Aya, is it safe to assume you're female?  I don't want to give my two cents without knowing beforehand xD

Well, there's fashion, and then there's style.

Fashion changes every six months and exists on a large scale. Style exists on a personal level and changes whenever the fuck you want it to.

If you just want to be trendy, just read fashion magazines like Lucky, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue. Magazines like Elle, Vogue, Cosmo, etc. skew a bit older than you're probably interested in, despite what they'll claim.

If you don't want to buy physical magazines, look at their online sites. Also, there are Flickr groups and LiveJournal groups dedicated to fashion and style and you can see what people actually wear.

If you're more interested in developing a personal style instead of simply following fashion, just do what feels right. I'm sure you're not in "responsible adult" world yet, so have as much fun with your clothing as you can before you're sentenced to khaki hell with fluorescent lighting until you're 65.

Last edited by Raven Nightshade (03-26-2010 09:12:28 PM)

Raven mentioned some pretty good fashion magazines, and you might also want to try fashion blogs, where people post pictures of what they wore daily. You can also take a look-see through Glamour's site http://www.glamour.com/fashion it's so comprehensive...and with tons of pictures.

In terms of hats...and headwear.....those "hippie" headbands are "in" and I wish they were not, they're kind of lame. Avoid them at all costs they will only make it look like you have a muffin for a head.

But again, 'fashion' comes and goes, style is pretty much eternal like Coco Chanel said. So one of the best things to do is just find a couple of basics that you like that never go out of style, and make small purchases with accessories that match your personality. Not to sound like some kind of fashion fitness trainer, but style is basically around 90% confidence and the other 10% dressing for your shape, and all that great stuff.

Last edited by lex (03-29-2010 01:16:24 AM)

you know the beatles use to wear those so it makes sense that they have made a comeback ever since beatles rockband came out. which is a very fun game. but hey fashion is what you make it to be. i wear alot of tank tops, dress pants, dresses, hats of all kinds, scarfs, and really anything with stripes and i call that fashion, all you really have to do is pick your style and what your comfy in and call it good. thats my opion.

I think the hardest thing about fashion or style for me is that I don't know what looks good on me.  I have spent 4+ hours trying on clothes before and walked away with nothing, because I know so little about style that I don't know what cuts would look good on someone my shape nor what colors go well with my complexion. It's very frustrating, because not everyone has the knack for picking things out, so things like "get what looks good" or "get classics and match with them" doesn't actually help when you don't know what looks good or how to match it.  Even when I've tried looking through fashion advice, I still end up realizing that I don't know the difference between cut A and cut B on sight.

So I feel your pain, Aya, way out of fashion/style over here too. Although as a technical services librarian, I'm expected to be socially inept and poorly dressed, so I suppose it could be worse.

Last edited by Mylene (03-30-2010 05:28:49 AM)

When it comes to dressing well, for me it's a matter of feeling comfortable and looking classy.  Dressing a step above tee-shirt and jeans and looking classy/sophisticated will never go out of style i.m.o xD  I'm very much into anything but the tee-shirt+jeans combo haha.  For girls, I think cardigans and sweaters really do look great as do jeans which compliment their respective body type.  Skirts and dresses also are very attractive in my standpoint.  I'm very much a Banana Republic/Gap kind of shopper but when I want cool tee-shirts I usually check out Armani Exchange since usually A|X sells pretty cool print designed tee-shirts.  I understand that not everyone has the same shopping opportunities though (or budget :X), but stores like Kohls, Macy*s, and other general clothing department stores (even Target has a nice women's department) often offer classy-looking clothing but at a lower price than other stores.  One tip that I have is that something everyone, women and men, should have is a nice coat.  It may require a bit of saving, but having a nice coat really helps the overall look of your outfit when you're out on the streets.

I'm personally not a big colour person when it comes to clothing but everyone has their own personal aesthetic.  Personally, I find more neutral/monochromatic colours to look best on me as opposed to vibrant colours.  There's definitely nothing wrong with them though; they look really good on some people.  So I guess what I'm saying is when it comes to colour just be mindful.  Try on the article of clothing first to see if it really fits in with your own personal taste and if it looks good on you.  I find that you can never go wrong with neutral colours (greys, blues, blacks, whites, beiges, browns etc).  When it comes down to it, style is really all up to you- everyone is entitled to have their own personal style, regardless of what others may think or say lol  When it comes to accessories, the fewer the better in my opinion.  I'm big on scarves personally, but other than that I try to avoid accessories.  A pair of earrings and a necklace look great on a girl if they suit her, but once a girl starts putting on a ton of bracelets, rings, and tons of other accessories it gets a bit out of hand.  The newspaper boy cap doesn't really work on girls a lot of the time i.m.o, but depending on the outfit it could though in general, I'm not a fan of caps on girls.

Last edited by ShinraiTenchi (03-30-2010 11:06:11 AM)

Over here Doc Martens (mainly for girls) seem to be making a comeback, which I have to say fucks me off as all the trendy scenester bastards are wearing them and I just got a nice big ten hole black pair to stomp about in. Also, those big floaty scarf things.
Of course then there's me in torn-up man jeans and vest tops and my nice snug leather jacket, so my advice may possibly be invalid.

This may be somehow unrelated, depending on how you see it, but I went shopping for a new scarf today to go with a spring coat, and I was told coral pink is really "in" for this season. Juri's color, ftw?


(Of course, I took a coral scarf. )

While we're contributing fashion websites, I'd recommend checking out LookBook every now and again. It's a pretty good representation of what's "trendy" combined with elements from one's personal style. They've also got a keyword navigation feature, if you're only interested in seeing outfits that incorporate a certain article of clothing or accessory. For instance, I've clicked hats here, so it's displaying all outfits in the archive that include hats, and it's also giving me more categories to narrow down my search, including color, pattern, material, and a list of stores where similar hats can be located.

As for my observations on what's hip this season-- I'd agree that floral patterns are very "in" right now. Scarves are always good in my book, always, but I don't know which styles are particularly trendy right now. I've noticed a lot of navy recently, especially if paired with tans or browns. Coral has been doing well lately, too. Nautical themes tend to make a comeback every summer. Wide belts being worn on the waist (rather than the hips) are very, very "in" right now. Cardigans are doing well, though it's starting to warm up enough here that we probably won't be seeing them again until autumn. Oh, and has anyone else noticed an increase in woven designs lately? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I'm no fashion expert of course, these are just some things I've noticed, and they may not apply to your region. There's definitely a cultural element to consider.

Last edited by dollface (04-23-2011 11:11:08 AM)

I suck at clothes, but most of the time I've found stuff like that at secondhand stores. Are there any good ones in your area? The best ones to look at are the ones in upper-class-ish areas, as they'll have a better range of high end stuff.

It's a bit of a hunt, though. Sometimes you come back with good stuff, sometimes you come back with nothing.

The best parts of town to look in are the wealthier parts, as I mentioned, and the trendier parts. On the whole, I end up paying less for the same sort of thing in the wealthier parts of town, though; the trendy places know what they have and mark things up based on how unique the items are.