A curious statement came from the mouth of my boyf that made me ponder for a while.
*Carrie Bradshaw style voiceover*
As Big S said to me ‚ÄòI know that because you‚Äôll always dress weirder or crazier than me, when we go out, it gives me license to be a bit more daring with my outfits!‚Äô, I couldn‚Äôt help but wonder….‚ÄôAre style daredevils really just the style safety airbags?‚Äô
*End annoying Ms. Bradshaw voiceover* Also end of annoying presumption that I’m a *groan* style daredevil.
This little relevation from my boyfriend perplexed/confused me a little. Some people will probably never believe me when I say this and yes, even I find it a little disconcerting, is that I don’t really relate to other people when considering my outfits. I don’t mean that I don’t take inspiration from people in my style (though even my inspirations can often be quite arbitrary and not people specific….). What I mean is that I’ve never been one to think ‘I am friends with you. I hang out with you. You dress like this. Therefore I’ll dress a certain way.’ By the last part of that statement, I’ll clarify again and say that I don’t mean you’re under the influence of your friends to copy the way they dress (I’ll give you all enough credit to assume that NONE of you do that right?). What I mean is if you do have a friend that does dress out of the box, do you in turn feel that the boundaries have been widened, and it gives you license to be a little freer in the way you dress?
I’m genuinely asking this from a ‘Style Bubble’ perspective (hopefully by now, people will know that the title of this blog doesn’t come from nowhere but actually, the term is applicable in reality…). It could be my lonesome childhood days, the fact that I went to a school where cliques didn’t really exist and all my friends were quite different in the way they dressed (no style tribage at all really….) which definitely continued into uni. Whatever the reason, I just haven’t really given the ones that I surround myself with any thought with regards to putting together an outfit. At themed parties, there Susie goes, doing her own thing, this isn’t a case of wanting to stand out but more of a result of shopping in solitude, having a very strong idea of how I wanted to look at said party and quite frankly, not really consulting other people and doing the natural girl gang thing of ‘What are you wearing?’.
Some comments that have arisen on the blog compliment me for inspiring people to be more daring in the way they dress. I can’t really attest to how true this is but it does make me wonder, do we need living examples to set us guidelines? To put it simply ‘Oh seeing as there’s some odd girl in London who layers like a crazy bag lady, I guess I can afford to wear that fuschia pink dress that I’ve been pondering about for a while but held back on because it was a bit wacky.’ Hence the subject of the post; safety airbag, that you get given confidence in your style choices because someone else is doing it or doing it to a further extreme.
This actually isn’t all in relation to me being that safety airbag. I think we have established there is no such thing as true style originality in the purest sense and in these days, nothing is going to really shock or cause a stir in terms of outfits (well from my outlook anyway…) but everyone has different values to gauge against and have been exposed to different things style-wise so I speak quite sweepingly and broadly on this subject of safety airbags. I can only conclude that the natural human condition of wanting to stay within a pack has something to do with it and that pushing ourselves style-wise is difficult without any living examples to compare to. I guess all I told my boyfriend was ‘Hey I don’t mind being your style airbag…. as long as we can trawl about 20 charity shops and find those ker-razy things to dress me up in….!’
happily delurking!
I think a lot of people use their friends as a style safety. Personally, I will aim to go for a style somewhat within the same range as whatever friend I’m out with. If they go dressier then I feel I must too. Seems odd to see friends where one is super fancied up and one is downtown laidback.
you definitely move me to push my boundaries, or at least to make an effort to make something about what I’m wearing interesting every day. (whether or not I succeed is another matter entirely.) environment–people included–probably influences what perceived boundaries are: in new york, anything went; in philadelphia, my style’s a little more tempered, although less due to reception than lack of a reason to dress “up.” forward, certainly, but not up. (does that make sense?)
Interesting…I think that people who really know and like their own style won’t be influenced in a significant way, but that those who are looking for it will take the opportunity to experiment.
Susie, you’ve got me to look at my wardrobe differently. I will keep buying the same kinds of pieces because of who I am, but I may put them together a little differently because of what I see you do. It’s a great way to have fun and still keep the foundation of your style.
to be honest, i am jealous of how adventurous/daring you are when it comes to dressing. There are so many pieces of clothing, outfits i would love love love to wear but feel bound by the way i dress already. Sometimes i feel like if i wear some more “crazy” or even just a bit different to what people are used to me wearing i would just get a hoard of people asking me questions and pointing things out which i hate, i hate it when people ask me about what im wearing, it’s like so what if i’m wearing bright red shoes… get over it. I don’t know. It’s one thing i’m trying to change at the moment, to not care so much about what other people will think.
