Serious Style: Too Fat, Too Thin - Will We Ever Be Content

In the above video, Vogue Contributor, Andre Leon Talley, spoke with Oxford Union Society earlier this year and it was published on YouTube, May 8, 2013.  He spoke to the Oxford students about his life and the important people who shaped his view of the world. To begin with he said, "No one has just popped out of nowhere. You are what you become because of where you came from,"and, "anyone who distilled in you something to go forward and to achieve your dreams is an important person." He claims that two women were primary for who he is today: his grandmother, Minnie Francis Davis, who taught him style and the core values of life built around church, and Diana Vreeland who taught him how imagination pushes you to solve your own problems in the real world. He emphasized that self-invention is key in life, and that one must create their own diorama/persona based on what our passions are. In my fashion, regardless of what we look like, inventing a unique and recognizable persona of ourselves is what will lead to our content.

I, personally, was very blessed to have had parents who worked together all my childhood to encourage me to be a strong, capable, and confident, God-fearing man. A bit of advise I always carried with me from them is to, "Never be last." I remember my mom telling me this in middle school when I was about to run a race at my school's track meet, but for me this always equated to, "Always be first," having been the type to realize the benefits of being a consummate overachiever. I realized that if I was going to be top dog in all that I did, I was going to have to believe in my abilities above everyone else, and also that I was just as good as anyone who was striving to be first against me. In my fashion, my parents confidence in me had helped to build the confidence within me to see myself as great.

In my fashion, the genius of Diana Vreeland's logic comes from her belief that one should, "Push their flaws," making their flaws the most beautiful thing about them. In regards to my theme for October, "Social Identity, Self Improvement", the first step involves self-appreciation. In the panel discussion above, "Too Fat, Too Thin: Will We Ever Be Content", at the UK Vogue Festival this past April, an audience member asked the panel, "How do you get yourself to like yourself?" The panel, which included, Daisy Lowe, David Gandy, Patsy Kensit and Christa D'Souza, were astonished to hear that the girl who asked the question worked out six times a week and was still unhappy with her appearance. Patsy Kensit, instructed that first, one must surround themselves with wonderful women and great people who adore you, but not in a egotistical way, but more people who bring a sense of serenity into your life. It sort of goes back to what ALT was saying about the fact that having that person in your life who distills in you something to go forward and to achieve your dreams is an important person. Appreciate the people who are in your life who appreciate you, and don't seek approval from anyone else outside that circle because they are the one's who understand where you have been and where you plan to go. The second half of how to like yourself, she postulated, is that one should start appreciating things in your day, and start noticing the things you do appreciate about yourself. But one might then ask, "Where does one start?"

I am a mystic and intuitive Pisces.

I have found that when it comes to appreciating ourselves, it may be hard to do when we can only think about those negative aspects of ourselves we wish to change immediately. In my fashion, the reason I am so adamant about understanding history is because the stories of our past can be quite inspiring, because if you notice, history doesn't really repeat itself, it rhymes. From what has happened in the past we understand what to do in the here and now. In "Too Fat, Too Thin", David Gandy said that the key to nutrition and being fit is education. It's the same with style and finding ways to appreciate our being.  Where do you come from? Look at your country of origin: fill yourself with knowledge of the past and find similarities between your life and the lives of historical figures; dig deeper into your heritage, and take time to understand the trails that your ancestors blazed through history. Before we can unlock the future, one must unlock the keys of the past. Now to some, this next piece of advice may seem ludicrous, but in my fashion, one way of seeing ourselves more clearly for who we can appreciate ourselves for being is to seek guidance from one's horoscope profile. I have always found it interesting that while horoscopes can seem unreliable, vague, and made-up, the profile of the sign that we are born into tend to describe our personalities very accurately. Maybe you don't have to necessarily take what is said to heart and confine yourself to what is believed to be true of who you are, but I find that reading our signs personality traits may help us to be more aware of personality traits that we can be proud to have of ourselves. If you read your profile, and find that you can attest to the fact that some of your natural tendencies match what is said about your sign, perhaps it may help you come to grips with aspects about yourself that you can appreciate about yourself, and work to enhance those endearing qualities. It is those qualities that make us unique and most happy to exercise when we understand that those qualities are our strengths in life and when we act accordingly can bring us that personal gratification we search for within ourselves. We all have strengths and weakness. In my fashion, self love is the most endearing aspect of style, and style is really about learning how to enhance one's strengths while being aware of our weaknesses, and learning how to live with them. 

