How to Fake Fashion Week

Last year, when I decided I would start writing more seriously on this blog, I wrote down a personal goal of making it to Fashion Week the following season. Three seasons later, I still haven’t made it (not that I’m bitter or anything). Considering we’re half way through Fashion Month, I thought this was a more than appropriate topic to discuss today. Fashion is a funny paradox – it brings together great communities of creative people but it also creates exclusive circles that make fashion inaccessible to normal people. The epitome of that exclusivity is Fashion Week. Without the power of followers or knowing the right people in the industry, your chances of getting into Fashion Week are pretty slim. But the again, maybe I didn’t struggle enough to get into shows through the back entrance or crash parties to meet the right people.

Either way, I just didn’t feel like rushing to gain more followers or trying to connect to people I don’t care about just so I could get into a show – yay for meritocracy. However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t get to enjoy Fashion Week – I just created my own. So here is a comprehensive guide for how to fake Fashion Week and have just as much fun.

1.                    Mornings won’t be the same for the duration of ‘fake Fashion Week’. You’ll have to walk to your preferred mode of transportation, your desk or toilet as if 50 street style photographers are following you at every step. Watch exhibit A.

                                         

  

2.                    Leading on from point 1, you don’t have to change your usual underground commute or bus and you don’t have to tag #uber_nyc in every single Instagram post. #TfL worked just as well for me and dare I say it was more efficient than Uber could have been. See exhibit B.

3.                    Fake Fashion Week means you will never be late for a show AND you will always have a guaranteed front row seat. Watch exhibit C.

4.                    You will avoid every moment of panic because your party outfit wasn’t delivered on time. Your pyjamas will always be there for you. See exhibit D.

5.                    Finally, you will still get paid at the end of the month because who can just go around and hang out at shows and still be able to make a living out of it?

Can boyfriend jeans come back in fashion?

Does anyone remember the time boyfriend jeans were a thing?

Lately, fashion has been all about the mum jean – vintage mum jeans, fringed mum jeans, acid wash mum jeans, you name it. Topshop tried to introduce the Girlfriend jean a while back but they’ve since renamed it the ‘straight jean’ so I’m guessing that didn’t work too well for them and ASOS even calls their skinny jeans ‘mum jeans’ because it’s cool.

However, in a sea of mum jeans, inspired by this Chriselle Lim photo, I did the unimaginable and put my old pair of Zara boyfriend jeans back on this weekend. Five years ago, these were the hottest clothing trend out there – one I was sucked into straight away. The funny thing is they’re 3 sizes bigger because that was the only way I could get them to look like actual boyfriend jeans and they are what I was wearing in my first blog post ever – here.

Somehow they seem to not fit me as well anymore, nor go with any of the other items in my wardrobe but I still keep them because of the nostalgia I get when I wear them (usually for a quick grocery run). Boyfriend jeans in general give me a very funny feeling – they’re probably the least attractive pair of trousers you are ever going to wear yet they have something undeniably cool about them.

No one wears boyfriend jeans anymore (or do you?) and there’s a slight possibility that no one will ever again (or will you?) but boyfriend jeans are a trend that I think will remain in our hearts forever.

If you want to bring back the boyfriend jean please let me know how you style and love them and I’m up for writing a petition.  

Can Habit Hurt in Fashion?

            Habit is one of those things that can be either good or bad depending on how you decide to look at it.  If you decide to pass on the wonder that is a Char Siu bun because you’re afraid of trying anything unfamiliar, habit has held you back. On the other hand, finding the optimal route to get to work in the morning and sticking to it can give you 5 precious minutes of sleep back. Other times habit is just the most practical way to go about things, no matter how hard Apple fans try to convince you that removing the headphone jack was thinking ahead of the curve and not just a ploy to get more money from people.

This summer, after a few days of trotting around Paris and as I was walking around Versailles, my favourite pair of sandals decided to break irreparably. I’d had these sandals for more than 6 years, which is longer than all the relationships I’ve had in my life cumulated. Needless to say, I was heartbroken. More so, I was convinced I would never be able to find a pair as perfect as those again.

The moment I got back to London I took to the interweb to find myself a pair that would come even marginally close to my beloved Nine West sandals. The closest I managed to get to was a Zara pair that was discounted from £59.99 to a meagre £16 so you might say it was destiny. 

Now, a few months later, I’m convinced that I was right. No other pair of sandals will come close to my old sandals. They will all fit, look and wear differently. But what I have come to realise is that there is nothing wrong with this. I wore my new sandals with a vintage skirt I stole from my mum and a white shirt I've owned for another trillion years and they almost felt like they belonged there. Sometimes we attach so much significance to the things we own that we don’t realise that it's okay to let go. My new sandals might not be able to fill the gap the old ones left but I am looking forward to getting to love them just as much for how they fit instead. 

Tie them up, push them down - finding new ways of wearing and loving my Zara sandals.