I gobbled up your thoughts on this as it's something I've thought about myself (and we've discussed briefly). @Christine Morrison really nailed something for me when she wrote "I'm less original than I once was" and I think hones in on the rub I feel when I see my feed filled with similar outfits. I am ALL ABOUT taking inspiration from an outfit we see (even copying it the best we can), but I wonder if we are pushing back our own fashion instincts because we can't hear them over the noise of social media.
Your description of your mom "She’s a killer student, and always hard at work" is a great descriptor for myself too. I have to WORK a bit harder than someone else but I'm always aiming for the upper left quadrant in your chart (which I may just print out and hang up ;)). Obviously the intersection of confidence and originality lays the skilled curator and (probably) the influencers who grow organically.
I could discourse about this all day long and welcome the challenge of my judgement on the subject!
Yes! I think most of us are students at varying degrees -- and maybe the presence of social media keeps us from experimenting with what might be original ideas. Being brave enough to look weird.
So, so interesting!! I found myself nodding along as I was reading this, all the way to the end. I'm thinking that the people we think of as originals are also influenced (because no man is an island), but they stick to their guns. They have confidence and do what they want / feel is right. Christine's point re: feeling like she's lost some of her originality is really thought-provoking. I feel like I can relate to that. I wonder if that's because of social media? It's so fast-paced that we don't have the time to digest what we see, trends and fashions and such. Maybe we're losing our processing skills, and hence we feel like we're just copying constantly, rather than referencing according to our own tastes and preferences. Maybe personal taste and preference is something we're failing to safeguard, out of fear of being left behind or being ridiculed?
Random side note: I've been re-reading David Lynch's part-biography/part-memoir called Room to Dream. I think we all think of Lynch as one of those great originals, but I was struck by how much Lynch has been influenced by things like the classic Americana, meditation, Taoism, Buddhism, industrial revolution, electricity, all of these things. What shows in his work is the pure fascination with these topics. Like the title of the book suggests, he has room to dream up his own thing and then make it happen. (And he has the confidence to stick to it.)
Oh also I love the diagram you came up with, and as always, thank you for the shout out. I appreciate you!
Thanks for inspiring me as always! Maybe there is both a confidence in sticking to your guns -- and also in changing and allowing that. I feel my most confident when I am authentic, which for me includes being honest about waffling, copying, having ridiculous moments in the name of exploration. Thank you again, Tiia! Your brain is an amazing place.
Yes, I totally agree that creativity can't prosper under stagnation. Challenging the status quo is a good thing. Yes to having ridiculous moments in the name of exploration!
i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. for me it feels like trying to get a quick dopamine rush from buying (quite literally) into a brand or aesthetic rather than spending some time playing with what i already have and love and then ... going out and living my life! another diagram might be a continuum illustrating social media/technology helping the masses dress more creatively up until a certain point at which a sort of “cult of personality” mentality takes over and overrides personal expression. i can see why people are pursuing “rule of 5” and such as an effort to reset!
Interesting read - thank you! The one point I am not in agreement with is the chart that has More Original dressers putting together random items. Their individual methods may not be obvious to others but I do think most ( maybe not all) is intentional.
I think that More Original dressers possibly have an innate understanding of color ( a lot of Iris A’s combos are tone on tone or repeating contrasts) and / or an innate sense of shapes and balance. And then confidence in those innate choices, including if something is off ( I am guessing your dad might move an object on a shelf a few inches that is not in alignment with how he sees things).
Anyway, random thoughts upon first reading. One thing I LOVE about your newsletters is that many times I need to read more than once - they make me think which is a good thing🙃.
Love this Pandora’s box you’ve opened! I couldn’t agree more about Sarah Clary (vs Jenna Lyons) and the genius mindset of stylists. For me, I’m definitely confident but less original than I once was - ten year old me fought for neon green shearling lined duck shoes as my school shoe to stand out; sweaty feet be damned. I would say as we are forever evolving so is our style (which you know all too well is the heart of my fashion essay collection; what we wear shapes we are and who we strive to be I declare!) I think we are bombarded with so much that it’s hard not to be influenced, even for those of us who lean into a uniform.