Serious Style: The Confidence Game

If you recall March's Editor's Letter, Joel Osteen was one of my main sources of inspiration for the theme, "Looking for Yourself". An insightful piece of wisdom I always keep in my mind now is that you cannot focus on the mediocracy of your life, and expect abundance to come your way. In my fashion, one must always think "attitude before aptitude". One's attitude is an indgrediant to style that steers us towards certain positive or negative opportunities. A confident attitude attracts good fortune. Skimming an old September issue of O Magazine from 2011, I came across the article, "The Confidence Game" by Siri Carpenter.

"The Confidence Game" in O Magazine, September 2011

Some examples of the physical changes we make to our bodies that affect our behavior include:

• When you reach upward, its easier to recall happy memories, while reaching down draws negative memories to mind.
• Holding a warm cup of coffee makes us feel more warmly toward others.
• Reclining - a position that physically stifles a "fight or flight" reaction - helps us temper angry emotions.
• Even fleeting changes in our own facial expressions - some so subtle they're detectable only by recording the electrical impulses in muscle cells - provide crucial feedback (a study found that subjects who recieved Botox treatments that blocked their ability to mimic emotional expressions were subsequently poorer at recognizing other's emotions.)

"THE FACT THAT SIMPLE POSES CAN HAVE SUCH AN IMPACT IS EXTRAORDINARY," SAYS CARNEY, NOW A PROFESSOR IN THE BUSINESS SCHOOL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY. "THEY APPEAR TO FLIP SOME INTERNAL SWITCH, MAKING THE WORLD SEEM BETTER, BRIGHTER, EASIER." ALTHOUGH RESEARCHERS DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AT WORK, WHAT'S CLEAR, SHE SAYS, IS THAT THE CHANGES ARE INTERNAL. "IT SEEMS TO BE ABOUT HOW YOU PRESENT YOURSELF TO OTHERS. BUT ITS REALLY ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON INSIDE YOU."

It turns out that in the "body language of power", when people strike a "power pose", they precieve themselves as being physically stronger and taller than they really are. In other words, if we percieve ourselves as powerful, so will others. In my fashion, confidence is what makes us all most attractive. If you aren't feeling confident, maybe a change in posture will alter your mood. Read on, after the jump, to learn about how pyshcologist, Deborah Gruenfeld, PhD, teaches how by maintaining the full range of nonverbal language, one will automatically approach situations with a flexible mix of confidence and humility.

Serious Style: Dancing to the Beat of OUR Own Drum

As I explained in my READing Your Style post, Buff Around the Edges, I took an African American Psychology class which taught me a lot about the Afrocentric Worldview. Me being an African American myself, it taught me a lot about myself and how the Afrocentric Worldview factors into the acculturation of our modern day globalized culture. I thought to myself, what makes Black people’s style so much different than other cultures style? The imposition of another culture as a means of dominating an oppressed group is one of America’s most distasteful social phenomena in regards to  the Slave Trade, and the segregation inflicted after it was abolished. Being that African-Americans are the product of a pathological society that incorporates racism, oppression, and unnaturalness in that our African ancestors were stripped from their Mother Land and reduced to the status of animals, Black people have struggled to retain their psychological orientation towards African values. This month being Black History month, I felt it important to explore the African Worldview that Black people have worked to define in modern society. 

