A recent interview with Hannah Murray in Pop magazine, aka the girl who plays Cassie from Skins (oi, oi, oi season 2 has been raised up a notch so if you were skeptical wating the first, I’d re-check it out) brought out a memorable quote about the white sunglasses she wore quite a bit in the first season
Those white specs were very on-trend.
‘Oh, I don’t know anything about on-trend. Someone did tell me they were a bit “Kurt Cobain meets Marc Jacobs”. I pretended to know what they were talking about.’
Murray wears a lot of her own clothes on the show and from the few public events, it’s clear she has a very set idea of her own style. Yet from this quote, it seems she has an unawareness of ‘fashion’ as we know it and as we harp on about on this blog. She’s drawn to sheer tulle things, dropped waisted sequin flapper dresses, excessive plastic accesories and vintage sailor toops/dresses which I’d say were quite stylish in a distinctive way. However, by wearing her dropped waisted sequin flapper dress, she’s not trying to making reference/allusion to this season’s John Galliano because she is unaware. She simply likes what she likes and the result is that she comes off as looking someone who is ‘into fashion’ the way most readers are here….
Then again….’most readers’ might be a generalisation in itself as I receive emails from people saying they don’t know anything about designers but they’re still drawn to reading the blog and commenting on clothes, outfits and designs from a PURELY aesthetic point of view – i.e. ‘That looks so cool/nice/stylish!’ as opposed to a more name-laden, labelled view e.g. ‘That is very Balenciaga SS08!’.
I don’t feel guilty about ‘knowing’ fashion i.e. the labels, the references and all that schtick but I’m fully aware that there are a million ways to be ‘into fashion’ or perhaps ‘into style’ if you prefer the latter term and take that to mean something that is more relevant to you and the way you dress. It’s not Trivial Pursuits. Knowing every collection like it is the back of your hand isn’t going to automatically translate into being ‘one up’ in the fashion ladder. It is those that are completely unaware of the ‘official realms’ of fashion that fascinate me. That they have an instinctiveness about them that can’t be explained. They know how to put different skirts together and make some fab colour combo work but it’s not because they were shackled with catwalk knowledge. I’m sure you wonders exist out there and it is to you, that I apologise and say that I might harp on a bit about all that designer malarky but at the end of the day, it is fundamentally about making ourselves happy with clothes and being drawn to garments in an inexplicable way.
So back to Hannah Murray. If we were ever to meet…we may not have a conversation about why Miu Miu AW08-9 was a bit of an oddball that we’re still trying to get our heads around. But I have a feeling we would have a lovely time taking a gander in Cornucopia in Pimlico (which is another London vintage gem that will be closed later on this year….) and find some floral tea dresses to flounce about in.
We’ve only just recently received Skins here in Australia and I’m totally digging Cassies style!
I just noticed this in your Daily mail:
http://tiny.cc/z1g1e
Is this a fair representation of how most girls dress in the UK??
I’ll be brief and just reply with a big fat NO!
For quite some time her clothes was the main reason I watched Skins. I adore clothes that are or look like they might be from the 20’s, 30’s or early 40’s but I’m having trouble finding them here in Sweden. Don’t know if I should give Ebay a go, are the shipping costs astronomical or bearable?
I love Cassie! To be honest, I’ve never gotten all the fuss over Blair waldorf in Gossip Girl, since to me, Cassie>Blair, any day :).
That said, it’s quite something to hear about such an instinctive take on style (which is, at the heart of it, what style is about- she sounds like the kind of girl who’d rather imagine herself into a character when dressing up, than fix on a particular ‘fashion’ label (i.e. seasons, labels, the whole caboodle).
I’m addicted to skins and Cassie is definitely my favourite character. Her style is really inspiring, I love it.
I so agree. We’re bombarded by photos of celebrities wearing head to toe designer gear, but are they fabulous just because they can afford it and are fortunate enough to have outfits sent directly to them? (Never mind the celeb stylists’ assembly-line approach to dressing their clients!) It’s quite endearing that Hannah Murray has no qualms about admitting her fashion ignorance. I hope she can maintain it, it works!
Season 2 of Skins is mediocre at best… I don’t think it was ever going to be as great as the first. The cinematography is topnotch this time ’round but that’s about it…Cassie used to be my favourite character. Lately she’s lost all her charm.
I love Cassie so much. Series 2 of Skins is getting better and better…she is so crazy. I think her fashion has toned down a little recently though…she is just wearing sheets and stuff cos she is depressed.
oh, Cassie has always been my favorte.
I adore her gold/white dresses against her skin and hair.
also, in the opening of skins, she is wearing grey socks and i really want that episode to hurry up.
“It is those that are completely unaware of the ‘official realms’ of fashion that fascinate me. That they have an instinctiveness about them that can’t be explained.”