Hey I loved the *annoying Ms. Bradshaw voiceover*, I felt like I was back in my sorority house, secretly sipping cheap wine, watching reruns of SATC circa 2002, ahh memories!
When going out with my man I will wear the fiercest outfit I can muster up for any occasion, whether it is happy hour, a night out on the town, or a stroll in the park, just because. But I must say I do not like to look over or under dressed when out and about with girl friends, so I do call and check in with what they are wearing. BUT I have been known to be over the top many a times!
Interesting entry. Reminded me of a time when my close friend wanted some shoes but didn’t know what exactly. So we had a browse in central London and came across some beautiful split-toe shoes (I own three pairs myself) and I recommended them to her.. completely forgetting her taste because I loved them so much! So when I called her over to have a look she gave me a strange look and said ‘I’ll leave that to you, I don’t want everyone looking at my feet’.. something along those lines!.. and actually, I do notice stares when I wear a slightly kooky pair of shoes or clothing, but I never think about what people are going to think if I wear a specific something something.
I think you’re really lucky to have gone to a school where cliques were lacking, mine was the opposite. Typical groups, typical sort of teasing if one did not wear the ‘correct clothing’. My mother brought me up to really not care about what people thought and to do what I wanted, so I guess I sort of rebelled from seeing all these groups and the ‘dresscodes’.. I just thought it was absolutely ridiculous!!
I also think London is a great place to be in (in regards to this topic), the people here most definitely appreciate ‘experimental style’.
maybe not so much friends, but environments in general influence what i wear. if i go to an indie/electro club i feel i have reign to dress a little more adventurously and fashion forward, just because people are more accepting of it and guys do not think you’re a fashion victim if you’re not showing 10 miles of skin and a glowing tan. but when i came to uni i felt ridiculous in my usual attire that involves effort and thought because people actually wear pyjamas to lectures (tucked into uggs of course)
you really are an inspiration to have the courage to wear whatever you want! it’s rare. it’s not like we’ll flash around a picture of you saying ‘well susie wears something similar in this post!’ to passerbys (gosh that must sound creepy!) i just look at you and think ‘that sure is adventurous and yet she looks abso amazing… maybe if i wear x item i won’t get stares/comments because there are people who understand fashion out there and people might think i look good too’
i’m sure living in london makes it slightly easier to dress more fashionably hardcore as you’re an anonymous face never to be seen again, so it’s easier to not care what people think, and also is home to some fabulous dressers. it’s hard in small (and even big) towns where everyone, and i mean everyone (manchester uni being a painful example), dresses the same.
also if i had a boyfriend who embraced fashion, i would feel totally content in my outfits! i receive looks and abuse anyway (yeah played that record before!) which knocks confidence in wearing things that attract attention too.
I’ve always loved things that a girl growing up in private schools in Indiana isn’t supposed to like. Vintage lingerie, corsets, feather neck pieces, spike heels. (That makes me sound so trashy compared to how I put it all together.) I don’t feel I have the freedom to be as over the top as I want without it causing a problem at work. My personal style didn’t really break out until I had been out of high school (and thus through my dress code rebellion) for three years. Now I can think about who I am and what I want to represent to the world, but I still don’t think the office would like the corsets.
I definitely have a friend that I tend to dress up for more, but it’s because I know that we both enjoy fashion (she works in retail, poor thing) and I know she appreciates my outfits. So for her, I’ll dress up some because it’s more of a planned event when we do meet up. Otherwise, I just kind of roll with my own way. (Although I did feel mighty underdressed when we went to Harajuku.)
I do think that, for me, there’s a lot of room for growth, and seeing someone else take a risk and pull it off extremely well, it does give you that extra oomph of “well, you know what, it worked for her, why not go for it?”
I think, in particular, that people respond to you because you have so much joy and fun with your dressing, and people admire that and want that happiness and enthusiasm that you have. And that’s the important thing about fashion: that it makes you happy to wear it. And you’re here to show us that it’s okay to enjoy it however we want to.