African Art Exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

If you are following me on Instagram, I debuted my account by taking photos of what I felt were, in my fashion, the most interesting items to consider buying came from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts gift store. This museum is where I chose to get a more voyeuristic view of African art and culture to learn about what makes a Black person's style so distinctive in the world today. What I discovered on my visit was how important dance has always been in African culture. Upon entering the exhibit I was awed by the plethora of elaborate masks and symbolic costumes representing various spirits of the many African tribes on the continent. When I was younger, my mother decorated our house with many different African masks, and while I knew that these masks were symbolic of our African roots, I was unaware of how these masks were important in African culture. What I learned on my visit was that masks, and the elaborate regalia made from earth’s resources, were used mostly in religious ceremonies and cultural traditional gatherings of which represented the spirits Africans believed were present in nature who they believed would foster their community’s well being. 

When trouble disrupts the flow of village life, the Wee culture
employed large horrific masks to help banish evil spirits that
are causing the trouble. The Ga Wree-Wre Mask (far right)
was a judgement mask which keeps peace and stops wars.

The Soewi Mask (top left) embodies the
guardian spirit of Sande. Sande guides the
Development of adolescent girls.

Images of birds play a role in expressing the 

King's authority. Birds often refer to the 1st 

women, and suggests the King must have the

support of a women in his realm.

The polished mussel shells symbolize leadership, while 

it's braided fibers, imitating a women's hairstyle, suggest

 the male wearer's quasi-female status by way of the

 comprehensive human understanding he's attained. The hat

with red and white beads was worn by a women.

The cultural beliefs of Africans are very spiritually based in that the African Worldview promotes the belief that there is a sacred force in all things. By wearing such regalia in glorification and respect for the spirits of the Earth, their thoughts were that their elaborate public displays and festivities would bring good fortune to the people of the community. They considered their ceremonies and rituals essential for the community’s growth. Africans believe in a divine reciprocity, in that by dancing for the spirits they honored, their dancing spoke on many levels to communicate their appreciation for the roles these forces played in their lives. Dancing spoke in a way that they could communicate with Earth's spirits through the movement of their body rather than words. They believed the feeling felt during dance spoke more to the spirits than did spoken word.

 

 

In this month’s current issue of ARISE Magazine, their Music feature entitled, All the Right Moves, highlights the origins of the Angolan dance craze, kuduro, which has become a global phenomena since the late 1990s thanks to the advancement of technology. This mix of electronic house, samba, R&B, techno, and rap inspires the funniest dance craze around. Kuduro is Angolan techno, and  Kuduro means ‘hard ass’ in Portuguese. A hybrid of African polyrhythms and techno synth riffs, it originated in the Angolan capital, Luanda, in the late 80s. It has been a major force in Angolan music ever since, both at home and among the expatriate community living in Portugal. 

“Angola was made by music,” explains musicologist Stephanie Alisch, one of the leading authorities on kuduro. “During the Angolan War of Independence semba music helped create the national identity, called Angolanidade. Kuduro took over from samba and living it today is what produces that feeling of being Angolan…Kuduro is everywhere, from backyards in the poorest musseques right up to the glamourous galas hosted by the new rich elite. It is the pulse of a booming country rebuilding itself at a manic rate." The quintal, the traditional Angolan backyard party, all classes of Angola’s social classes eat, drink, dance, and smooch. Jose Eduardo Paulina (aka Du), owner of Semba Communications, says, “It’s one of the pillars of our culture. It’s when you are pushed into that circle of dancers that you learn to express yourself, urged on by your aunts and uncles. And it’s out of this magic circle that kuduro also comes.” The goal of kuduro is to create a positive frentic energy called "karga", the moment when a party hits a certain ecstatic pitch. Dance is a huge positive charge of pure energy, and joy. What more could one want in life that to experience pure joy. 

