Fashion Is for You, Not for Someone Else

What is fashion, anyway?

Merriam Webster online offers three definitions. The first is “the make or form of something.” The second is “a distinctive or peculiar and often habitual manner or way of doing something (he will, after his sour fashion, tell you - Shakespeare)”; or “a mode of action or operation (orderly fashion).”

The third definition finally gets around to clothing:

• “the prevailing style (as in dress) during a particular time, or a garment in such a style, or
  
• social standing or prominence especially as signaled by dress or conduct (men and women of fashion).”
  

Let’s unpack that a little. The prevailing style in dress during a particular time. Look back at your family photos. You can tell what decade it is by what people are wearing, right? The shellacked bouffant, the miniskirt, and go-go boots? Yeah, baby, it’s the sixties. Crazy curly hair, bellbottoms, and collars wide enough to take flight? The seventies. Hyper-fluffy hair, bright colors, and severe or puffy (your choice) shoulders? The eighties. The Rachel, long floral skirts, and chunky heels? The nineties. Uggs, palazzo pants, and tanks showing your belly? The double-os.

But once you… reach a certain age… you’ve bought enough clothing to realize that it’s just stuff to cover you up so you can go out in public. Or to help you fit a role: you wouldn’t wear your Hello Kitty pj’s to your job at the doctor’s office, now would you? (I hope not.)

And you’re finally smart enough to realize that fashion is just someone from New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, wherever, telling you how to look, what to do with yourself. It’s icky to let someone else tell you how you should look in order to be pleasing to them. (Trust me, I know.) And you’ll never meet those fashion gurus anyway, so screw ’em.

So why bend to the whims of fashion when it’s something that’s here today and gone tomorrow?

Why not have clothes that you like, that suit you, and that you can be happy wearing every day? I don’t see why not.

So let’s lay down the first guidelines for CapsuleStyle:

• Your clothes will make you feel and look good. (Yes, I put “feel” before “look” on purpose.)
  
• Your clothes will fit you. They’ll suit your body, your coloration, and your lifestyle.
  
• You’ll look into your closet and smile every morning because you know that you can grab things that actually go together.
  

Sounds like a fashion win to me!