Thank you for always probing the depth of why we wear what we do. It’s my love language. xx
You are on fire lately! (And not in a hotflash kind of way... unless that's true, too). I love this for many reasons, chief among them that it gives me permission to try less hard, which is not something that comes naturally to me. I don't have to aspire to a 4 or 5 personal style because there are other places I want to direct my energy. I can putter along as a cheerful 2 or 3. I'm doing the Hard 75 style challenge (unfortunate name in the context of this comment), not posting my outfits but photographing and sharing with a friend. I love it so far because it's leading me to grab and go, not putting heaps of time into crafting something original and perfect. It's a lot of fun with only enough effort to make it engaging.
I love that!! And I could not be happier. This stuff is supposed to be fun. There’s no rule that you have to give a certain amount of a damn. Can’t wait to read more about this challenge 😘
As explained by @oldloserinbrooklyn, for 75 days you 1) get dressed; 2) document your outfit; 3) don’t buy anything new; 4) set a style intention; 5) use your own imagination & ideas (rely less on instagram & Pinterest); 6) organize & clean out your closet. I’m only in for 1-3, but I expect 6 will happen organically.
That’s genius. Just cleaning out your closet I think will help with a lot of it. Although I haven’t bought nothing, I can note that I am very much less shy after my closet, cleaning, and more excited to create with what I have.
Aka: what Rachel challenged her readers to do in the fall for 7 days in her #sashup challenge. I like linking it to not buying anything—I need a stronger motivation to make a no-buy stick.
I think personal style, for me, is more than just "uniqueness" - after all, you are inside the clothes and that makes them pretty damn unique!
Here, imo, personal style parallels art. For example, there are different genres of music and people within those genres work with relatively similar conventions. That's how music gets recognized/categorized as pop, country, rap, hip hop, rock, dance, etc. Musicians can bend conventions, but they can also use the exact same conventions and create two unique songs. Even two musicians playing the EXACT same song will do it differently. With style, people using the same style conventions with look similar, especially in a picture, but ultimately they are very different in terms of character/voice/motion/etc - and that, the human richness inside of their unique context (that tends to get erased on social media), makes the "copy" critique fall flat for me.
Ah Rachel there you go again making me think!!!! I know most people copy or are influenced. After seeing the Chanel exhibit in London that showcased her early work from the 1920’s I can categorically say EVERYONE IS INFLUENCED!!!! There were design details and combos that we see today. There is very little that is new in any design field (except maybe architecture!) My many years of age, will advise people to go out and just sit and watch people. I travel for fashion exhibitions to see various designers. (Been doing this for decades now) It hones my eye to see color combos, design lines, style combinations etc. it has helped me to understand what I like and don’t. I cannot stress this enough: know yourself but know that change happens. To style too. So yes even the 1% is influenced-by something.
I think one of the best ways is to learn from doing it by copying and then experimenting like you do. Then at some point one has to maybe quit looking at so many influencers and let their on creativity take over. I know I am feeling that way.
Love that you support that! There are so many beautiful Docomomo buildings in New Haven.
It’s a beautiful photo of you and your father! I miss mine terribly he passed away in the elm city a couple of months ago pretty unexpectedly. He also loved the Beinecke. I wish we could go backwards sometimes. I would have loved to take him to the Docomomo event last June. Thanks for sharing and a it’s a pleasure to meet you.
What food for thought! In response to your observation that we see the same outfits over and over on social media, I wonder how the diversity and originality of personal style today compares to the past? It seems like there were just a handful of silhouettes and looks in say, the sixties, whereas there are about a bajillion micro trends in denim alone today! (Is it any wonder then that we look to social media to guide us through the onslaught?) Although, as a side note, I noticed in the second season of The Gilded Age how even though all the female characters are wearing era clothing and silhouettes, their dresses still manage to be unique within those confines and expressions their personalities. Personal style is certainly not only the purview of the modern day. I appreciated Lin’s comment that maybe personal style is less about what you wear than the curation (an overused word IMO, but seems like the best one here) of your closet, and how you wear it.
Yes! So many people for so many years have had sneakers and suits in their closet. Somebody at some point was brave enough to pair the two. I agree that it’s all about what you do with the pieces. To me, that’s where certain people have an original eye and the confidence to overcome public opinion or their own doubts.
This made me think of my high school son’s English essays! Some of us write the primary sources (your dad!), some analyze the primary and write the secondary (you) and others (me) pick thru the secondary resources to see what supports our thesis. I’ll spare you the “was John proctor a hero?” essay prompt 💕 (give me a break. Only the patriarchy would even ask this question)
there's a limit to how 'original' one can be in the first place when it comes to fashion - all clothes and wearables are designed to go on a human body in some way, so that's a restriction to start with!