Os Kuduristas is a global program to promote and raise awareness of Angolan Kuduro music, dance, culture and lifestyle. The following photos come from their New York Show this past January

It is highly stereotypical to note that people of African descent can dance really well and have a somewhat innate sense of rhythm. It is also stereotypical to note that Black people are more prone to more often wear bright colors and funky patterns. What I learned about Black Psychology is that it is critical to acknowledge that human beings of African origin, as a group, have experiences a common core of stimuli that differ as a whole from those of other people of the world. These shared experiences result in a commonality of experience and results in ethnically distinct behavior, as we constantly adjust to the perceived world. The result is that both overt and covert behaviors produce values, standards, customs, and traditions that evidently become racially singular. 

In my fashion, just as dance is a way to express what cannot be said in Angolan culture, and in traditional African ceremonies, so does fashion and style for anyone who has something to prove to others - a perfect example of The Drum Major Instinct. Colorful clothing is an expression of energy, and African clothing exudes many beautiful colors which emit a positive energy. What I have found is that color tends to conjure smiles and positivity to those who are surrounded by it. When you wear bright colors with a positive aura to match, the people around you feel that energy and it is contagious, and it makes for the best social interactions. Perhaps that is the reason Black people are so unabashed to express their style and energy through bright clothing and funky patterns. Just like kuduro, fashion is a way to conjure “karga” for onlookers of our sartorial choices. As the Law of Harvest would have it, the energy you emit with your clothing is, in most cases, the energy you receive in return from those you interact with. In my fashion, if your style exudes joy and positive energy, you don’t have to know how to “pop, lock, and drop it” just to bring out positive energy in others.

Serious Style: Oh To Be Young

As we all know, The Great Recession these past few years has been a big problem, especially for us people who have graduated from high school. Being a young adult today has proven different than any other generation in history. We are reaping the benefits of what our ancestors worked so hard to build, and as it would seem, we are having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with all these options. I was reading the November 2012 issue of ELLE Magazine, and Amanda FitzSimmons' essay "Oh To Be Young", reminded us of a experiment most of us would remember from high school psych class: the jam experiment, in which it was shown that consumers were less likely to buy jar of jam if given a wide variety of flavors to choose from. This experiment exposed the concept of "choice overload" in that when faced with too many options, the brain becomes overwhelmed and, like a computer with too many windows open, freezes.

As this article showed, twentysomethings, also known as millenials, are experiencing the jam experiment on a far greater scale in life. In my fashion, what our generation lacks is direction. But not the strict, regimented direction our parents would drill into our heads as children: get good grades, go to college, get a job. In our day and age, there are many avenues to success and many definitions of success. Regardless of the direction we take in life, our moves should always be upward and positive. But how does one stay positive in order to keep on that upward moving track. We set up mechanisms for ourselves that help us to focus on our goals. 

Think about this: Mechanisms are put in order to force things to happen; things that otherwise you might not be able to make happen at all. Individuals should always have a core purpose, and mechanisms reinforce that purpose. Its about converting that purpose into action and making things happen in your life. In my fashion, fashion is a sort of mechanism! I can attest to the dreaded "quarter-life" crisis FitzSimmons describes of developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson's theory of the eight existential dilemmas that mark the human life span. In between college graduation, and my first job out of college my confidence was dwindling because I had no idea where to go in my life. Thankfully, one thing that has always kept me positive and looking forward to working for success was fashion. In these hard times, fashion has always been my mechanism to keep positive and looking forward to living each day fully. 

As FitzSimmons proclaimed in ELLE, she wishes there was a better way to understand and negotiate this time in our lives  (a sentiment most of us 'millenials' probably feel at the moment). #IMFblog seeks to find ways in which we can do this. Using fashion, as I have expressed before, is a perfect way to stay positive and keep moving forward in life. Like Julia Roberts once said in Vogue, "Once I started dressing differently, suddenly I was different." Make sure to dress for the day, and carpe diem!

Look over some of the tid-bits of the article I picked out below, and see if you can relate to these observations about our current twentysomething generation.