People have definitely said that to me before! I kinda like it. Helping people realize that it’s okay to not look like everyone else is a pretty awesome thing to be able to do 😀
I was actually thinking about this the other day! My friend is stylish, but she recently told me that she feels like she can be more adventurous in the way she dresses around me.
My style sort of evolved on it’s own, but I never thought it was particularly out there until people told me. It sort of reminds me of a quote from Chloe Sevigny about how she always thought that the way she dressed was not that crazy/adventurous.
I don’t dress like anyone I hang out with but, and I say this with all sincerity, I often wish I did. Or rather, that the people I hang out with looked a little more like me. This isn’t an arrogance thing, but more a belonging thing.
Plus, these people would probably like Radiohead – always good.
I’ve noticed that I look for ways to dress down my outfits whenever I go out with my friends because they’re very basic jeans & t-shirt people and I already look overdressed by wearing a dress or skirt no matter how casual it is.
Funny thing is, I find that I can dress up for my lunch dates with my grandpa because he dresses smartly.
Why does it have to be an airbag? Can’t you be providing regular old inspiration? I’ve steered a lot of people into big, bold jewelry. I don’t think they’re thinking, “Since she’s wearing it, I can.” It’s more “That looks nice, maybe I should try it.” Because most of the time when they’re wearing it, I’m not around so it’s not like I’m there as a safety net. I provided the inspiration and they gained the confidence to do it on their own. And inspire others the same way.
I think the whole “It worked for her, why not go for it” line of thinking entirely misses the point of fashion, which is self-expression. You can be as far inside the box, or as far outside of it as you want and still have “style” as long as what you are wearing is expressive to you. Growing up on the East Coast, and spending the majority of my life in shmancy private schools, I find myself strangely drawn to dressing in navy, khaki, vintage enamel jewelry, my grandmother’s pearl buttoned cashmere cardigans and men’s tweed blazers. Not because I was beaten into fashion submission, but because those items are comfortable, easy, and invoke in me a euphoric sort of fashion nostalgia. I see women wearing pink taffeta skirts over silver leggings and think “Good for her” not “Right for me”. And I am sure that there are those that would accuse people who dress more conservatively of being closed minded, but you can appreciate the creativity involved in a more adventurous design without wearing it yourself.
eh, I don’t dress like most of my friends and sometimes I get some crap for it, but normally? it’s all good; I don’t think people are more daring around me… but we do bounce ideas off one another and try new stuff
I think of it less as a moving vehicle in which you would need an airbag to survive and more of a spectrum of different stylish people, (I exclude the people who don’t care about clothes because they don’t necessarily think about such things). You may be on one end of the spectrum, but only because everyone else has to place themselves somewhere on the spectrum where they feel comfortable. There are many things that I would love to wear but simply lack the balls too, and I admire everyone who is further on the spectrum than I am. For example, someone sent me a message on mystylediary after I said that I was having a problem with finding a dress for prom that I didn’t hate. She suggested the simple idea of wearing a tuxedo a la Marlene Dietrich. I think the idea is fabulous, but my age and my friends and self-confidence level all factor in to put me at a place on the spectrum where it just doesn’t work for me to wear a tuxedo to my prom instead of a pretty dress. That kind of sounds ridiculous now that I think about it.
I think just the arts and fashion community in general encourages me to indulge in creativity. The older I become, the less I worry about taking chances, as, at the worst, it’s a one-day mistake and I can start over tomorrow.
I can’t say that I have any friends that I use as my style airbag, since (quite honestly) most of my friends (not that there are many! Haha!) tend to dress in jeans and sweats.
I do however, notice a difference in how i dress depending on who I’m with. I dress the most for myself when I’m with my boyfriend, which is a good thing, but I find if I’m hanging out with one other person or a handful of other people who aren’t into adventurous dressing, I dress it down and find I don’t really wear what I would normally choose.
for me its not so much about what my friends are/are not wearing but how im feeling that day. i can be very shy and sometimes ill back off from wearing a certain outfit because im not in the mood to have attention drawn to myself and would prefer to just slink off unnoticed. but other days it doesnt bother me so much and so i can go out wearing something crazy and ignore any kind of stares or weird comments. but alot of the time i feel like im wearing something regular and i still get odd comments from it so i think ive gotten used to it, and the attention has grown to bother me less.
