As with any hobby/interest, there are always established hierarchies of awe that are instilled into us regarding insider figures. In the case of fashion, this is probably even more exaggerated. Let me rewind. So I’m 12 yrs old having spent all my Chinese New Year’s lucky money on amateurish books about fashion sketching and having read up every crusty fashion history books there are and I’m in awe of Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. The biggies. My knowledge of fashion is pretty much shallow if not non-existent but it is when I first discover the mysticism of fashion and the I get the feeling that there are ‘closed doors’ in this industry. I then shelve the idea of becoming a designer and throw my head into the ‘academic’ stuff that I’m on familiar territory with.
Fast forward to when I’m 17. I’m now buying all the glossies and fashion tomes like there’s no tomorrow. The people I read about are fully instilled as awesome figures in my mind, overly statuesque even. I gorge on interviews with designers and photographers and when there are rare interviews with the top notch editors/stylists, I practically ravage them. It’s the art of fashion that I’m obsessed with. What sort of an effect these clothes are having on the wearer. What the designers studios might look like. What working at a magazine might be like. What’s going on behind the scenes of the clothes. What do the clothes actually look/feel like in person. The awe factor has set upon me regarding fashion.
Then at 22, the reason why I started Style Bubble was because of this awe. Some people may read this blog and think ‘My my this is someone who doesn’t really understand the ins and outs of the industry’ and it is true that ,my writing has been described as rather ‘child-like’ and ‘pure’ (this is both a criticism and a compliment…).
Besides the ACTUAL clothes though, which is ‘apparently’ what fashion centres around (though I’m inclined to believe otherwise sometimes…), other paraphanalia forms a protocol behind the fashion ‘industry’ – attending fashion shows, the after parties, press discounts, press days, goodie bags, PR’s press releases, the coaxing ‘you-scratch-back-I’ll-scratch-your’s’ attitude that exists in fashion. This was all completely alien to me up until recently since I started writing Style Bubble and gradually, the mystique and enclosed world of the fashion industry opens up a little and I end up taking a peek inside.
I used to post on an obsessive basis on the forum The Fashion Spot for a good few years (sadly I’m so bogged down with the blog, I’m rather inactive these days…), and I notice that the awe of fashion is everywhere. Especially for those who aren’t in the industry Members would write about what they would give to see a show, congratulating people for ‘spotting’ a model/designer and basically wanting to know as much insider information as possible. I’m not ashamed to own up to this sort of awe that hopefully will probably remain with me.
As fashion becomes less insular and closed-up going into the 21st century and as I’ve begun to step slowly inside those industry circles, I’m saddened to discover that there exists people who are so jaded by fashion that their attitude seems bored and cold. That people seem to be at shows to scoop up goody bags or to bump into the ‘right’ people to make the ‘right’ connections’ as opposed to the actually looking at the clothes. My excitement about clothes to some seems amateur and green and perhaps that is true. Perhaps to some, I will seem incredibly uncool and disctinctly UN-fashionable for getting excited about meeting designers, seeing their work, reading their biogs/press releases, seeing their shows as I treat these as privileges not obligations. My awe is still there and I’m continually fascinated by what fashion is creating/showing and of course even more interested in the effect of all of this on what we, the consumers actually wear I gush about things because it’s all genuine gushing and I don’t say things to illicit a favour in return.
This is supposed to act as a little ‘end of 2007’ note similar to the one I wrote about internet fame last year so what I’m really trying to say is that the awe factor with regards to fashion, going into 2008, is still very much there and I’m not going to say otherwise. No, you won’t find me shooting ‘vole stoat’ bored looks at fashion events. No, you won’t find me moaning that there isn’t enough champagne at such and such a party. No, you won’t find me bitching that I didn’t get such and such a seat at a show. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for opportunities, invitations and realising that nothing is a RIGHT of mine to take. Whilst my original statement regarding this blog is that I’m a fashion outsider commenting on the inside – that statement is still true in the sense that though I am getting the chance to see the inside fashion world, my outlook is still very much that of an outsider, of someone on the periphery. Maybe it’s because of my very strong sense of awe.
