Messy Nomad

Eureka!  It has finally hit me!  I can now attribute my love of layers and general ‘much-ness’ to wanting to wear all the things I buy.  It’s a terrible trait I know and for the new season, everything must decrease and unfold.  I used to say that I layer because it’s essential in the climate of good ol’ Blighty but thats only partially true.  No, the confession comes out.  I’m not selective enough with my clothes and love them all like the darlings that they are.  I call it being a messy style nomad – going everywhere, seeing too much, shopping anywhere, wearing everything.  Each time I return from Paris, the city does force me to do a self-style assessment but more so after fashion week when the chic and preened take over the rues and boulevards.  But as ever, the assessment is short lived since I end up thinking ‘But I want to wear what I want to wear’ and if that involves the layers, the over-ness of it all then so be it.  I hold up my hands and say that I do what I do, I like what I like and it’s high time that any self-doubt is banished.  Other people may deride, laugh and criticise but from now, more than ever, I shall have to hold my head up high and say ‘Yes, this is me – layers, strangeness, everything and all.’ 

15 comments

  1. I’m glad you hold your head up high Susie, and you must be happy as well you don’t live in Paris, non? 😉
    In London colours and ‘weirdness’ is generally more accepted no-one really looks at you..
    But you are one of the girls I would look at on the tube because you dare to go out like that!

  2. yeah! I found myself wondering about this same issue this afternoon in the topshop changing rooms… in the middle of changing I caught sight of myself, minus the half dozen usual layers and just at the essential basics, a long sleeved tee and skinnys – I was pleasantly shocked at my very minimalistic appearance. But I think all the layering, at least for me, is also some kind of protective thing – I pondered, very briefly, the possibility of actually keeping to this new sleek, minimal look but it just felt a little scary, a little over exposed…
    plus that Facehunter pic is fab – I’d always imagined him as a scarily cool kind of guy but he just looks like such a sweetie 🙂

  3. your commentary on fashion is both well-written and accessible but yes, your own personal style is a bit ‘much’ i think. your individual pieces lose meaning when they get combined with each other in droves.
    simplification is key.

  5. I’m a girl who likes simplicity where possible (but it’s hard not to layer in Scotland since it’s freezing all the bloody time!) but I can totally understand loving clothes so much you MUST wear them. I’m like that when I buy something new that I adore – I want to wear it right there and then! I think your style is reflective of your age too, you are young and having fun with clothes and experimenting. I think the older you get you start to strip away a few layers and let more individual pieces ‘breathe’ as it were. At least I did. I was the same as you 10 years ago – young and fearless!

  7. Isn’t that what *true* personal style is all about? I say go for it – you always look fantastic and, moreover, you are an original which is more than you can say about a lot of women in the fashion industry. It’s obvious that your outfits are selected because they make you happy, not because you feel that others would approve of it. I love looking at photos at the Sartorialist, but I’m starting to feel like many of those lovely and stylish women dress essentially the same. So keep doing what you’re doing.

  8. I think you style is great, but that is only if you wear something you want! I think that people only look great if they are happy about what they are wearing. And about the layers, love them!

  9. Oh Susie, ignore all the leers or askance, walk with praise. There is nothing in the world more valuable than originality and individuality. I utterly understand the urge to preen yourself with your whims, but people are just bemused by your whims, and asks “WHY!?!?!”
    You are young, vivid, and brilliant.
    All the people visits your blog because it is YOU.

  11. Les Parisiennes are, to put it bluntly, boring. Although you occasionally come across the odd stylish lady if you’re in the right part of town, I got fed up with the boring jeans-sweater-trainers combo that most french girls opt for. If you go to clubs such as La Tryptique you’ll see the odd scenester trying to cultivate the British indie “look” but they don’t have the adventurousness that London scenesters have…(the ability to pick something hideous up in a charity shop and make it work) the French are still very conservative in many ways and God knows, they stare. London is a sanctuary after Paris.

  13. Such a lovely post.
    Go, on carry on being a messy nomad!
    S xx
    PS, Mm, not so sure that parisiennes are “boring”, though Rhiannon. OK, I’ve only been once, but I think thats rather a bit generalisation to make. I love the chic put-togetherness of it all, even if I stick to the unclassic approach, myself.

  14. Don’t change your style! Layering is the way to go!
    I love layering as well. Part of it is is due to my trying to wear more wear out of my clothes, part of it is because layering adds definition to the more “boring” pieces. It’s a fun thing to do, too–every time I get dressed, it feels like I’m putting together a challenging puzzle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but you never know until you try it.

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