Longtime Lurker, First Time Commenter.
I feel sort of weird saying this, but I suffer from Clinical Depression, so I usually use fashion as a cure, or something. Its like, the really weird (Although not Emo, ha.) oufits I put together help distract me, you know? Although, actually my style is kind of darker, if I’m feeling bored or down, but crazy and happy when I’m not. And if I want to follow a certain subculture usually its Grunge, Punk, or Goth. But thats because I like that music and I’d want to attract people who like that music, just like I’d dress weird(ish) to attract weird(ish) people. I live in the U.S. so I can’t rely on other kids, since most of my friends aren’t into fashion at all! But I get what you’re saying about people needing to look to others for guidance. Also, you could look at the “nothing will ever be new” statement a different way, as in “nothing will ever be old”. Just sayin’.
Jesus, I’m sorry for the seriously boring and long-winded comment.
I definitely see what you mean…in terms of daring to wear exciting or strange outfits, while I don’t necessarily need a prior example to be able to do it, I feel a lot more confident and able to wear anything I wear when I take inspiration from someone who does it well.
I tend not to dress down just because my friends happen to be casual…although they all have pretty different styles, most stick with the tshirt/jeans (although sometimes overly colorful pants from american apparel..) and throw in the now and then exciting outfit that I actually get excited about.
However, having friends with a distinctive sense of style and inspiration from places like this blog and wardrobe remix and whatnot is what really gives me the courage and ideas to be a bit more experimental and really have fun…which is really the best part of fashion.
I don’t think I have original style at all — but I could care less :-D.
Btw, have you seen Teen Vogue’s “London Rocks” insert? It reminded me of you haha.
I’ve more or less existed in my own style space for as long as I can remember, so seeing people like you, Queen Michelle or the girls of FRUiTS magazine isn’t so much ‘style airbag’ for me as ‘thank God there are people like this in the world, otherwise my fashion side would stultify and die’. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but you get my drift. And I don’t think the way you dress is crazy at all.
All of my close friends dress rather differently from each other, with a little overlapping, so I don’t compare myself to them when wearing a more “daring” outfit. Sometimes I’d rather not hear what they have to say about the things I wear because since I know them, I know they personally won’t like certain things, and I wear my clothes because I like them. Reading magazines and blogs (like this one!) etc kind of is my style airbag. If I see that other people are wearing clothes because they want to, no matter how crazy, funky, whatever, they are, it makes me feel more comfortable doing so. The extremeness and the outfits themselves don’t matter it’s just the fact that people are wearing what they want because they want.
I never used to ask my girlfriends what they were wearing, and I have always shopped alone. But when I hit the age of 25 I moved to small town from the “big city” and everyone commented constantly about my unique appearance and style and how “only I could pull things off like that” and after I while I started to feel too conspicuous. Lately I have used my friends as a measure for myself, but only because I am tired of constantly being reminded that I stand out. I always stood out in my past, but so did everyone else. Everyone was unique and no-one thought anything of it. For me it seems to be small-town minds and attitudes that don’t understand the ability to dress one’s self with their own sense of style and character. I can’t wait to move back to my home and express myself freely again – I feel stifled here all of the time.
here where i live, typically, if you want to try something crazy and maybe even a little extra, you always have to be careful. i mean, schools here are so clique-ish it’s very very annoying sometimes. yeah i always feel the pressure when i go shopping with my friends cos i have rather different tastes from them, and mostly they don’t really approve of what i wear and like, but hmm i guess our friendship’s stronger than that. it’s very very stifling here, and sometimes it’s rather hilarious to find the whole clique having almost-similar haircuts and wearing the same stuff, but that’ll never apply to me at least.
How very observant and astute of the BF. I would have to agree with his sentiments. I personally don’t dress to fit in with a style tribe, I just wear what I love. I also don’t think my friends dress to fit in with me, but it does seem to give those with less confidence in their choices to take a leap of faith and wear what they really want. I guess you could call it Alpha-style confidence transference if you want to get all fancy, but ‘air-bag’ has my vote. I do think it is lovely though, that because of this factor we are often able to inspire our friends to dress the way their true inner selves would love to all the time.
