Style ~ Dec 26th, 2009

They say that everyone has their own sense of style... even if the style is sweats and grubby sneakers. Most people do make a semi-conscious decision about what they put on their bodies every morning, and few actually aim to look bad. We call those people goth, and they obviously have personal style, even if a silly one.

Okay, okay, I am teasing. Goth really is not so terrible... black usually is becoming, and layering is nice. Maybe in my next life I will be goth.

Anyway, in THIS life, I am really not sure what my personal style is. I have been glancing at the satorialist and, sadly, know that I would never make it there. Even if I do not know what my style is, apparently others do.

Recently, a co-worker sent out an email offering up a "vintage-style brown leather coat". I am not anti-hand-me-downs and I have been wanting to get rid of my tan pea-coat, which has always been a shade too small, especially during the holidays when I am filled up with cookies AND wearing sweaters. Anyway, I went to check out the coat. It is a full-length brown shearling jacket. The inside is fully lined with sheep (baaaaa) and the collar is... I dont know what it is... but furry. When I saw it, I thought, "that is so not me... but I like it!" And with that, I accepted the jacket.

Two days later, I wore the jacket into school. Two of my co-worker friends dropped their jaws. The first one said, "Ew, that better not be real!" (ahh, the perils of working in the science dept!) The second one said, "That is SO not you, so not your style!" I shrugged and told them it was warm and I liked it... the first co-worker later said she was a bit jealous of it (I think she felt better knowing it was like a 70's era jacket and I did not kill the sheep myself) and the second seems to have gotten used to it. At least, she stopped giving me quizzical looks about it.

This whole miniscule event got me thinking about my style. Why would they be so shocked to see me in this full-length leather coat with fur (maybe real, maybe not?) collar?

I do have a few rules, but most apply to color. I will list them in order of terribleness: worst to most tolerable.

1. brown + black = no no! Tan and black is okay... brown and black with other colors added in with lots of pattern... also okay. Chocolate brown pants and a black shirt? NO. Brown pants and black shoes? Negative. Brown skirt and black top? Are you trying to kill me?

2. Navy blue + black = ick. There is a point on the blue scale of colors at which it becomes wrong to wear with black. The only thing that is sufferable would be navy blue pants and black shoes. I can deal, but would rather the shoes be brown. Black pants and navy top make me cringe, as does the reverse.

3. blue shirts + blue jeans = wrong. I love blue, I really do. But if you are wearing a blue shirt too close to the color of your blue jeans, you basically look like one big cookie monster in my eyes and my brain registers 80's! in a big neon sign. I can tolerate it okay but its really not preferable.

4. orange/yellow + black = halloween/bumblebee. If you are wearing black pants or a black skirt... choose another color for your top, for my own sake. If you do not, that is okay... no lie, the colors go nicely together.... but I will be thinking that you look like halloween or a bumble bee. As long as you do not mind that, go ahead.

And, its funny, but somehow this ties into my texture issues with food. (ex: mashed potatoes are gross, french fries and chips are great! Semi-soft caramel in chocolates are bad, but really soft is yummy. Hard butterscotch candies are delicious but do not put hot butterscotch on my ice cream.) The feeling I get when I eat something of a wrong texture is the same as I get from seeing those colors together... on myself ANd on other people.

I have another rule which I am not sure the terms of, and it relates to how colors are displayed on the body. For example... I would have no problem wearing a plain dark green shirt with khakis (although that does make me feel like a tree). Yet, I would not wear the same dark green shirt with a pair of medium-washed blue jeans. Unless maybe I had a lighter color over top of it. So, I am not quite sure how that works. I also would not wear the dark green shirt with chocolate brown pants (too much like a tree), yet I might wear it with grey. This is one that does not bother me about other people, it only applies to me, and I do not have it all quite figured out yet.

As far as WHAT I will wear... I guess I am more preppy than anything else, but I think of myself as pretty boring. Plain pants. Solid color t shirts or sweaters. My only pseudo-style pieces are my fingerless gloves and my scarves. And I have to tell you, I started with the fingerless gloves nearly 2 years ago. If you spend 8 hours a day in a cold cubicle in front of a computer, you want them. And you know where I got the idea from? My uncle Jimmy - the one in the wheelchair - who has been rocking the fingerless glove thing since before I was born. I had to laugh as I recently was looking through etsy.com... So many people were selling fingerless gloves "like the one Alice wears in Twilight!" Yeah, uh huh, you can thank me for that trend. ;) Actually, you can thank Uncle Jim. Apparently I am somewhat known at work as the girl with the fingerless gloves. Nameless, which is my preference around there anyway. :/

As far as scarves go... I got my first one at 18. I stole it from Jon and wore it constantly. In the past few years, I have become more of a scarf junkie, getting at least 6 of them in 2009. And yes, I wear one almost every day... and do not really hesitate to wear them in the summer either. Warm neck and warm wrists mean a warm me.

So other than scarves and gloves, I do not have much going on. Cept the coat now, I guess. My hair is either down or up. I rarely wear earrings. I change my necklaces a bit, but they are all thin, delicate, and understated. I rarely change my rings because I have my wedding rings and my great great grandmothers ring.

And then there is the issue of belts. I really ought to wear belts more often since low-rise pants are continually showing off my butt crack... but for some reason, I do not. My favorite belt is black with silver studs... but, again, thought of as incongruous with this non-definitive "style" that I have.

Ultimately, it would be kind of fun to have a personal style... to be fashion forward. Its nothing vane... I do not seek a style so that i look and am "fabulous". Fashion is just sort of fun, and if I am spending x amt of dollars on clothing anyway, why not seek little pieces of fashion that are functional as well? I have mostly subsisted on functional clothing... but I think it is time to find some clothes that are fun to wear as well.

This whole post probably seems really narcissistic. It isn't. I am not sure how to convince you of that, so you will just have to trust me if you are questioning it at all.

I think perhaps my mind is just changing on the whole subject of fashion. Sure, a lot of it is really empty, really vacuous. (uh, the fashion industry, not my brain!) But I think maybe I am starting to see the artistic side of dressing up a body. I think bodies are really beautiful to start off with... every shape, every size, every color... and then to dress those shapes up is kinda fun.

So perhaps that will be one of my resolutions for 2010: have a little more fun with what I am wearing and try to figure out what my style is.

Other resolutions:

- no chocolate. And I don't mean the color, I mean the food. Even dematologists say that chocolate does not cause pimples, but they have never used me in their studies.

- start working out... my friends and I are signed up for aikido, so we will see how that goes

- get more serious about photography - I love taking pictures, and I have a little project in mind. It requires a lot more dedication (and blogging) than I am sure I am ready for, but I am going to try.