I think we can all agree that my sense of style is fairly . . .
grandpa-esque.
That being said, I wouldn't say there's anything particularly dated about it.
It's oversized, true. And tweedily textural,
double true.
But I'd like to think that with some overly-long hair, red lipstick, white high-heeled shoes, and exorbitantly high and luxuriously tight pants, I make it my own.
Which brings me to today's topic for overthought:
When is inspiration inspiration, and when is it just copycatting?
Let's take, for example, famed Zara skort. Were you inspired by an image of said skort? Did you then go and purchase said skort, and proceed to wear said sort with a pair of pointy-toed heels or Nike Free sneakers or a sportswear-esque ensemble in order to mimic, in some manner, your favorite blogger or street style star's style?
Yes?
Then how did you make it your own?
I'm not challenging you (I've obviously done my fair share of being "inspired"), I'm only openly asking to see if you did, indeed, need to re-interpret the skort, or if the skort scenarios you had previously witnessed already fulfilled your own sense of style so fully so as not to need re-interpreting?
And if this is the case, is this sense of style really your own , or is it just one appealing prototype contagiously derived from one aspirational individual? Is your brain narrower for having seen it?
What if the internet didn't exist. What if said skort was just a single piece seen in a small boutique? Do you think you'd be inclined to wear it in the same way?
Do you think you'd be inclined to even buy it at all?
I guess my question is: Is inspiration inspirational, or is it suffocational?
Word? No.
Sentiment? Certainly.
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| pants: Love Zooey via Iona, blazer: Zara, shoes: Tildon via Nordstrom (cool ones), tee: Everlane, necklace: C. Alexandria via Iona, rings: Karen London (on sale!) & Alexandra Beth Designs |
Cheers.
Photos by Matt Engelhart
I've always wondered about this - why we like what we like. And at first I, too, thought that it was solely because we saw it on someone we aspire to be/look up to/want to be like, and on some deep, subconscious level it reassured "our own" sense of style, which you say isn't really our own if we copy it from people we see.
ReplyDeleteBut then I look at certain bloggers/celebrities/etc. and some of the bizarre outfits they wear all in the sake of fashion - and they get praised for it, mind you - but I would never, ever, ever wear something like that no matter how "stylish" or "modern" or whatever it is.
All that to say, the eye likes what it likes, and if I bought the Zara skort, I'd never wear it with sneakers.
Gahhh I hate those Zara skorts! I actually saw it in store before it was hyped, saw the hype potential, tried them on and then decided it looked like I was wearing diapers, had a laugh and put them back on the rack, hoping to never see them again.
ReplyDeleteAnd then it was all over the internet! Ruining every outfit that would have been very pretty otherwise or being very appropriate in every outfit that was consisting of overly hyped items anyway.
It's a shame that a lot of people just copy each other. I prefer to see bloggers with their own style, or at least incorporating a hype/trend into their own style. I like to think that's what I do.
xoxo Iris
A DASH OF FASH
Being inspired by and copying is a fine line. People may see a mannequin at a store styled a specific way or a model in a magazine and strive to achieve the same look, maybe even buy the same shoe or skirt - is that considered copying? No to me. But in blogland, if two completely random people may have the same idea about wearing a striped skirt with a denim shirt, then suddenly one person MUST be copying the other. I don't know, I guess it's just such a hard thing to judge (granted if a blogger should copy another blogger's look pretty much head-to-toe, then well ...)
ReplyDelete