I love you for this post.
I feel like that all the time, but mind you, I go to a fashion school, and I feel alienated all the time.
<3 Yesenia
haven’t seen that show, but great line 🙂
ohmagawd! i luuuuurve hannah murray! she is totally chawesome in skins! and i luurve cassie’s style. i live in the states and i can only watch skins on youtube but the show is mad chawesome!
i love herrr! she is soo cuteee love skins so true about second season not as good as the first but shes my favorite character!
This is why I get so annoyed with comments that those of us who live in the middle of the US don’t know about fashion. You’d be hard pressed to find people who know designers, and why should they? It’s not like any of that stuff is sold in Lincoln, NE or Grand Rapids, MI. But I’ve met plenty of people who have figured out who they are and how to express it with clothes.
I love Cassie too :] And Hannah Murray seems like such a sweet girl in reality, with such an amazing natural style.
Series 1 of Skins was better, but its still a great show.
Shame she’s leaving… 🙁
AMAZING post. and so so true!
my reaction to seeing hannah murray get facetime on this blog was very cassie-like. I was all ‘like, wow!’-ing myself!
Her lovely tea dresses make up for the rest of the blatant nu-ravey ness that is the other girls too. Ana Brewster from Nearly Famous was almost as good in a Tenenbaum-y way(i think she was in the Ben Sherman campaign too?) but alas its been bungled. I feel like buying lots of tea dresses right now!
I do adore her style even though sometimes I find it a bit Topshoppy (Me thinks I need to get over my personal issues with Topshop)….. I like how comfortable and effortless she looks in her outfits……her personal style really suits her Skins character well…
Thanks for this post……im soooo paying a visit to Cornucopia!!!
Cassie does have the best style on Skins! (and season 2 is way beter than season 1!) She always looks right and comfortable wearing her little vintage slips and odd jewelry.
ditto Yesenia’s comment!…well, the first four lines anyway.
Love this post. Cassie is the greatest, I actually think the all cast is excellent. They are all so refreshing, I adore the way that the style reflects the personality of each character not an idea of what a celebrity stylist thinks teens should wear. I do not get Gossip Girl also, I think everything about that series is revolting and that includes their clothes.
Re: the first season vs. second season – I think there were some cliches played out in the first one and the acting was a also a bit off the mark…but the second season, it seems there’s more depth and they’re taking risks which might not mean it’s gonna be 100% easy-to-watch but it’s certainly more interesting…
Re: Gossip vs. Skins – Just two wildly different shows that can’t even compare. One is an exaggerated fantasy that is a little hammy… the other is trying to depict reality that is successful one some levels but not completely.
Re: Cassie leaving the show – WHAT?!? Oh dear….
Re: The main topic of the post which was knowing style as opposed to fashion – well I think I distracted the post a little with my Hannah Murray loving but I’m glad there’s a few out there that hopefully understand that whilst I may go on about designers, it isn’t by any means the only way of being into fashion… hopefully we’ll get more commentors who perhaps feel like they know style and don’t necessatily think catwalk knowledge is all that useful/great…would be good to see the perspective of another type of fashion lover…
This will sound SO cynical and sort of off topic, I don’t mean it to, but I just have to say this..!
She says “I have no clue about fashion” and people are like “YAY! Finally!”…
But I just wonder…it’s just when I read what she said, I just have visions of hipster/indie types that I’ve known who claim that in order to garner some kinda cred.
I mean I am totally all for the whole “knowing what you like for liking it sake”.
I’d just rather be super knowledgeable about EVERYTHING, then to be “out of the loop”. It’s not so much about labeling or being “so fashion” as it is to really love and appreciate the artistic merits of others.
Coz at the end of the day, that’s what high fashion is : art and not just a label on some hastily thrown together threads.
Not that I’m dissing her! I just hate when people claim to be ignorant about more “commercial” fashion, because it’s deemed… shallow and not as important by them, when… they’re missing the WHOLE point of what they say they believe in – their “love” for real art.
I’m totally not ashamed to know what seasons inspire what look and also what I like OUT of those looks!
Asha: Some good points but in this particular case, I don’t think it’s Hannah Murray saying fashion is shallow therefore she hates it…she may just be genuinely disinterested and unaware.
What I’m trying to say is that if you are unaware and you haven’t a clue about what designer is what, that doesn’t automatically mean that you can’t love fashion. It’s just a different way of loving it.
The ol’ ‘Is fashion art?’ question is quite a tired question and I’d answer it with a simple ‘Fashion CAN be art’ because to say all facets of fashion is art just can’t be true.