What I meant in the “it worked for her, why not go for it” is more in the sense of risk-taking, not copying someone else’s style. “She wore something out of the ordinary and nobody died! Hooray! I can try something new too, and nobody will die!” People worry too much that they’re doing or wearing the wrong thing; therefore someone who’s not afraid to try something new and interesting is inspiring.
If someone encourages you to try expanding your own style and branch out, I think that’s a good thing. If you’re already comfortable in your own skin and your aesthetic and you don’t need a nudge, that’s incredibly awesome (and I’m totally jealous). Some people need some more time, some inspiration, and maybe some nudging to figure out what they really love to wear, and that’s okay.
Interesting post, got me thinking how the situation is for me.
When I was 14, I got a new best friend who started copying my outfits. If she liked my new pair of trousers, she’d go out and buy the same pair. I hated it. And I actually started dressing more excentric as I knew she wouldn’t copy those outfits. I almost desperately wanted to be different than the bland boring masses. So that’s the opposite effect I guess.
I also hated the “what are you going to wear?” phonecalls before any party. “I’m not going to wear a skirt if nobody else is wearing one!” – oh come on. Lack of individuality and a spine was one of the reasons why she isn’t my friend anymore.
Now my outfits are mostly defined by my job. I work in an office with no strict clothing-policy (except for the obvious don’ts like hotpants and spaghettistraps). I’m the only girl in an all-guy team (I’m in IT) and that’s both good and bad in sense of dressing. No danger of copycats or bitchy remarks here. But a skirt with bright thights and high heels draws attention at the office, and I’m not always in the mood to deal with that. On other days I just tell my colleagues off and eventually they get used to it. Amongst my friends there’s never a real problem, I can just be myself. Only exception is my mum, she demands that I dress up when I go out shopping with her.
Seeing you and other girls look great in less-conventional outfits inspires me too, and yes, probably gives me a bit more courage to be myself at the office too.
Very interesting post. I never thought about who might me my fashion safe bag but it’s a good point. You do have an influence on my style in terms of that I’m more daring to break boundaries fashionwise. I do have my own style but the developement was influenced by you and other people. Like other readers already mentioned, I believe that enviroment can have a major impact on your style. I can see it in my case that I change slightly the direction of my style if I’m at the office. My enviroment is classier than I am. So I want to fit into my team and my office enviroment, means no minidresses, no fun clothes. Back to basic. At the weekend meeting my friends or my bf I go back to my usual style, fun clothes, trying out colour combinations, colourful tights, dresses etc. I like to be versatile and change looks. All the things which are not allowed at work. So the enviroment has more an impact on me how I’m dressed than a certain safe bag. In fact I can’t think about a safe bag in my circle of friends. Maybe I’m their safe bag? I don’t know but I doubt that.
I remember in life before kids (at least 19 years ago), going out to a club with a friend, me in a slinky black number and heels and when she got in the cab she had trousers on like Rupert the Bears and a white sweatshirt. I thought she looked awful but she danced the night away like a good’un and I was the one who felt like a twit who couldn’t get into the groove as I felt too dressed up. I always checked what she was wearing before we went out after that!
I try to find a balance in the way I dress between clothes that I like aesthetically and clothes that I feel comfortable in. I don’t think my comfort-level is influenced by other people, they do however give me inspiration from a more aesthetical point of view. Someone that doesn’t dress in a “standard” way might make me try different colours or shapes or combinations, because I saw it on them and thought it looked interesting. I don’t think this means they are a “safety bag”, just that they inspire you to recreate what you saw, or a feeling this persons outfit gave you. Does that make sense?
Environment influences me a lot, at the moment I’m living in a smallish town in east Germany, and it’s not really fashion Mecca so to speak. It does make me dress down a lot I feel, still I get a lot of comments about the supposed “weirdness” of how I dress. I think this is due mostly to my use of colours – my philosophy when it comes to colour is, the more and brighter the better.
I don’t have a style airbag in any case, few of my friends have any real interest in fashion so it’s always me being the weird one. My sisters are all very stylish, but we all have very different styles and when it comes down to it if I guess I’m more daring.
The problem for me isn’t so much the environment making me want to blend in, it’s just so uninspiring dressing up in a context where no one ever dresses up. It does sometimes take the fun out of it… However, whenever I go back to my hometown I’m back to my old weirdish fashion ways.