I think 'originality' is a futile pursuit when it comes to clothes in the 21st century, at least for things intended to be worn daily. But I can in fact aim for visual interest, comfort, opulence, beauty or even nostalgia, and trust that my head is part of my appearance too and will provide the necessary differentiator for it to be apparent that I'm not just doing a full copy-paste of someone else's look, whether it's through natural scruffiness or a fondness for hair accessories.
That said, the templates I follow to get dressed up were set by women and men who are either much older than me or don't actually exist, two of whom (Manuela Pavesi and my grandmother) are now dead, and the last outfit I photographed was in fact a fully and completely influenced copy of someone else's look from 2008 a.k.a. homage because I respect those who went before me and the original look really couldn't be improved on. I think of it like mathematical equations - if someone posited a theorem before you, it doesn't mean that the theorem isn't of use in your own problem. Or like a song cover, like the Mamas and Papas' original California Dreamin' vs the Beach Boys version from 1986. Literally the same song, but very different based on execution.
I really appreciate this way to look at interpretation. As homage, as inevitable and also as a creative pursuit in itself. It removes that judgment. And that I think will make us all more willing to explore, more creative.
I gobbled up your thoughts on this as it's something I've thought about myself (and we've discussed briefly). @Christine Morrison really nailed something for me when she wrote "I'm less original than I once was" and I think hones in on the rub I feel when I see my feed filled with similar outfits. I am ALL ABOUT taking inspiration from an outfit we see (even copying it the best we can), but I wonder if we are pushing back our own fashion instincts because we can't hear them over the noise of social media.
Your description of your mom "She’s a killer student, and always hard at work" is a great descriptor for myself too. I have to WORK a bit harder than someone else but I'm always aiming for the upper left quadrant in your chart (which I may just print out and hang up ;)). Obviously the intersection of confidence and originality lays the skilled curator and (probably) the influencers who grow organically.
I could discourse about this all day long and welcome the challenge of my judgement on the subject!
Yes! I think most of us are students at varying degrees -- and maybe the presence of social media keeps us from experimenting with what might be original ideas. Being brave enough to look weird.
“ brave enough to look weird “♥️
So, so interesting!! I found myself nodding along as I was reading this, all the way to the end. I'm thinking that the people we think of as originals are also influenced (because no man is an island), but they stick to their guns. They have confidence and do what they want / feel is right. Christine's point re: feeling like she's lost some of her originality is really thought-provoking. I feel like I can relate to that. I wonder if that's because of social media? It's so fast-paced that we don't have the time to digest what we see, trends and fashions and such. Maybe we're losing our processing skills, and hence we feel like we're just copying constantly, rather than referencing according to our own tastes and preferences. Maybe personal taste and preference is something we're failing to safeguard, out of fear of being left behind or being ridiculed?
Random side note: I've been re-reading David Lynch's part-biography/part-memoir called Room to Dream. I think we all think of Lynch as one of those great originals, but I was struck by how much Lynch has been influenced by things like the classic Americana, meditation, Taoism, Buddhism, industrial revolution, electricity, all of these things. What shows in his work is the pure fascination with these topics. Like the title of the book suggests, he has room to dream up his own thing and then make it happen. (And he has the confidence to stick to it.)
Oh also I love the diagram you came up with, and as always, thank you for the shout out. I appreciate you!
Thanks for inspiring me as always! Maybe there is both a confidence in sticking to your guns -- and also in changing and allowing that. I feel my most confident when I am authentic, which for me includes being honest about waffling, copying, having ridiculous moments in the name of exploration. Thank you again, Tiia! Your brain is an amazing place.
Yes, I totally agree that creativity can't prosper under stagnation. Challenging the status quo is a good thing. Yes to having ridiculous moments in the name of exploration!
i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. for me it feels like trying to get a quick dopamine rush from buying (quite literally) into a brand or aesthetic rather than spending some time playing with what i already have and love and then ... going out and living my life! another diagram might be a continuum illustrating social media/technology helping the masses dress more creatively up until a certain point at which a sort of “cult of personality” mentality takes over and overrides personal expression. i can see why people are pursuing “rule of 5” and such as an effort to reset!