Serious Style: Love to Attract

I hope that as you have been reading my posts as of late in which you may have caught the certain links I have shared to a site that, in my fashion, gets down and dirty on how to be truly attractive: LoveToAttract.com. The founder of the blog, Nathan Joseph, provides great insights into love and relationships that may open one's eyes wider as to what we can do better in our relationships to connect with other people and come off as "attractive". As LoveToAttract.com breaks it down, what we find most attractive instinctually are the qualities in a person that would make them great parents and caregivers in a family. Based on evolution, good looks imply fertility, and even if we don't consciously think about fertility when we see someone good looking, our primal ergs for companionship are based off this fact, which is the attraction we feel when we meet certain people that appeal to us. Attraction is based off whether or not it looks as though you and that other person can live a long, healthy life together. We men have to prove that we can do this. Joseph breaks attraction down into two teachings: basic animal attraction, and emotional attraction. "The basic premise of these teachings is that love can be quantified and forced onto someone by changing your actions or social status - triggering the primitive attraction mechanism in the human brain which will make you successful with the people you want to attract... LoveToAttract.com's mission is to learn to how merge these two ideas together in order to master relationships and love." All organisms seek to be as attractive as they can be in regards to their specific species. The basis of attraction is to be able to find a mate to create more beautiful people! Depending on who you aspire to attract, your style should say, "Come hither, I am someone worthwhile!"

In my fashion, I advise men not to turn the other cheek to fashion out fear of a decrease in one's masculinity, because as Fashion Editor for AskMen.com, Sachin Bhola, wrote, "style is transformative and can be your stepping stone to a whole lot more." Everything we do in life is in an effort to become happy, and AskMen.com found in a study that, "We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends." Working to be as attractive as you can be is not so much a frivolous habit if you look at it as though it is necessary to staying on a positive course of life, and giving birth to the genius inside of you. 

Remember impressing a women goes on even after you have bagged her, which is why it is important to stay abreast of trends to help you in your reinvention process, and more importantly to differentiate yourself from the other fish in the sea. In my fashion, the more intriguing you can make yourself, the more people will want to engage in getting to know your unique story. Women love originals, and if you take away a Bit-o-Inspiro from Coco Chanel, "To be irreplaceable, one must always be different." That's why we have fashion, so we can reinvent ourselves in a more unique version of ourselves so we stand out. Look at your style as more of a calling card, than actually getting someone's digits, for in my fashion, once your grab her interest and make her remember you the next time she sees you, you've won half the battle in the fight for attraction. Make her dream about you! And think about it, in this digital media, social networking age of ours, pictures and video are posted up of us all the time onto the internet for anyone in the world to view. Considering this fact, striving to look as "male-modelesque" as possible at all times won't hurt your view count, and likes. Plus with more people using social media as an acceptable dating tool, you would definitely want your style to attract the type of people you are looking for, am I correct? You want people to view your profile, (that's why you have one, right)! In essence, you are inviting others to make assumptions about you based on the way you appear, so wouldn't you want for everyone that sees you to be drawn into finding out more about you? Style is a form of visual storytelling, so find pieces that will tell a great story about yourself. My desire for my male counterparts is to get women to want to get to know your story, and keep reading it by being a part of it. Trigger attraction in a women without them even knowing!

The idea at the end of the day is to appear confident and original! It is the number one rule of attraction, style, fashion, and, in my fashion, life. Find the best way to showcase what in life makes you most confident, for confidence is what will turn a women on the most, and as I've said before, when you look good, you feel good! When a women sees that you feel good, she will feel good. In a relationship, men are the leader in this regard. Having a good sense of fashion is a way to show you have a good grasp of your sense of self,  and that you are aspirational and passionate about life. It shows women how, in our own unique way, you are striving to become an even better version of yourselve everyday.  In my fashion, that is the best way to attract women. Fashion is a great tool because it helps us all to flaunt our confidence in a way that is specific to who we are, and what we intend to do with our lives. Every man has a destiny. Fashion is a way to shows how confident you are in expressing your own version of what it means to be a man, and as the late Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "A man's sense of manhood comes from within." YOU determine how, "manly" you are, because there are many different perceptions of what it means to be a man. Universally, In my fashion, if you are taking care of your responsibilities to the people you care about, in this life, what's more manly than that? 