I do think that some people need style airbags, because they still lack the confidence to dress as they like on their own. I don’t know, for me this blog is mainly a source of inspiration and delight, not something that makes me “dare” to dress more outrageously. After having heard how many skirts you own though it certainly is a shopping airbag though…
I’ve been thinking around this subject for a while, and only realised what I was thinking after this post. I love fashion, but a male driven office where I am the only girl, not quite “one of the lads” but definitely regarded as asexual, and a supreme fear of ever being cold means that my personal style has changed. I used to have a clothes chum, who I could always rely on wearing something sensational, so I felt less conspicuous when I indulged my fashion whims. My matching friend, as it were. We all moved away after uni, and I’ve found my style has evolved. I no longer want to be noticed for my clothes, I want to be well-dressed but anonymous, and love it when only I know the secrets about what I’m wearing, tailoring, cut etc. I miss my matching friend, but feel quite proud of myself for finding a style that I am comfortable with that doesn’t make me feel under or over-dressed, or hopefully make anyone else feel that way. I’m less adventurous maybe, but more secure in the knowledge that what I’m wearing represents (as far as sartorially possible) me. I could only have done that on my own.
Grace: But then what constitutes dressed-up/laidback exactly…. isn‚Äôt it different for different ppl?
A lady: Thanks for introducing ‚Äòenvironment‚Äô as a factor which is an entirely different discussion altogether but an interesting one which I‚Äôve touched upon in the past I think about city dressing…
The Swelle Life and others who have pointed out that there is nothing wrong with seeing things on other people and thinking a different way as a result: By no means am I criticising those that do! Of course not! These are ponderings that are sort of pushing me to find out about how people bounce ideas off one another when they put together outfits… I have my own ways, other people have their‚Äôs….
Anon: All that fuss over a pair of red shoes? Oh dear… You touch on another matter though…which is style development…. how the course of your style can change and the limitations of how much change you can put in…
The Devil Wears Marc Jacobs: Long may your over-dressing reign!
Decadentdiamond: Actually, my school was more concerned with A*‚Äôs and getting into Oxbridge than bothering with looking at what ppl were wearing…. tragic in a completely different way. I find split toe shoes quite uncomfortable…. which ones do you wear?
Selina: I knew you‚Äôd bring some good POV‚Äôs to the discussion as you frequently bring up anxieties over jeers/abuse when you‚Äôre out and about in Manchester (by the way, I‚Äôm heading up there this weekend so I will see what all the hullaballoo is all about!) I think it‚Äôs a good thing that people will take comfort in the fact that because other people are dressing in a certain way, it gives them a bit of a boost…nothing wrong with that! I‚Äôm strangely detached in that way….
Jael: Office dressing is something I struggle with but I do push the boundaries…. I have different facets to my style in a way that means if I wear something on the weekdays that is a bit more toned down, it isn‚Äôt necessarily restrictive…just a different side of my style….
Jeanne: Thanks *blush* Fashion does make me happy in a way that if I imposed restrictions/fear about other people‚Äôs reactions on myself…. it would really make me depressed…
Kristina: I think it is a very basic thing, forming an opinion of yourself based on other people’s opinions
Thom Wong: Which era of the Radiohead look would you be referring to? 😉
Yulanda: Your grandpa dates sound lovely!
WendyB: Haha… inspiration it is then! I suppose what I‚Äôm getting at is do we need the originator in order to then go out and do our own thing?
Liz: Good point – it is about knowing yourself and having a strong sense of self and what you want to portray with your clothes.
Sarah: Your spectrum certainly does exist though I sometimes wish it didn‚Äôt. Yes people need to be comfortable with what they wear and handling ppl‚Äôs reactions are part of that comfort but if it prevents them from wearing something that they truly love, then it‚Äôs a shame really…
Bigglassesgirl: Good attitude to have!
Kaitlin: I feel very comfortably around my boyf too….pity about dressing down for your friends ‚Äì is that because they don‚Äôt like you dressing up though?
Lola: I get those days too…. moods do affect the outfit…. but most of the time even if I am feeling withdrawn/down, the ONE thing I can rely on is an outfit to perk me up…
Pixiesgirl: I never used music as a guidance but I can see why a lot of people do….. thanks for switching the statement though… you‚Äôre right, nothing will ever be old…. !