Hence why I added the further distinction that for some people, it’s about knowing STYLE because if they take interest in clothes for the pure reasons of developing their own personal style then in a way they are still engaging with fashion…just in a different way…
Of course you’re right though… there are SOME people are deem fashion as somewhat shallow and of course it isn’t about labels sewn onto some threads, which some people view as ‘the evils of fashion’….
Hannah’s vibe is very much a Bristol trend and reflects lots of the girls she was at school with in Cotham. By an large an unpretentious easy going lot who benefitted from being at a comp that had perfroming arts status.
Your piece on her and therefore knowledge verus ‘just being’ is a timely reminder of enjoyment. You (one) can enjoy all aspects of fashion and art – no two of us will agree on all things. Your (this time you!) blog is fantastic because for me it provides great and useful information for my work but alos if stimulates me – the eyes are openend the mind is challenged. The joy of someone like Hannah is the lack fo knowledge adnjust wanting to look nice or liking certain things. Hurrah for both study and form.
Hannah’s vibe is very much a Bristol trend and reflects lots of the girls she was at school with in Cotham. By an large an unpretentious easy going lot who benefitted from being at a comp that had perfroming arts status.
Your piece on her and therefore knowledge verus ‘just being’ is a timely reminder of enjoyment. You (one) can enjoy all aspects of fashion and art – no two of us will agree on all things. Your (this time you!) blog is fantastic because for me it provides great and useful information for my work but alos if stimulates me – the eyes are openend the mind is challenged. The joy of someone like Hannah is the lack fo knowledge adnjust wanting to look nice or liking certain things. Hurrah for both study and form.
I think that’s one of the great things about liking fashion – you can appreciate the way thinks look, or you can delve deeper and discover why it’s that way – who the designer was, what their influences were, etc.
I’m happy in my own little bubble not knowing a thing about designing clothes or what designers made clothes. I enjoy your blog as I can still admire the clothes, like you said, but I also feel like I’m learning things from your huge knowledge of the fashion world. 🙂
I think at some point, even from both inside and outsider fashion viewpoints, it all really comes down to how the clothes look, and everyone can appreciate that 🙂
I agree that it’s refreshing to hear about a star who isn’t label obsessive, and I do love Cassie’s style on skins. However, it does bother me a bit when actors from tv or film get the majority of the credit for their character’s (or even their own) personal style. I am a costume designer and know the designers for skins and they have a lot to do with the way everyone dresses, and i think in this case especially they’ve done an amazing job. but skins is far from the only guilty party; loads of celebrities can all thank the day they hired a stylist then suddenly became the next big thing.
that being said, Hannah Murrary does wear clothes well, and i think her look and personality really allow her to pull off anything to the point where it doesn’t matter if it’s designer or not.
^
that’s interesting. I wonder why they keep saying it’s mostly her clothes then?
Anyway, as you know, I don’t like Skins at all and I forced myself to watch part of an episode and it was terrible. I’m not sure I agree with everything you said. I think essentially what you’re talking about it those who are born with a natural gift for style but aren’t interested in the industry aspect of it and I don’t think appreciating fashion from this perspective is better than any other (maybe you weren’t saying this?). I just can’t imagine loving style and embracing it but not knowing anything else about it or how the industry functions but….I guess that’s me!
oh yeah… i was like that before i started blogging. but now that i keep an eye on what’s going on…. it’s hard not to know.
but i don’t see what’s wrong with knowing what’s going on with fashion. as if being uneducated about style somehow makes you more brilliant? i don’t know…
Of course that is not what I’m saying – that liking fashion with lots of knowledge is terrible…. and that being into fashion but being unaware is loads better!
I’m simply acknowledging that there ARE more ways of being into fashion and it’s ‘fascinating’ to me as someone who is into fashion but laden with knowledge/facts etc to see things from a different perspective.
Well, I like how people who don’t necessarily have and extent fashion knowledge can still have an amazing style.
It seemed that she had a sweet taste that’s very Erin Fetherson/Jovovich-Hawk.
I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized that I totally go the John Galliano refernece and how odd the Miu Miu collection was. Were they going for cycleist chic…?
im lost as to who/what hannah murray or skins is, assuming thats a UK thing.
but im both into style and into fashion. but the fashion im into, is because of the style im into. for ex: balenciaga’s jackets from fall blew my mind, the weird floral print dresses for spring, not so much. but thats because floral print dresses arent the style im into.
I have to say I identify with her. And even now, with regular reading of lots of fashion and style blogs, names of designers and which season was known for what still go over my head.
I mean, I know florals are going to be everywhere and can even recall a few runway looks and ad campaigns that heavily featured them–but somehow the designer’s name never quite sinks in. I’d guess it’s because I know I’ll never personally by any Prada, Lanvin or Balenciega but I love seeing what those upper echelons are doing and what actually trickles down to someone like me.
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