Interesting read - thank you! The one point I am not in agreement with is the chart that has More Original dressers putting together random items. Their individual methods may not be obvious to others but I do think most ( maybe not all) is intentional.
I think that More Original dressers possibly have an innate understanding of color ( a lot of Iris A’s combos are tone on tone or repeating contrasts) and / or an innate sense of shapes and balance. And then confidence in those innate choices, including if something is off ( I am guessing your dad might move an object on a shelf a few inches that is not in alignment with how he sees things).
Anyway, random thoughts upon first reading. One thing I LOVE about your newsletters is that many times I need to read more than once - they make me think which is a good thing🙃.
I love that! Thank you so much for reading and thinking and sharing. I appreciate it very much.
And thank you for reading and writing, as you do -- grateful
Love this Pandora’s box you’ve opened! I couldn’t agree more about Sarah Clary (vs Jenna Lyons) and the genius mindset of stylists. For me, I’m definitely confident but less original than I once was - ten year old me fought for neon green shearling lined duck shoes as my school shoe to stand out; sweaty feet be damned. I would say as we are forever evolving so is our style (which you know all too well is the heart of my fashion essay collection; what we wear shapes we are and who we strive to be I declare!) I think we are bombarded with so much that it’s hard not to be influenced, even for those of us who lean into a uniform.
Thank you for always probing the depth of why we wear what we do. It’s my love language. xx
Touched by this tribute to your dad and it was sweet to see the photos 💞
🥰 He’a just the best. Thank you for that.
You are on fire lately! (And not in a hotflash kind of way... unless that's true, too). I love this for many reasons, chief among them that it gives me permission to try less hard, which is not something that comes naturally to me. I don't have to aspire to a 4 or 5 personal style because there are other places I want to direct my energy. I can putter along as a cheerful 2 or 3. I'm doing the Hard 75 style challenge (unfortunate name in the context of this comment), not posting my outfits but photographing and sharing with a friend. I love it so far because it's leading me to grab and go, not putting heaps of time into crafting something original and perfect. It's a lot of fun with only enough effort to make it engaging.
I love that!! And I could not be happier. This stuff is supposed to be fun. There’s no rule that you have to give a certain amount of a damn. Can’t wait to read more about this challenge 😘
Oooh, I'm curious: What's the hard 75 style challenge? I know Hard 75 is a fitness thing; how does it work for style?
As explained by @oldloserinbrooklyn, for 75 days you 1) get dressed; 2) document your outfit; 3) don’t buy anything new; 4) set a style intention; 5) use your own imagination & ideas (rely less on instagram & Pinterest); 6) organize & clean out your closet. I’m only in for 1-3, but I expect 6 will happen organically.
That’s genius. Just cleaning out your closet I think will help with a lot of it. Although I haven’t bought nothing, I can note that I am very much less shy after my closet, cleaning, and more excited to create with what I have.
Aka: what Rachel challenged her readers to do in the fall for 7 days in her #sashup challenge. I like linking it to not buying anything—I need a stronger motivation to make a no-buy stick.
I love this one million times more than the fitness version. I propose a style version of every bro fitness trend!
Thanks!
I think personal style, for me, is more than just "uniqueness" - after all, you are inside the clothes and that makes them pretty damn unique!
Here, imo, personal style parallels art. For example, there are different genres of music and people within those genres work with relatively similar conventions. That's how music gets recognized/categorized as pop, country, rap, hip hop, rock, dance, etc. Musicians can bend conventions, but they can also use the exact same conventions and create two unique songs. Even two musicians playing the EXACT same song will do it differently. With style, people using the same style conventions with look similar, especially in a picture, but ultimately they are very different in terms of character/voice/motion/etc - and that, the human richness inside of their unique context (that tends to get erased on social media), makes the "copy" critique fall flat for me.
Love that assessment-- thank you 😊
Ah Rachel there you go again making me think!!!! I know most people copy or are influenced. After seeing the Chanel exhibit in London that showcased her early work from the 1920’s I can categorically say EVERYONE IS INFLUENCED!!!! There were design details and combos that we see today. There is very little that is new in any design field (except maybe architecture!) My many years of age, will advise people to go out and just sit and watch people. I travel for fashion exhibitions to see various designers. (Been doing this for decades now) It hones my eye to see color combos, design lines, style combinations etc. it has helped me to understand what I like and don’t. I cannot stress this enough: know yourself but know that change happens. To style too. So yes even the 1% is influenced-by something.