Joseph's advice is good because it ranges from topics on all aspects of love and attraction including: flirting, flirting online, what turns women and men on, breaking up, and being single. Below are some of the articles from LoveToAttract.com that dissect what men and women find attractive in each other:

Thoughts for MEN

What Attracts Women – The 3 Traits that Trigger Attraction 

Signs of Attraction – What are They? 

How to Approach Women

How to Talk to Girls - The Complete Guide 

How to Flirt on Facebook – 3 Essential Rules 

How to Flirt with a Girl Over Text 

How to Tell if a Girl Likes You – The 5 Sure Signs 

Successful Marriage – The 5 Keys to a Lasting Union 

How to Arouse a Women – The 4 Best Moves 

How to Keep Your Girlfriend – The 25 Rules

How to Make a Move on a Girl 

Ideas for a First Date – The 3 Most Important Factors 

Thoughts for WOMEN

How to Flirt with a Guy Over Text – The 25 Rules 

How to Get a Boyfriend – The 4 Essential Traits 

How to Tell If a Guy Like You – 6 Signs He’s Into You 

How to Find the Man of Your Dreams 

How to Make a Man Fall in Love With You- The Guide 

Five Tips for Finding True Love Online 

What Do Men Want in a Women – 4 Secrets Revealed 

How Do You Get a Man to Love You? – The 5 Steps 

What Is Love? – The Reality of True Love 

Why Won’t He Marry Me Yet? The 5 Reasons 

Will I Ever Find Love? – Five Steps for Finding the One 

Get Over a Break-Up – Five Steps to Moving On

Serious Style: A Note on Courage

Thinking about people who aren't afraid to be themselves, I had gotten to thinking of a episode of How Do I Look on the Style Network, and I remember there was a girl who wasn't unattractive at all, but her clothes were so risque, and gauche, that we were unable to tell if it was her intention to dress for Halloween, daily. Of course, by the end, host, Jeanie Mai, was able to help her true beauty shine, and not just some immaturely made-up version of a "confident/bold" women. The clip above shows the part of the show which expresses the basic reason for this post: Just because you may be bold and fearless against the world, we don't want people to take our style as a joke: don't be so "in character" that your style reads "walking side show" to most people who see you. Its OK to be confident, and be your own person, and wear bold clothes with pride and guts, but its another thing to be delusional to the fact that people are more often laughing "at you" rather than "with you". Unless its the style you are going for, in my fashion, I say: Don't let people compare you to a clown! People laugh because, in essence, your style comes off as superficial, and not truly true to yourself. 

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” ~ Coco Chanel

In all actuality, people don't have to know anything about you, but there are certain things about ourselves which one communicates to others without even having to explicitly tell someone. The clothes that ring most true, desirable (and fitting, "proportion-wise") to us should be the pieces that we choose to wear in our look. Make sure that everything that will have an association with you can be considered in line with your style, and personality, because people are drawn to the truth for it is attractive. It's important to realize in life there is nothing wrong with the truth. The truth won't do anything to us, whether  its good or bad: it just "is". In my fashion, the truth is the only perfect thing on this planet. If an idea or concept rings true to you, I think you should express it, and if you are going to wear clothes for others to see, you might as well wear, and express what clothes that represent your truth best. As I postulated before in my post Style Maven: Patricia Field, communication starts from when someone sees you to when they don't see you, for its been proven that 55% of communication is visual. If people can tell that your are not being true in your look, you lose credibility points in style, which then leaves room for people to make their own assumptions about you, assumptions which may not be true if only your outer appearance interpreted otherwise in the beginning. In my fashion, the following Coco Chanel quote is one we should all keep close to us, especially the last sentence: “I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”  

Refine your truth and don't be afraid of it!

