what a platform (pardon the pun) to write my first fly..... MTV top 1000 greatest songs of all time is on, we dont have to work tomorrow, THANKYOU ROYALS and I need somewhere to start so I 'gotta' a whole lot of time to be inspired by the music, the memories and what were here to do!
I am not here to DE-value fashion or what it stands for, I love nothing more than flicking through the latest Vogue wishing I could afford the pieces that are presented. For me its more the inspiration to HOW to wear it and for those that I can afford (which is SO not many, but I can dream), I integrate…. Winning. Its about buying with my means and limits. Its about integrating the references too, buy a ‘Vogue’, buy a ‘Madison’, buy a ‘Shop till you Drop’, TRUST me… “luxe to less” is there for a reason…. For people like you and me that dream of the “vogue wardrobe moment” but can only afford the latter right now… and quite frankly, who cares, as long we FEEL good and wear our ‘kits’ with confidence, that’s really all that matters
Ali F JaY's WaY.....
so where did this come from? growing older, wiser and finally working out that “good people” will like you for you, they wont completely judge you on what your wearing. yeah, it maybe a starting point of conversation, admiration or even pure shock but seriously, turn-it-up if they don’t talk to you because of your outfit. If that’s what they are judging a friendship on, probably best left to others to be-friend them and quite frankly, others will be a better fit for them, this is not a forum on “how to be best friends with everyone” its about not caring if you happen to mix your ‘white suede’ dress with a ‘diva’ necklace and not being “head-to-toe” high end if you cant afford it!
so growing up, cant say I had the most influential “fashionista’s” in my life apart from admiring my friends around me in their hypercolour tops, happy pants, reebok pumps and levi’s brand denim jeans (and matching denim shirts & jackets) whilst I wore pre-loved “st vinnies equivalents”,hand me downs and the big w specials. my favourites and point of grief in primary school were the Dunlop volleys (BEFORE they were cool). Its funny when I look back at that source of fashion in my younger years and nowdays would go “ im almost before my time here, ‘VINTAGE’ with the second hand shops and ‘DUNLOPS’ really took off in the two thousands so what was a worried about it”? well that’s just it, it was before my time and certainly not what “all the cool kids” were doing at school so I used to care MAJOR. I think those years are the toughest in establishing where you fit and what’s “cool” its certainly not whether you’re a nice person first, at primary school I found we were more segmented initially in what we wore hence my admiration for clothes from a young age and rattling my brain on HOW to fit in when we didn’t have the means to have the “brand name” stuff. I felt it didn’t matter how “nice I was” or how good at sport,I still wanted the reebok pump moment. I just wanted to be accepted or “cool”, as we ALL did.
So what did I do about it apart from wait until my birthday each year and wait in anticipation of what my aunty and uncle would send from Sydney as they ALWAYS were up with what was ‘cool’? I waited until I could work and buy my own stuff…. Yessssss! Started working when I was 15 and then with the funds I was bringing in from making pizza’s and after expenses, I would “stretch” that out into what I could and mix-matching at “cheaper shops” realizing that I could get away with not necessarily chasing that “head-to-toe” reebok moment, but making the clothes I bought…. Count.
YES it takes longer to sift through sale items, YES you have to try and overcome “fashion pride” walking into the “cheaper shops”, YES I may have had to snip the tags off and just use the whole “oh this old thing? I cant remember where I got it” but it worked and it worked within my means. It has helped my now in my older years as we have far more expenses than the few I had at 15 so im glad id “trained” myself from such a young age to shop wisely so I can still enjoy LIFE with an awesome boyfriend, a house, a pup and most importantly, time with friends!
Funnily enough, as a kid, acceptance can be as superficial as a brand name but as a grew up, I cared less and less about the brand and more about how I felt and surrounding with ‘high end valued friendships’ rather than ‘high end fashion’. The outfits just happen to be a part of me, rather THAN me. Seriously, I love fashion but there are other things in this world that are more important than the cloth on our back, in Australia, I feel very lucky and blessed to even have the cloth, the choices and the life we have… fashion is an element of life so I hope you have as much FUN with me and my friends along the way!
Now back to MTV top 1000 songs – 324 Elton John, Saturday… rock on elton, rock on…….
AFJ xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment