Why I love Megan.
Posted: June 20, 2006 Filed under: Uncategorized 11 Comments »Megan, my sometime guest blogger, is back to save my ass again. I’m trying to get out of town. And today, I get a post from her! Well, not exactly from her, but from her friend Lisa. I don’t know Lisa but I know of her new shop, Cupcake Apparel and Shoes, in Fells Point. Fells Point is a historic and very cool part of downtown Baltimore. Anyway, Lisa has fashion on her mind, and writes:
Designers are fashionistas. (Definition: stylish, generally size 2 women, who work in the fashion industry) Fashionistas live in major cities like LA and New York, where they exist in a bubble. Within this fashionista bubble, it’s normal to order $48 entrees at tony restaurants, then pick at the meal, fearful of ingesting the calories. $450 shoes are the norm (no, seriously) and the $1200 handbag of the season (not the year, or the decade!) are a must, must have. I myself, a frequent visitor to the fashionista bubble that is the NY garment industry, have allowed myself to be convinced that I had to have that new Gucci bag. I had just launched a new business, and wasn’t sure how I was going to pay the mortgage.
On a side note, a bit of insider info: Fashionistas classify handbags into two categories, car payment bags, and mortgage payment bags. Mine was somewhere around (2) car payments, but less than (1) house payment. What a bargain!
So, designers are Fashioinistas, and therein lies the occasional problem with fashion. As a buyer for a major retailer, I observed a phenomenon that struck every few years. The designers, out of touch and living in their fashion bubble, put all their eggs in a style basket that the typical American woman can’t or won’t wear. I’m not even referring to the true average American woman, the size 16 mid-western mom, shopping at Walmart. I’m referring to the stylish, size 6, coastal dwelling, middle to upper middle class, physically fit professionals and Lexus SUV driving soccer moms who shop at Nordstrom. They wouldn’t be caught dead in some of this stuff. Western styling is a good case in point. Every three to five years, the designers (damn you Ralph Lauren!) tell the buyers and the fashion editors that we must have prairie skirts, cowboy boots, and giant chunks of turquoise. The store buyers buy into it, it all ends up on the sale rack, and down goes the Gap’s stock. Again. Sorry, Gap, but it’s true. You’re supposed to be a bastion of good old stand-bys, the jeans, t-shirts, and khakis we all know and love, but you fall into this trend trap every time.
As a boutique owner now, I’ve been barraged for the last several months by designer denim sales representatives, all of whom are touting the second coming of the skinny jean. For about five minutes, I bought into it. Then I thought again. Sure, the tops are longer and bigger, which makes this trend somewhat easier to wear. Thankfully, because these skinny leg jeans (some are 6” across at the ankle!) are also low cut. I think we’ve all seen enough of Muffin Tops. Oops! Another definition is needed. (Muffin tops: AKA, Open Can of Biscuits, AKA fat hanging over the front and sides of low cut jeans) So the silhouette is bigger longer tops over skinny, tapered jeans, or even leggings. Yes, that’s right, leggings. That’s for another article. Here’s the problem, it’s not so flattering on most bodies. The leg is so narrow, it makes even small hips look big. I was told in no uncertain terms by a size 27(translation, size 4), young customer, that she put skinny jeans on, and looked like an ice cream cone.
What’s the buyer/store owner to do? Well, it’s all about moderation. I bought some of the damn things. As an arbiter of fashion, it’s my responsibility to offer the season’s biggest trend to my customers. I even plan to buy a pair myself, but I am a fashion victim, and fortunately, have small hips. However, these skinny styles will only be a small portion of the total assortment. I also stuck with skinny styles that aren’t too skinny. Many have a 14” leg opening, which is barely narrower that what we used to call a straight leg. They’re on trend, but wearable.
The consumer needn’t even go that far to be on trend. If you preferred flares in the past, slim it down to a boot cut. If you preferred a boot cut, go crazy and try a straight leg. If you’ve already braved the straight leg, try the skinnys. It has to be less traumatic than trying bathing suits. Then, what isn’t?
Wait! There’s more good news. The best thing about these skinny jeans is they fit nicely inside your tall boots. No more crinkled, folded over, jeans with too much bulk to fit inside those sexy knee highs. Once paired with tall boots, the silhouette changes. The width and bulk of the boot creates a leg shape that is less severe, less, as my customer put it, “ice cream cone”.