In my fashion, one should make clothing decisions that agree with your gut feeling. It is my philosophy that when we are getting dressed the most important thing to stay away from is looking "stupid"; stupid in the sense that what you are wearing obviously comes off as random, having no real function, and with no real connection to your personality. When you are wearing something that obviously does not fit for your character it comes off as fake and desperate for attention, and can be rather off putting to others. As Oscar Wilde says, "There is no sin except stupidity." Pardon my brashness, but what's more stupid than to not know how to best represent yourself?

Having style means allowing the world to judge you. It means you are not afraid to give people the permission to understand who you are, and you understand not everyone is going to like who are, but you are not going to allow that fact keep you from being happy in your life. If everybody likes you, than nobody really knows you, right? Having style says to the world, "What you think of me is none of my business!"  We want people to know certain things about us, but we have to be careful as to what certain things we let our clothes say about us, because in my fashion, our clothes talk even louder, and more often than our mouths do. Does one know why in fashion it is such a plus to be bold? Because bold equals respect. Being bold is a strong statement of your commitment to live and do as you please, and people respond well to those who are sure of what they want. I feel your style should be a strong proclamation of this commitment, whether you choose to be preppy, goth, urban, etc. Even if you feel out of step with the people around you, you don't want others to take your weak, underdeveloped image and associate it with "weakness", especially if weak is not what you are. From the wise words of Dr. Seuss: Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Serious Style: Working With What You Got

As I mentioned in my Editor’s Letter at the beginning of the month, I wanted to touch on interior design and sustaining a comfortable abode. When Dwight and I first moved into our apartment a year ago, to test out the cable, we watched a movie OnDemand. Feeling our inner child, we choose to watch a movie we hadn’t seen since grade school—FernGully: The Last Rainforest. This animated movie which came out in 1992, is a movie that takes a stand against deforestation and the negative impacts of industrialization on the natural environment (the movie probably serving as the catalyst to my compassion towards the care of Mother Nature).  It’s a gorgeous movie that took a microscopic view of the creatures and fairy people that made up the rainforest, and that’s when Dwight and I were instantly struck with the inspiration for our house—a botanical garden of cozy comfort. We wanted to re-create that dank, yet soothing aura like that at the bottom of the rainforest floor. Since then we have thus made that vision come together quite nicely, especially evident by our guest’s compliments and their reluctance to leave once they claim a comfortable spot on our sofa. (Contrary to popular practice, in my fashion, considering our home didn't look exactly how we wanted it to look when we moved in, now would be the perfect time for us to have a housewarming!)

Through the years we have been able to be quite” resourceful”, which is our master plan of decoration! In my fashion, being resourceful means finding multiple uses for one object, especially when it comes to design. Design is all about being abstract and finding beauty in the strangest places. For example, at the beginning of this month I challenged myself to put old pieces of our broken furniture I had kept (pieces of furniture that I "intended" on putting back in place someday) together in a way that would be useful as a night stand. The pieces I had to use were the bottom board of a broken drawer, and plank pieces from the back of our old bed frame. The concept for execution: simple, modern, and useful. Dwight suggested we go get wood glue, spending no more than 5 dollars, and I fashioned the plank pieces onto the board in a simple, modern design. I waited about 2-3 days for it to dry (3 to be safe). It worked perfectly.

1) Gather pieces; 2) Make measurements; 3) Add pieces to board; 4) Wait to dry

This is why I am a heavy advocate for being environmentally conscious. There are so many uses for the things we consider trash! Recycling and being "resourceful" is a great way to build personal style because it’s nice to keep the stuff in your life that resonates with you in one way or another because as supermodel, Dayle Haddon, postulated about modeling in the recent HBO documentary About Face: Supermodels Then and Now the same can be thought about style: It is about, "how you  translate your experiences, good and bad, into something that is meaningful to yourself and other people." The dismembered pieces of furniture that at one time served one purpose, now, serve a whole new purpose, bringing an old piece of my past back to life as it assumes its new position in my life as my new night stand—and, I only spent 5 dollars in the process to make something I really needed, and saving money, I am sure, would be reason enough for most of us to be “resourceful” and think twice before we throw out an “old” item.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Serious Style: Editing Your Style for Sucess