What a wonderful post. I completely understand what you mean. As an aside, I went right off The Fashion Spot thought when I read a thread with a bunch of people talking about a girl one of them had seen on the bus. She was v. plainly dressed but was carrying a Chanel handbag. Bizarrely, the feeling seemed to be that she had no *business* carrying such a good handbag if she was otherwise badly dressed. Put me *right* off.
I love your banner, btw.
Susie, a lot of us are in awe of you, for your commitment, your energy, and the very sense of wonder that you mention. Don’t ever change.
Firstly, congrats for the year you have had! I feel like you sell yourself short- you say you don’t totally have the ‘right’ to go to shows and be involved in the industry but hardly anyone has achieved what you have, and you should be even more proud to do it your way, rather than following the fashion pack. a bit gushy but i have to hand it to you Susie, you do put the awe in awesome! (haha nice mean girls quote there…)
“my writing has been described as rather ‘child-like’ and ‘pure'”… and that’s exactly why it’s never boring! Don’t ever change!
And I mean, I’m interested in fashion for the sake of fashion too, not for the sake of champagne and goodie bags!
Nice post!
oh gosh… what a post… i suppose most of it is a matter of insecurity. i guess… people trying to kick up dirt to stir a conversation with people they may have nothing in common with. you are great to remain honest and brave through this. I personally find it intimidating at times mostly because i don’t really do well at late night parties, and i find small talk and smoosching difficult.
you are famous.. ms. bubble, your prediction is true, just keep up the great work!
Great post. But seriously. There needs to be lots of Champagne at parties!
How lovely. I believe the title of your blog points the way to avoiding this ennui -style, not fashion, will save us.
Soldier on!
Congratulations on another blogging year. As Suzanna has mentioned we’re all in perpetual awe and inspired by your commitment to the things you appreciate in this world.
By the way, I can really empathise regarding the whole ‘return to the academics’. I’ve contemplated designing but my heart would never be in it wholly…not to mention my complete and utter lack of design-related skills!
DCB.
I hope you dont lose your awe.
I dont think style bubble would be the same if suddenly it became posts about how they didnt serve enough champagne at such and such…
hey susie i’m 17 and feel EXACTLY how you describe yourself at 17. im off to NYU next year and hope to start interning in fashion! anyways your just sort of awesome
Long may you remain that outsider at heart Susie and never lose your objectivity even as doors continue to open for you! That wide-eyed-wonder in your love of actual CLOTHES and their origins is always palpable in your writing. How ironic that a sincere, apolitical approach to fashion could be seen as unfashionable. Give me your “uncool” over the pecking-order posturing of the jaded any day.
As you rightly say, such hierarchies exist in other fields too – you could directly swap out your fashion references for artworld ones…unfortunately.
this is really oddly redolent of my life.
I remember growing up, and constantly stealing my mother’s magazines – which NEVER included vogue. for some reason, in my head, I thought vogue would be hideously expensive and unattainable. I remember poring over the (thankfully great) selection of fashion books in my local library, memorising whole passages, videotaping every episode of fashion television and crying at vivienne westwood footage. I remember dreaming about being able to afford this shit.
now I have a stupidly expensive wardrobe of frankly incredible clothes and work (often for nothing) with people I have loved and admired for years. and honestly, it’s a dream come true. I wake up every day, and whether I’m being paid or not doesn’t even matter. I genuinely love what I do, and the opportunities I get because of it.
I love being a fashion dork, and people (oddly) react to that. my editor is amazed at my total fashion recall – which is insane, considering I forget everything from keys to birthdays on a regular basis. designers I know call me, describe something and then scream ‘TELL TELL ME HAS ANYONE DONE THAT?!’
the thing I really really love about fashion – or at least the fashion I’ve experienced – is the fact that so many people in it are actually really really nice. I have had to address a lot of my own prejudices that so-and-so will be a dickhead/stupid/pretentious and then find out most of the people in fashion are really lovely, down-to-earth, enthusiastic and just plain nice.