Laura: I’m glad you can take inspiration that way!
Noel: Not yet… but I‚Äôll check it out…*intrigued*
Drusilla: Definitely not that crazy a dresser…. quite mundane really…
Launderette: Yes, that‚Äôs what I was getting at…. that people sometimes have to escape to blogs/online to seek comfort…
Bobble Dawn: Sorry to hear you had to tone down for the smaller town…. I always thought it would be nice to live somewhere where your style does stand out. In a city, blending in is all too easy, no matter how ‚Äòcrazy‚Äô you dress.
Raq: My school was the opposite of that…. I can‚Äôt imagine having that sort of peer pressure as well as academic ones…
Super Kawaii Mama: Yes, it is sometimes satisfying isn’t it?
Kim: Wear those bright tights with pride!
Fruchtzwerg: A few other have brought up environment as a factor but really, I do think that relates to physical people and their reactions…. you sound like someone who could be a safety bag for others which is no bad thing!
Iwantaluxlife: Are we talking about full-on golfing type trews?
Eva: Yes, it makes sense ‚Äì we are in fact talking about fundamental inspiration here…I just put a different slant on it!
Pffig: Excellent point and one that I hadn‚Äôt thought of. Living in a fashion ‚Äòdesert‚Äô as it were ‚Äì does this make it less inspiring and less motivating to dress more extrovertly? Must think about that one…as I‚Äôve never lived anywhere but a city…
Lizzie: Glad you‚Äôve found your ‚Äòsuperpower‚Äô style ‚Äì another subject I must ramble on about here… what gives people the style boost…
I was trying to think of something shocking to wear and all I came up with was showing the vagina….but dammit!
Those LA starlets already did that last year!
Hi All,
Great interesting comments.
I post what I’m wearing nearly every day on http://everybodysaysdont.blogspot.com/ I work from home so I don’t have any office guidelines! I often find it quite hard not to wear PJ’s every day, but because a LOVE clothes I do enjoy getting dressed almost every day! I don’t dress like any of my friends (they are on the whole are much more casual than me) They can guess clothes I like often when shopping (dresses, items with ruffles or bows, ballet pumps) where as I never can predict anything they will like! On the whole I shop alone or with my husband. He knows my taste well although once got it VERY wrong with a sweat-shirt that looked appalling on me!
Susie, I think you have made me feel more confident about wearing the clothes I want to. You’ve helped me remember how much I love clothes, I think your enthusiasm has rubbed off on me! Your posts often give me inspiration!! I’ve worn a lot less black since reading style bubble and more layers!!! THANKS SUSIE!!! 🙂
Wow, I know this post got tons of long interesting comments, but I want to add my 2 cents in anyway 😛
All I know is that it’s true, seeing unique different outfits put together by all kinds of people that you can through fashion blogs, gives (me anyway) a wider view of “what looks good”. You see something different from the boring ‘norm’ and it encourages you to play more with your outfits. That’s what I think anyway, even though I think red jeans are the most “inventive” I’ve been! :p
I think I read other fashion blogs, especially the ones that showcase their own personal style, as a bit of a style airbag. Though, I think it becomes more of a subconscious thing. I don’t go around thinking “oh, well, I saw such and such layer a billion different bottoms so I can do it too,” it just seems like I’m inspired by other’s courage to try something differenet. I think it is also a contagious thing. If you see someone take a risk and it works, then you are more likely to take a risk of your own (whether it has to do with fashion or not).
Susie, In my real life I don’t have a style airbag as most of my friends really don’t care about fashion in the way that I do, but I definitly use fashion blogs/ mags as style airbags, and draw huge inspiration from you and others in the virual world. But I have to say there is one area I’m just drawing a huge blank on and would love to see a little more fashion related blog/mag coverage on – Wedding dresses, I’m going to have to choses one soon well by next year at least and not being of the WAG-Princess persuation I just have no idea – so I was wondering what your and your fellow bloggers take is on the whole wedding dress thing?
I’ve thought about this question a lot, so thanks for bringing this up. I’m going just the opposite on this. While I will not consciously free my dressing choices because I have a friend who dresses against the norm, I will definitely dress down if I’m going out with a group of conservatively dressed colleagues/friends. By ‘dressing down’ I mean outfits which are normally acceptable, which would fall into either a sharper look or girly details. The reasons for this stems down to the need for the outfit to be appropriate to suit the event, as well as the possibility of being judged by people who do not know you well.
