Outfitblogging: The well is dry!

By | January 26, 2009

Time

Click through to the Flickr version for outfit info.

I’m smelling a sea change in the air, lately. I find that these shifts happen, from time to time, every couple of years. I’m talking about the coming Dress Plague.

Witness:

Lane Bryant’s current selection is astonishingly overpriced and even if it weren’t… well, I’ll stop short of calling it eye-stabbingly ugly, and instead state that it’s just not my style.

Even if Avenue hadn’t succumbed to the sad depths of print insanity, their dresses on the whole fit me so badly I am half convinced that I wronged their design team in a former life such that they’re single-mindedly dedicated to producing THOUSANDS of dresses I could not wear even if I wanted to.

Everything currently of interest at Igigi is heavily based on a straight-skirt line which just does not work for me.

The assemblage at One Stop Plus? A style void. Kiyonna and I have been broken up for quite some time, such that I’m not even down with linking to her punk ass. Alight has some cute offerings but I’m so over the idea of paying a premium for a Blue Plate/Mlle Gabrielle dress that’s going to literally disintegrate after a few rounds in the washing machine. And frankly, I oughtn’t to be spending money on clothes at the moment even if the shops were bursting with fabulous garments that fit me.

In other words, I’m out of resources at the moment. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given the economic climate and the resulting popularity of shopping in one’s own closet – which is frankly a great habit to get into, as it can force you to rethink established “outfits” and get more creative with what you’ve already got. It’s also a handy excuse to take fatshion risks you might otherwise avoid, such as mixing two colors you never thought could go together, or layering items with different textures or styles.

It can also be a great creative opportunity, to learn to sew – or at least to make alterations. (OR, to start sewing again, for those of us with the ability but a lack of motivation.)

Style isn’t just stumbled upon via a sheer variety of options; I’d argue that fully nine-tenths of great style is learning to be resourceful and inventive. It’s also being able to wear something catastrophic with grace and charm.

In our current risk-avoidant culture, I seriously want to take some fatshion chances.


Comments are closed.