I think I have been lucky – my friends have worked with people who have been horrible, designers who have been lazy and pretentious, editors who have treated them like dogs. all the people I have dealt with have been beyond-wonderful.
but the awe is still there: I’m going on a shoot with kate moss next week, and it gives me – and everyone fashion or not I have told – goosebumps thinking about it.
love,
Alex.
Well said Susie!! Amazing post… gets me thinking!
and that’s why I read your blog.
This was an incredibly moving and incredibly thoughtful post – thank you so much for sharing this with us. As Esther said above, this is why we read Style Bubble. Since the Fashion Spot days (my initial intro to the blog) you were, and still are, someone fellow fashionistas and bloggers look to as an inspiration, and at the same time you are an inspiration within reach in a sense that you make what we love so accessible. Your voice is a clear and strong one so please never let go of that sense of awe and keep inspiring it within us, too.
this is the reason why i enjoy reading your blog so much. keep it up susie bubble!
Susie, your genuine love of style and fashion is what makes Style Bubble such an excellent read- and the very fact that you are as down-to-earth as you come across is what makes people read it and come to realise that liking clothes etc doesn’t mean that the brain automatically evaporates.
i really dont think being an insider or outsider of fashion really makes any difference of what it means to you and how it makes you feel—i LOVE this blog because youre so good at writing out what you feel about certain things in fashion and making us see things in your way and think differentally about them and personally, i think you have realllyyy good taste—its really comforting reading your blogg—like, reading dion changs south african elle magazine :]]]]]]
Hey susie,
Thanks for your perspective. I too, see fashion as an art form. I just wanted to communicate my conviction that real style and fashion is not found behind the closed doors of a Vice Mag party or on the glossy pages of Vogue, but on the outside of the industry’s many claustrophobic spheres. On the outside are people bending and breaking the rules which is where it gets really interesting.
Cheers
Fiona
I will be putting this danzlizg insight to good use in no time.
I adore your writing style, Susie. You always keep me informed without any ounce of pretentiousness. You deserve all your success! 😀
I think you’ve just summed up why I love this blog so much. I’ve been a reader for a while and I don’t think I’ve ever commented, but this post was so relevant that I had to respond to it. I’ve always had somewhat of the same view about the world of fashion: it’s something that has always inspired profound awe in me. As an artist myself, I love seeing the ideas and thought processes that can fuel gorgeous pieces of clothing, even if I’ll never wear them.
Some may say that your view of fashion is “child-like” and “pure”, but I think that it’s exactly the kind of view that I have and I know many other outsiders of the fashion world have: you have a more geniune appreciation for the clothes than countless socialites, fashion industry drones, and celebrities whose shallow views about fashion are constantly printed in magazines like Vouge.
Basically, all that I’m saying is, I love reading your blog BECAUSE of that sense of awe, which I definitely share. It’s evident in the clothes you selectively purchase, the designers you feature, and the thrill of posts about attending fashion events. Beautiful post, as usual!
Awesome doesn’t even begin to describe the comments to the post therefore…
Passementerie: TFS ppl can be scathing though there are also wonderful members/contributors too! Thanks – I am thinking of a revamp on the blog though… opinions?
Suzanna: From one Susanna to another (ppl often say I should spell my name with a ‘z’…. apparently that’s a funner version of the name…?)…thanks!
Selina: Oh my god… I completely forgot that line and didn’t even think about it despite the number of times I used the word ‘awe’ in this post…
It’s been a funny old year hasn’t it…. without knowing what’s ahead, I feel I needed to write this to remind myself a few things…
Cate: You’d be surprised how much a good goody bag can sway ppl… Thanks!
Lady Coveted: Small talk and smoosching scares me too… and that’s not to say those things don’t exist in other areas too… my day job requires a lot of that too….
WendyB: Hey…I’m not knocking the champers at all…;)
Thom Wong: Soldier on I will indeed…
DCB: It was a distant childlike dream of mine that dissipated as soon as I realise that I’d neither be good or original at it… better to be admirers of fashion non?
PaPP: I hope I don’t lose it either…
Kirsten: Good luck at NYU… and thank you!
MGW: Hierarchies aren’t necessarily bad things as they form structures of aspiration… it’s when they make you feel small/belittled is when the problems begin I believe…
‘pecking-order posturing of the jaded’ is a nice way of summing up what I have seen of the industry….
Alexander: Thank you so much for sharing your memories of fashion and how you got obsessed!
Your fashion dorkedness has paid off as you have landed jobs working with those ppl. If the same thing happened to me I don’t think I could handle the surrealness of it all, of working/interacting with people who I’ve been in awe of. You are also incredibly lucky to have had the experiences of working with purely nice ppl. That’s not what I’m saying about the industry…. of course nice ppl are all around…. but the not nice side of it has made me reluctant, scared and slightly insecure about whether I can hold my own in it….
Eeeshk…. Kate Moss… a little mind-blowing…
Sainsbury: Would love to hear your take on it on your very good blog!
Raq: BTW, your comments are not boring… why would you say that? Read your comment on the Preen post! They are much appreciated and valued by myself!
Drusilla: Yes, I think we covered the subject of intelligence and fashion and sometimes how they don’t go hand in hand. I’m glad you still get the feeling I have a brain…even if I do go on about cupcakes and pies from time to time….
Y: Thank you… my taste isn’t everyone’s but that isn’t the point. I guess the practical points of the blog is that I may be talking about more shows, events etc that I would not have done before as a TOTAL outsider….but it’s just to let readers know that it’s still me and that I’m still a bit of a dork…
Fiona: I am interested in all facets of fashion but yes in particular, those peripherial aspects where ppl are bending the rules and doing their own thing….
Anon: Thanks!
Ben: I just don’t think I could write this blog if I didn’t have that sense of awe…without it, Style Bubble is basically dead. It does baffle me how sometimes it isn’t about the clothes but about the celeb watching, and what they’re wearing even if say the event was supposed to be about the clothes. It’s not about being snobby and saying ‘Oh fashion is an art!’ in an overly dramatic way either…it’s about appreciation of the core of fashion….and that is the ideas, the processes and of course the end result…
Please keep your “green” and “naive” attitude!!good post!
Susie, I use an RSS feed and it currently has 12 fashion blogs on it. Of all of them I find yours the most helpful, intelligent and fashion orientated. You actually use words to express opinions about clothes and that reads so well in comparison to the endless examination of Sarah Jessica Parker’s production of the SATC movie and the dress that the NUMBER ONE A LIST HOLLYWOOD STAR was wearing on Tuesday at her new premiere. I’m interested in fashion, I think clothes are interesting and beautiful and should exist to reflect people’s perceptions, I think you get that across and use this format well. If people are at the shows for the goodie bags then they should move over to the city and work the stock markets because they’re doing bad things to what we should regard as an artform as well as a commercial enterprise.
I love this post. Is so sincere. Your personal style is pure inspiration for me. Thanks!
Dear Susie,
Your inspired, personal (unposed)and informal writing style is a gift to us all.
Your love of fashion is contagious. You set focus on the art of fashion from so many angles, be it colour, texture, textile, design, photography, styling, shows, inspired people, up and comings. I find your site extremely informative and I enjoy reading your perspective on things. Stay true to yourself, stay authentic. Remember to inspire is to give, to be inspired is to live. You inspire by being inspired. Keep up the good work. P.S. The tainted people in the industry that don´t get you or appreciate your honest style haven´t figured it out yet. thanks for your blog.-K
its your purity and lack of pretentiousness that keep people reading. you are not a snob and your passion is infectious. keep doing what you’re doing.
Wow, excellent post! I was bloghopping when I chanced upon your site and I love it! Keep it up! =)
Great post Susie!
You say, “Perhaps to some, I will seem incredibly uncool and disctinctly UN-fashionable for getting excited about meeting designers, seeing their work, reading their blogs/press releases, seeing their shows as I treat these as privileges not obligations.”
It is that vigor that makes you uber-cool and fashionable. Your blog is proof of that. That attitude will only add to you expertise as it grows.