Carrie Bradshaw

Twitter is a social portal where we all go to stalk, communicate and find out information. For a while now I have been following the fictional Sex and the City style queen character Carrie Bradshaw. Apart from her witty lifestyle advice on "you can make anything you do classier with a glass of wine in your hand" and "don't cry go shopping and get over it" she also comments on the essence of fashion and style. Today while scrolling mindlessly through pointless tweets I came across a Carrie Bradshaw original tweet: "style is a way to say who you are without having to speak." People may say don't judge a book by its cover yet we all seem to analyse peoples clothes and the way they have styled themselves. For instance a man in a smart tailored suit with expensive shoes may reveal that he is a well groomed man, who is intellectual and takes pride in his appearance, while teenagers in hoodies have become stereotypically renowned for being trouble makers. As a result, style is seen as a portal to everyone’s personalities.

The end of fashion

2012 brings us to the climatic point at which we worry whether or not the world is actually going to end. Everything has a cycle and soon that cycle fades away into non-existence. Just like the cycle of life, fashion has its own cycle with trends continually changing.

Fashion is elusive and keeps moving; especially with the growth of technology it has become a multi-functioning industry which changes rapidly. Icon Iris Apfel comments on how fashion “reflects what’s going on in the world, the economy, sociology and the psychology of a certain period.” In centuries past we have seen the ground-breaking fashion moments of the decades, what with the rise of the mini skirt and the removal of the corset. Each of these moments reflects the historical changes of the decades, for instance the emancipation of women and the ‘youthquake’. We have now come to a period of time whereby all these profound moments have already taken place and we are now recycling the times that have gone by. Sunbathing, the craze of the 1930’s still predominately exists, yet the 21^stcentury now offers the smell of Britain which is fake tan.

Fashion use to slowly evolve from decade to decade, allowing people to rebuild their wardrobes slowly. However, now fashion changes so fast that our wardrobes have become a jumble of mixed up decades. Fashion uses to be seen as elite, whereas now, what with the quick reaction of high street stores, designer clothes appear to be a scam and a rip off.

Are we now living in a sinking industry that relies on the past and doesn’t look to the future? What is the 21^stcentury? Moschino’s s/s 13 collection is a revival of the swinging 60’s, again looking back to the past. Has innovation died?

Halloween

"In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it."- Mean girls

 

Sadly for Halloween I did not conform to this famous teen quote, perhaps because it was freezing outside. So instead of opting for the standard sexual approach I decided my new glittery disco pants were the best option, up until I actually entered the nightclub and realised I was overheating.
 

To make myself appear scary I covered my neck in fake blood and I found that when it dried it created cracks and peeled (my neck has never looked so disgusting.) If anybody needs any recommendations for fake blood that can be easily washed off I would highly recommend Clinton Cards fake blood which was only 50p when I bought it- bargain!
 

My makeup which my housemate did for me was dark in order to create a mysterious and evil feel. Even though my makeup was supposed to be just for Halloween I actually really liked the large smoky dark eyes and may use it more often, perhaps I’ll leave off the spider web sticker though.
 

I love dressing up and Halloween is my favourite holiday for fancy dress, this is surprising considering I’m ridiculously scared of horror films and the supernatural. Despite not looking like a slut or having a pumpkin outside my house I did have a very good Halloween especially spending it with my best friends in Mayfair.

 

What did everyone else do for Halloween?

What did you all dress up as?

 

 

The power of the glossy

Last weekend I went home again and my Mum and I had a conversation about magazines and as she began to say a list of the names: Vogue, Elle, OK, Look, Marie Claire it struck me about the power of the glossy. Studying fashion journalism has opened my eyes to a whole new range of fashion and culture magazines some of which I never knew existed. This made me begin to realize the power of the glossy magazines and that we allow ourselves to be trapped in the naivety of the media and fashion. If you are not a fashion fanatic you get dragged into the reality that Vogue is the best magazine and that everything you read in Heat is true.

Vogue and Elle may be elite magazines; nonetheless this does not mean that the power of fashion lies in their hands. For many readers they simply cannot afford designer clothes and reading Vogue is just a fantasy. Vogue is filled with glossy ads and wannabe lifestyles so why is the mainstream audience so hooked on this glossy magazine? Is it because of its status that it has achieved over the years? Is it because it is mainstream? Or is it due to society’s nativity? Due to this we become emerged in an almost fashion bubble where we believe fashion only exists in the like of Elle, Vogue, Look, Glamour and so on, while niche fashion magazines remain unnoticed.

 Perhaps by these magazines remaining undetected it makes fashion appear more mysterious and creative and this is why it is seen as elite. The power of the media has made our buying habits pick up Vogue magazine instead of exploring the niche markets, so our knowledge of the fashion industry becomes naïve and mainstream.

What is your favourite magazine?

Do you tend to buy the first one you see on the supermarket magazine shelf?