I believe you’ve mentioned that work-wise the Susie style has to be toned down just a notch or two, and as Fruchtzwerg pointed out, there is always the environment factor to be considered.
I think a lot of it has to do with all these women‚Äôs fashion/lifestyle magazines and sites that rip celebrities to shreds for what they wear. I know women who’ve stopped buying/wearing certain items as a result of things they’ve read in these mags, taking the inherent logic to the extreme.
But I think that‚Äôs one of the things that singles people like Susie out – they have a strong sense of personal style and they aren’t afraid of that.
Following trends is safer and requires less thought but its also less fun and less expressive.
Environment also plays a big part though of course. Not only in terms of dress codes or feeling that you’re dressed appropriately for your job/the event/task in hand. I’ve found if I’m somewhere I’m unhappy or uncomfortable my style starts to vanish – I gradually become more muted and my outfits more basic.
I think in my case the closest I would come to a style ‘airbag’ would probably be friends who make me feel comfortable, and anyone who inspires me to experiment with something new.
i think you are really really ugly! :]
I’ve never thought about that.. I guess I am a bit of an airbag. And I also seem to pare down the fashion when with people that wouldn’t ‘get it’. But surely everybode bounces off each other? ‘Inspiration’ is a word that most people claim to have had, isn’t this a form of indirect copying? And no, not everything works for everybody, but isn’t that the point of personal style, that everybody dresses differently and if they like it then it doesn’t really matter?
This is an insanely interesting topic!
I for one, grew up in Miami, surrounded by very “Miami” fashion, which is very unique to its region. I have always had a keen eye for what I like and what I want to look like for certain events and outings. to the point were I plan so in advance and my friends think I am nuts.
That being said, when I moved to Orlando, FL I found my style becoming subdued and more common in order to fit in a bit better. Once I realized that this was happening and snapped out of it. Although, I hang with girls that swear by jeans, black shirts, and in my opinion boring shoes, I wear what I want to wear. I am usually more dressed and put together then they are, but I find that makes me their “fashion punching bag” which is fine with me. I have to feel comfortable and I know that jeans and black shirts just won’t do it for me. To even add to it it, my husband would be more then happy if I wore jeans and t-shirts with no makeup, all the time.
I almost feel like because those around me are not as into fashion as I am, that I strive to look better, wear what I want, and feel great about it. Its almost like a lil internal challenge for me.
Ooh what a good post and great comments. I’m a bit older and have settled into a style that I think is ‘me’ (androgynous, practical, kind of APC-meets-Helmut Lang) but sometimes feels boring. I’m past the experimental stage and often feel anything quirky will make me look muttony. If my friends were more out-there in their dress I think I’d probably use them as my air bags but as they’re as safe as me, I stick to what I know. A shame really, I must try harder!
I just realized the comment with my name-link got screwed up and was posted under someone elses name so I was confused when I was addressed on one of the comments. Anyway just wanted to point that out i guess since it links to my street style site.
my friend said the exact same thing to me the other day! i’ve never really let what my friends dress like affect me, but i get the feeling they feel able to dress a bit crazier around me, like you i don’t dress the way i do to stand out, i just like experimenting with clothes, they’re meant to be fun, for me anyway, i am the crazy/fairy/odd girl in manchester, and i get the feeling i always will be as london’s too big for that, although i have been spotted a few times there too apparently!
i got a hilarious “what she wearing that for?” comment from some old bint today, layered in fake tan and pleather…how ironic
I’ve never thought about it. I probably do rely on others to be more adventurous than I am, then I, in turn, become more adventurous. If I look at the other side, I can say that my sister always tries harder when she’s around me. Does that make me adventurous? I suppose it’s relative.
This is a great post, and very provocative if the number of comments you’ve got is any measure of provocative.
Susie – I only wear Irregular Choice Split toe ones, do you wear them without socks? I wear mine with tabi socks, so much better! It can start off being a bit uncomfy, but I quickly get used to it… (and apparently split toe shoes are ‘better’, as then your toes don’t rub against each other as much. I made a blog post about 2 weeks ago about one of my pairs actually!
http://decadentdiamond.blogspot.com/2008/03/irregular-choice-photography.html