EDITOR'S LETTER: June 2014

Ponchos and kimonos are my favorite items this year.
This colorful fringe poncho was perfect for standing out
at the festival I went to.

I hope that this spring if you didn't get a chance to attend some of the big name festivals such as Coachella, or Bonnaroo, you were able to attend some local festivals in your vicinity. In my fashion, the main thrill of festival season is of course the fashion, especially because if you spend enough time at the event, the look you began the day in is not the look you can expect to end the day in. While getting ready for the festival events I attended this year, I couldn't help but think about how all of our efforts in fashion is simply to prepare for our day most appropriately. With festival dressing one wants to be prepared for anything that could happen while spending all day outside in a field such as, a rain shower, unexpected springtime cold fronts, being sweaty, and the possibility of getting an outfit dirty from walking around on muddy, uneven terrain, all while trying to sustain a cute look in case one happens to run into a hot musician. Fashion, in general, is primarily is about how we can dress ourselves so that we can be prepared to take on the day ahead, whether it is for the office, traveling, or simply walking the streets, but all in all we want to do so in the most flattering manner for who we are, and what we do with our lives. Even if one’s goal is not to be the most spectacular looking person on the planet (which in my fashion should be everyone’s goal), one still wants to appear attractive and comfortable in one’s skin and know that people’s initial perception of who you are is not a fool. Confidence is key to looking amazing, and usually confidence comes from an internal sense of comfort in that you know how to operate your life. The first impression of confidence is one’s dress.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, “Living for Design: The Yves Saint Laurent Story” by the Parisian journalist and writer, Axel Madsen. To understand design and styling, there are so many quotes and insights on YSL’s sartorial philosophies, such as: “If I chose this trade, it was because I think fashion is very important. It reflects the state of mind, the evolution and the future of civilization. Every seven, ten years there’s a great change in how we live that is first expressed in the way we dress.” The reason fashion is such a popular topic, and is an industry that constantly changes is because of the simple fact that life is constantly changing. In our society one has to get up every day, and get dressed. Fashion is essentially about how one adapts to life in that regard, and the industry of fashion works to help make the process of preparing for one’s day most easy. Depending on how we want the world to see us and what we are doing with our lives, we are always trying to find new ways to make our style more manageable and effortless, but it can be difficult to be able to redefine one’s self everyday in a creative light that exudes pride and confidence. Cue, the stylist.

My ongoing theme, The Secrets of Stylists, has been a topic that I have delved deeply into because of the amount of interesting information I have gathered in all my research. I really wanted to be able to speak on the subject with substantial references and insights from industry insiders, past and present to be able to come up with a basic thought process about how to go about styling one’s life. Personally, I am always trying to make the point that fashion is an important industry and is not frivolous and superficial. Styling is hard work that deserves a certain level of respect and appreciation because think about how life would appear without the work of people in the industry. One’s style is ever-evolving whether we want it to or not for the simple fact that life is always evolving. That is why it’s important to keep up with the times, and fashion make it so convenient to understand what the trends are so that one may stay current and adapt to life’s inevitable changes. I plan to continue exploring The Secrets of Stylists and hopefully bring it to close very soon, so please bear with me while I attempt to construct quality posts on the subject with my busy schedule.