How I got started in fashion.
Honestly I don't know if this is a Cliche way to start a post, so I'll try to word it my own fresh way. I don't actually remember a time before I was conscious about what I was wearing. Perhaps this was because of the natural fashion sense of my mother, that I'm sure she would refuse to admit having. Also her guidance in my very early years in what things I should or shouldn't wear and why, I'm sure opened my mind to thinking more about my appearance in general.
As a small child of four or five I remember always wanting to wear very bright clothes and bold patterns. Most of the time they would be inappropriate for the occasion, and they almost always "clashed". Kids will be kids though, and I was allowed clothing freedom for the most part which I think was also an early influence on my aware state of fashion.
The other thing I remember about my clothes when I was very little, perhaps closer to seven, was my immense disdain for wearing clothes that were a bit big or baggy on me. This was an especially big struggle for me since our family was strongly prone to participate in a little thing called hand-me-downs. Also somehow we ended up with a lot of 80's-early 90's clothes, which, as we all know, entertained the vast use of over-sizing.
One particular fiend of mine was the dreaded tee-shirt bib. This was a retired tee shirt of my Father's, usually a white undershirt actually, that me and my little brother and sister used to have to wear when we did things that were huge mess hazards. Things such as painting, and sometimes eating messier foods like spaghetti were the main issue. It is ironic to me however, that I hated them so much because now as I sit here typing I am wearing a very over-sized tee-shirt, which is one of my favourite clothing items. It is also super comfortable and, if I do say so myself, quite becoming. I can only imagine how cute it might have been on mini-people, such as myself and younger siblings.
I think my next step in fashion happened around when I was nine. At he time I was introduced to the world of "star trek" and immersed in the fashionably colourful explosion 60's. I was vulnerable to the bright patterns and all-new fantasy aspect of clothing, and due for experimentation.
Thus, when I played, i started putting together my own made up ideas for clothes. most of them were terribly impractical and thinking of them makes me blush to this day, but me and my sister mostly kept to ourselves at that time, so I was spared the embarrassment. I got myself into trouble many times when my mom would find socks that I had cut apart and safety-pinned together, in order to make new awesome clothes for my dolls. She was quite perplexed because wearing matching socks was already no concern of mine, but once I no longer had matching socks it seemed to become ridiculous.
My fashion waited to have another jump in evolution until I was almost twelve. Youtube was the tool, by wich I was introduced to radical men's 70's fashion.
The Stories' Brother Louis was an incredible culture shock, and I actually became a so called "hippie". I have mellowed quite a bit, bu to this day, if you saw me on the streets you might be able to see the huge effect of hippie culture in my manner and the way I dress.
Eventually I made my way to the eighties, where I came across perhaps the biggest influence to my fashion. Adam Ant.
Not only did he have his own quirky music genre, (that has yet to be paired with another artist's) but his own outrageous fashion sense, and independent attitude toward everything, thus sparking the need for me to have my own independence in fashion.
Not based on any modern tastes, looks, or pop culture. He encouraged all his fans(dare I say followers) to pay no heed to judgmental people's narrowminded opinions. No longer should we be placed under the bonds of fashion slavery, free yourself.
Taking fashion inspiration from eighteenth century princes, highway men, pirates, Las Vegas cowboys, Native American Indians, loopy astronauts, punk rockers, Egyptian slaves, mobsters, and whatever it is you call people who wear kilts, Adam Ant was a man ahead of his time. Frankly, I believe he still is.
Mix and match is an always applicable rule. Alas weather or not it is acceptable, chances are it should be. Be daring, and be learning. Always improve your knowledge, but never conform. This is me, your personal radical fashionist, signing off. until we meet again.