I love that! Maybe it’s about -- how do we build on our influences? Acknowledge them. And keep creating!
I think one of the best ways is to learn from doing it by copying and then experimenting like you do. Then at some point one has to maybe quit looking at so many influencers and let their on creativity take over. I know I am feeling that way.
Love your writing it truly is inspiring and your perspective is perfectly captured. Is the 3rd photo at the Yale New Haven Library? The Beineke?
Thank you! And YES! Good eye. My dad and our fam are heavily involved in Docomomo preserving/advancing modernism. That was a Docomomo event. XX
Love that you support that! There are so many beautiful Docomomo buildings in New Haven.
It’s a beautiful photo of you and your father! I miss mine terribly he passed away in the elm city a couple of months ago pretty unexpectedly. He also loved the Beinecke. I wish we could go backwards sometimes. I would have loved to take him to the Docomomo event last June. Thanks for sharing and a it’s a pleasure to meet you.
xxStephanie
I am so sorry about your dad. And thank you for sharing and such kindness 😘
Thank you I truly appreciate that! I hope to one day touch as many people as he had. He was a saint 🙏❤️
XO what a legacy
Yes yes and yes!! Also those photos of your dad - suave and cheeky at the same time. Im inspired!
He really is! LOL. Thank you!
I love this post and think about this a lot! Also how cool to have a dad with such fun style!
Right? It's very cool and inspiring. I lucked out ;-) Thanks so much for the kind words. XX
YOUR DAD <3
That is all. I'm at work today and this really brightened my morning. Thank you.
AWWWWW I am so thrilled. He has my <3, clearly! Thank you so much for writing. XO
What food for thought! In response to your observation that we see the same outfits over and over on social media, I wonder how the diversity and originality of personal style today compares to the past? It seems like there were just a handful of silhouettes and looks in say, the sixties, whereas there are about a bajillion micro trends in denim alone today! (Is it any wonder then that we look to social media to guide us through the onslaught?) Although, as a side note, I noticed in the second season of The Gilded Age how even though all the female characters are wearing era clothing and silhouettes, their dresses still manage to be unique within those confines and expressions their personalities. Personal style is certainly not only the purview of the modern day. I appreciated Lin’s comment that maybe personal style is less about what you wear than the curation (an overused word IMO, but seems like the best one here) of your closet, and how you wear it.
Yes! So many people for so many years have had sneakers and suits in their closet. Somebody at some point was brave enough to pair the two. I agree that it’s all about what you do with the pieces. To me, that’s where certain people have an original eye and the confidence to overcome public opinion or their own doubts.
This made me think of my high school son’s English essays! Some of us write the primary sources (your dad!), some analyze the primary and write the secondary (you) and others (me) pick thru the secondary resources to see what supports our thesis. I’ll spare you the “was John proctor a hero?” essay prompt 💕 (give me a break. Only the patriarchy would even ask this question)
I love that analysis so much (and don't know why I am just seeing!)
there's a limit to how 'original' one can be in the first place when it comes to fashion - all clothes and wearables are designed to go on a human body in some way, so that's a restriction to start with!
I think 'originality' is a futile pursuit when it comes to clothes in the 21st century, at least for things intended to be worn daily. But I can in fact aim for visual interest, comfort, opulence, beauty or even nostalgia, and trust that my head is part of my appearance too and will provide the necessary differentiator for it to be apparent that I'm not just doing a full copy-paste of someone else's look, whether it's through natural scruffiness or a fondness for hair accessories.
That said, the templates I follow to get dressed up were set by women and men who are either much older than me or don't actually exist, two of whom (Manuela Pavesi and my grandmother) are now dead, and the last outfit I photographed was in fact a fully and completely influenced copy of someone else's look from 2008 a.k.a. homage because I respect those who went before me and the original look really couldn't be improved on. I think of it like mathematical equations - if someone posited a theorem before you, it doesn't mean that the theorem isn't of use in your own problem. Or like a song cover, like the Mamas and Papas' original California Dreamin' vs the Beach Boys version from 1986. Literally the same song, but very different based on execution.
I really appreciate this way to look at interpretation. As homage, as inevitable and also as a creative pursuit in itself. It removes that judgment. And that I think will make us all more willing to explore, more creative.