Dries Van Noten took his final bow during Paris men’s fashion week. There are enough laudatory articles about his farewell show, it is all-tempting as a DVN fangirl to add to the noise through a newsletter edition — I’ve done it on my Instagram here, nevertheless.
But the outpouring of love for him is a reminder that he offered something different.
Rather than another white shirt or another black blazer, there might be some ruching, embroidery, a drape detail, the fabric could be in a metallic brocade. This also reminded me of Alber Elbaz’s work for Lanvin which I also seek out for on designer consignment websites; a seemingly simple T-shirt would have a sheer ribbon trim, and a grosgrain ribbon is transformed into a necklace with pearls.
These aren’t the brands that entirely depend on a graphic logo on a plain T-shirt.
Miuccia Prada has the same effect. Yes, okay, she has those tanks with the little Prada triangular logos on them, but they only work because she’s built a whole world in her clothes and made the ordinary extraordinary with a sense of humour and artistic hand.
These are all clothes that tell a story.
Now to zoom back out to how to make this work in an outfit.
I’m not necessarily saying that the key to interesting personal style is just to find a piece of Dries/Prada/Lanvin/etc and throw it on and call it a day (though, okay, it wouldn’t hurt). It’s about looking beyond the usual pieces you ‘should be buying’ (the black blazer, the white shirt, the ‘perfect jeans’ etc) and being alert to that piece that will add a bit of something something.
Otherwise, you’ll end up looking like the below – a look that’s a bit worn out with fashion insiders, but has a long tail in the mainstream. The far left is a lookbook image from The Row. The rest are inspired looks worn by celebrities and influencers. Spot the difference.
Now, I have plenty of white shirts and T-shirts and tastefully neutral trousers and coats to easily fall into this rut. But what is needed is something a bit unexpected, a bit weird, a bit crazy.
Most personal style guides focus a lot on wardrobe foundations - the aforementioned white shirt/neutral trousers/perfect jeans/classic trench etc. It might come later, but what’s so much more interesting and also immediately effective are the unexpected pieces.
For this edition of Style Strategy, I’m going to explain how to incorporate some randomness into your wardrobe — how to look for it, how to buy it, and how to wear it. It can transform an outfit that you might wear all the time and are getting a bit bored with, or elevate another to make it more special occasion-appropriate.
You want to tell a story with your clothes. Don’t be boring.
Below, here are four ways to do it with examples for the more daring among you but also for the girl who really does feel more comfortable in an oversized white shirt (because that’s okay, that’s sometimes me)…
PROPORTION
There’s always been an underlying sense of the weird and wonderful in fashion.It might take your eye some getting used to it, but when it works, it can really work, and will add that interest and much needed friction in your usual looks.
Remember though, not all unexpected proportions are created equal.
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While I love to shop, there is a lot of shopping out there, and I really want to give you the tools to navigate shopping and style through identity rather than instantly thinking you need to buy something to ‘fix’ yourself and your sense of identity through your personal style.
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