still admiring
I had a gander down my Tumblr memory lane recently, which I started around 2011, and stopped posting some four years ago. The above is a smattering of what I admired back in July 2011.
I still admire them.
Sure, I've become a lot more realistic about wearing knits and layers in Singapore. I know my life has limited capacity for tailoring. But when I scroll through the images, I see a colour palette that still refreshes me, and an easy spirit I still aspire to.
These days, Instagram forms the bulk of my social media consumption (I don't tweet, FB etc), and random images like that don't cross my way so often. But I still like saving the odd post, organised via the "collections" function. And it can be fun to see what has been catching my eye, collectively.
The Sartorialist is still pretty good source of inspiration for me, and it's much easier to follow his work through IG than to visit his blog. He has an eye for capturing quirky classicism that other street style photographers seem to miss.
These two looks in particular, speak to my gradual inclination towards volume in recent years -
Photos: The Sartorialist
And I love the style of Linda V Wright, a former model who worked at Ralph Lauren, and now owns a boutique in Paris. Her style is an excellent mix of casual and polished, with some concessions towards prep and a dash of Parisian severity. She posts regularly on IG but you can find her older looks here.
Photos: @lindavwright
If I had to describe the shift in the kinds of looks I'm drawn towards, it would be that the photos from 2011 have a stronger girlish, gamine quality to them. Whereas now I feel a bigger pull towards more dramatic, interesting proportions. But hopefully still achievable with a pair of jeans and shirt or T-shirt. I feel comfortable with the odd, impactful flourish, because I'm realising it can be done in subtle ways.
Keeping track of my actual outfits is of course revealing of my personal tastes, but so is tracking the kinds of looks I'm currently inspired by.
What's currently inspiring you, style-wise? How has this changed from what you admired say, five to 10 years ago?
Comments
In between the packing and stacking, I'm enjoying the romantic fantasy shoots in these old Vogues, the ones by Arthur Elgort and Ellen von Unwerth in particular, for example an entirely goofy one with all the mid-90s greats Linda, Christy, Naomi etc play-acting a narrative of a wedding gone dramatically awry in haute couture. Not exactly the stuff of style inspiration of daily life but then there is a big gulf between the images I now like to look at - say the rather maximalist Giovanna Battaglia - and how I actually dress, which tends to be informed by functionality and appropriateness, punctuated by an occasional effort to make some special garment or textile conform with the first two.
The aesthetic I'm interested in has changed a fair bit, moving towards a more neutral color palette (with fewer and fewer bright or printed accents) and the shapes I'm interested in have also changed over time (less a-line skirts once I realize I don't like the look on me, more interest in coats with more volume). Because there's such a giant change from 10 years ago and now, and it's been largely driven by what's cool to the blogs I was following in each period, I do wonder if I'd change my aesthetic again if something very different became cool to me!
I don't know when I became this person! :) Ahh, it is what it is.
But I do tend to surprise myself when the right item presents itself, and that's why my wardrobe is a bit of a melange at the moment.