So try them, don’t try them, it’s up to you. And, if you’re an investor, keep an eye on the stocks of the stores that dive in head first, and watch to see what’s on their sale racks at the end of the season. The sale rack never lies.
Okay – me again. So there you have it. What do you think? Are you wearing these jeans? Should anyone over 40?
I’m not leaving town yet, so expect more from me soon!
Wendy
I’m 25, a size 6/8 and have a 16 inch calf. Which means I can’t get skinny jeans up to my knees. Just something to think about.
P.S. In my entire life I have found one pair of tall boots that will zip over my calf, and they did so just barely after they had been worn and stretched out until they were nearly into the trash. I don’t think any pair of jeans was going to go into them.
Hmm. This blog rubbed me and not in a good way. So I suggest that perhaps it would be helpful to actually live in one of these so- called fashionista cities before drawing conclusions about the so-called fashionistas who
The Bryant Park shows and the designers who frequent are certainly the litmus for what actually goes on in real life NY as much as Melrose and West Hollywood are not always indicators of what women in the real world are wearing on the West Coast. So I guess my point is that one can “connect” with a new fashion without being the fashion. Let’s take a page from In Style magazine -they take a “look,” and retool it for three decades, i.e., 20s, 30s, and 40s, and sometimes even 50s.
So, I guess that I believe that designers design for the young 20 somethings; not the 40 something fashion conscious moms who drive the lexus to the store before dropping their kids off for school. And that you can be fashion conscious without walking the walk all the way or squeezing big calves into skinny jeans.
And Lisa – no offense intended. But I resided in one of those fashionista cities for 20 years and know plenty of women who consider themselves fashion conscious and don’t fit your stereotype.
i just saw a blub in ‘style’ magazine tonight about cupcake!
i don’t know how everyone else feels, but there is no way in hell i’m buying skinny jeans. for chrissakes, i’m just squeezing into my sevens, which *i* think are skinny jeans
the older i get, the more content i am to buy variations of the current fashion or to just go to j.crew and buy something not in fashion but still fashionable.
Gee, I sure wouldn’t want the job of buying clothes to stock a store or boutique.
I’m with Melissa, I have muscular calves and probably couldn’t wear skinny jeans, hips notwithstanding.
Basically I buy clothes to cover my body. That’s it. I never was a clothes horse. The cheaper the better for me. People that live in the fashionista world can have it. I don’t begrudge them their choices but to me there are better things to spend money on.
in response to Miz Liz:
I don’t pass judgement on fashionistas, I consider myself to be one. What i’m saying is that what they wear doesn’t neccessarily translate well to the rest of the world. I believe, if you read the blog more closely, you would find that we actually agree.
As a person who pays NO attention to fashion, I am always amazed at the new and ridiculous things that are put on the racks each season. It also amazes me that all of the bad fashion crazes in my memory have returned so quickly (what is up with velour and leisure suits?!). You would think people would remember the bad ideas and refuse to buy them! Skinny jeans were in fashion when I was in high school/college and other jean options simply didn’t exist (or it didn’t occur to me to wear them). However, looking back at pictures, they are certainly a very dated style from the late 80s and early 90s. And now that I have enjoyed roomier styles (and I am no longer a teenager), I do not intend to pour myself into them again. I would be very pleased to see the low riders disappear, however. Too many unsightly views! One thing I am curious about, why does the fashion industry always cater to teenagers with no money, but not to 30/40 something women with disposable income?
-Elizabeth
MORE THAN ANYTHING – why are you online Melissa? You should be doing what people who are married ONE WEEK do! Get off the fricking computer!
Wendy
I’m 50…if I could wear a skinny jean, I would, but let’s face it, those days are long gone (unless you’re Cher, I guess). Gals my age need more selection and choice…I don’t want to wear tight jeans and crop tops.
HELP!!!!!
Here’s a question for you: When does a trend become a trend? When fashionista designers designate it as “hot”, or when the hordes follow?
A trend becomes a trend as soon as I’ve adopted the old trend. I fought boot cut/flares. Now that I have them it is time to switch to something else. Happens to me every time- just on the cusp of cool is my destiny.
Ah, skinny jeans; I remember putting my boots inside the legs BEFORE I pulled the jeans on.
I’m a bit more pumpkin-y now than I was the last time these were in fashion. Where are the pumpkin jeans?