Melanie Fiona

Today I came across the March 19, 2012 issue of Jet Magazine with Cee-lo Green on the cover, I came across a short interview highlighting the lovely Melanie Fiona. She has a genuine quality about her which shines so radiant, not in a defiant, bombastic, and rebellious way, but her candor seems to come from a wholistic mindset which makes her aura so positively energizing. Melanie Fiona has been gracing the airways with her single "4 A.M." from her album "The MF Life", and in the interview she was asked what the does her title stand for. While most of us would simply think, "MF" means, Melanie Fiona, she went of to mention that "The MF Life" was more of a pun, that can mean whatever you want it to mean. She goes on to say, "Life is filled with highs and lows. You have to pay attention to those moments. They are what define you." In my fashion, she is absolutely correct! This, in my fashion, helps to expose a deeper aspect of Melanie Fiona's style, who she is, and what she stands for. Reading her comments to the questions posed in JET made me realize that people who have realized this fact early on in life, are those who are able to lead a life that they wanted to lead. How can you live a fulfilled life if you don't have complete control over the factors that affect you. Life is about reflection, and progression; the only way you are going to progress is if you pay attention to what is going on in your life and maybe its not so much about recognizing what is high and low in your life, but its about how you react to these high and low moments that define who you are. Me personally, I have found that journal writing is a great way to look at your life retrospectively. Every morning I set a few minutes out of the morning to write out my intentions for my day, and how I plan to reach my goals as far as my life goes, mentally, spirtiually, and physically. I write out what is most important in my life and what it is I need to focus on for the day to keep my life in check. I make sure I do this everyday, and I  it helps to to really layout the events of your day and ponder how in the future you can navigate through the negativities of your life. After taking time to reflect on life, it's impreative to hold yourself to your commitments, no mater what,  and force yourself to act upon your set intentions. I have found that it takes a certain level of self-discipline to want to progress in life, and by paying attention to the destructive aspects of your life and eliminating them daily by holding yourself to a higher standards than the day before, you can train your mind to be able to handle all situations you encounter with your own understanding of how to overcome adversity in your life. How do you achieve excellence in life? By doing the right thing! From what I have learned, excellence is the result of caring about what you do, and putting your best effort into what you care about. Excellence is an outward expression of inner integrity, and integrity is an important aspect of anyone's style, agreed?

Serious Style

My mind moves a mile a minute trying to
find out, "What's next"

My new segment "Serious Style" will delve more into my more hardhitting sartorial philosophies. Normally, my mind is running a mile a minute thinking of eight different topics at once, trying to accomplish multiple tasks at once, and planning my next moves ahead four or five steps, but then there are times (out of no where most times) I catch myself staring into the distance, thinking about a single topic, that of which I continue to think further and further about trying to find an ultimate solution to my quanderings. Here in "Serious Style", I am going to catch these random passing thoughts, that I find quite pressing, in regards to how style makes for a strong individual and my thoughts on the direction of the fashion industry. While we would like to think that the fashion world is all colorful frocks, luscious fabrics, and an assortment of sparkly jewelry, the processes to make sure these things are available for eager customers is quite serious from a business standpoint. I would like to expose what I think about industry issues such as model's fair and legal treatment in the industry, issues concerning the increasing globalization of fashion and what that means for certain sectors as technology continues to develop, and what we can do to change negative perceptions and aspects of the fashion industry. I want to touch on social issues such as colorism, segregation and tolerance, and and how one can use fashion to make a social stand against a cause (i.e. Trayvon Martin supporters wearing hoodies). I'd also like to touch on what people have done in the past to stand up for social inadequacies using fashion. Fashion can be used as a powerful tool for change, so I want to explore how its been used in the past, and what we can do in the future to use fashion to bring us into more harmony with each other. The goal is to figure how we can preserve the essence and purposes of fashion and style so that future generations can be inspired by our legacies. Fashion is fun, but it's a tough business.