Will someone please tell me the difference between Boho and Gypsy? Will someone also tell me who on earth decreed that grown women should wear ruffles this summer? And not just ruffles – ra-ra skirts!! (And can we please just ignore maxi-dresses? If we all ignore them, maybe they will go away)
The last time I did ruffles (and yes, it was a ra-ra skirt) I was about 14. I seem to recall a denim version being worn to a school dance. The outfit included pastel tights, white stilettos and a pink t-shirt, I was so chuffed that I had managed to convince my parents to let me out the door looking like that!! Now, of course, I cringe at the thought of wearing a short skirt of any description and pastel is not a big element of my wardrobe palette either. Less said about white stilettos the better!! But when I think about that particular outfit, I can remember the delighted and excited feeling I had walking into the dance looking exactly how I wanted to look.
We are told, often and stridently from some quarters, to be true to ourselves. Mostly said in relation to life choices, but why can't or don't we apply that to our fashion choices? Or, looking at that from a slightly altered perspective, why don't we consider how we feel in a particular outfit as well as how we look? Most women are, if they are being honest, fairly clear-eyed about their appearance. We know what does and does not suit us. However, there is an entire industry devoted to telling us that what we wore yesterday is not 'right' and we need this new thing for tomorrow. I am not going to support the rabid-feminist conspiracy theory on the evils of the fashion industry - in a very peripheral way I am part of that industry. I just don't support the concept that how I choose to look can be deemed 'wrong' by someone who hasn't got a clue about me. I love looking at new fashions, I love people watching to check out what they wear, I love window shopping and hey, I'm a girl, I love shopping. What I don't love is being told that because I am wearing something that is more than five minutes old, I am somehow a lesser version of me.
When was the last time you bought something to wear simply because it made you feel good? I hope the answer is that you only buy things that make you feel good. Why buy something that makes you feel bad? Think about the sorts of books you read, the music you listen to, even the way you decorate your home – you make those choices based on what you like, don’t you? So why not apply the same decision process to your clothes and accessories?
Now, about the fashion anarchy, read almost any fashion publication and it is sure to tell you that there are ‘rules’ about fashion. When to wear what, with whom and if a hat and gloves are required. For most of us these rules are largely irrelevant. If some fashion maven decrees from on high that A-line skirts are the must have style and we shouldn’t be seen in a straight skirt – guess what? I’m going to be ignoring that rule – A-line skirts make me look like a walking triangle. We protest about laws that are bad, why not protest about fashion rules that are bad simply by not following them?
My resolution for fashion choices is to consider, "Is this how I want to look today?" Not, "Is this how I am supposed to look?" One of the joys I have realised in getting older is the freedom to accept myself and that how I look is entirely within my own control, if I don't want to wear skinny jeans / maxi dresses / ruffles - I don't have to!
You know what suits you, you know what you like, and you know what makes you feel good – forget the rules, be true to yourself and have fun! Because if fashion isn’t fun, you just aren’t doing it right!!!
Are you one of those dear ladies who walk by my market stall, glance at the display, make a facial expression resembling a cranky duck and quack, "Oh, I only wear real jewellery." If you are, can I make a polite request? Please don't bother stopping and making a remark that is meaningless to me, and just makes you sound like a snooty, upper-class dame uttering, "Not Our Kind, Dear" when referring to the game-keeper's daughter. Just keep walking and pretend you haven't seen me!
On the other hand, if you are one of the people who stop and tell me how beautiful everything is - let me just say, "Thank You"!!
I am endlessly fascinated by those women who will only wear 'real' jewellery. How limiting! Explore costume jewellery and have some fun. One of my favourite decisions every day is which piece of jewellery will I wear. I almost pity those girls who only have one (albeit beautiful and valuable) gold bracelet to wear every day - it must be like wearing a uniform! Having a jewellery box containing all the colours of the rainbow is just plain fun!
But as my dear mum reminds me, "It takes all sorts to make up the world". Those girls who have the single gold bracelet, probably have the single pair of Manolo Blahniks and the single Prada handbag - and are happy about it (or at least I sincerely hope so). I would much rather work my accessories the same way I work my clothes - buy those things which I can afford, without having to sweat over how many times I need to wear said item to amortise the cost. My attitude seems to be gaining favour, even by fashionistas. In a recent new comer to the Australian fashion magazine arena, they refer to the 'cheap and cheerful' items on their fashion pages as "chic-onomic". Just love that!
I've had another head cold - about the fourth one this winter (the joys of having a child in long day-care), so I had a couple of days off from my 'real' work. Too foggy in the head to read or concentrate on some beading (dammit) I was sitting vegetating in front of Foxtel. Cruising through the channels I came across Fashion TV - not one of my usual viewing haunts, too many skinny models and ridiculous clothes. What caught my eye was one of the most striking, beautiful and desirable dresses I have ever seen. I had stumbled across the Paris July 2008 Haute Couture fashion shows. The dress which caught my eye was an almost indescribable colour somewhere between silver and navy. While it was definitely a designer piece, it was wearable by a normal woman with butt and bust. And there wasn't just one dress in this show which was desirable, I watched the whole twenty minutes and was delighted with more than half the dresses shown. The only downer was that they didn't identify the designer and I am not enough of a fashionista to know who the bloke was that walked out on the runway at the end!!
But simply by seeing this fabulous dress I am inspired to try to find beads of that colour. It just so happens that I have some navy blue pearl coated Czech beads that are almost an exact match!! I am going to put them together with some glass beads in a fabulous colour called "Montana" and see what happens - I'll let you know when the piece is finished.
This brings me, by very circuitous route, to the point of this post - you would be surprised where inspiration strikes. I have previously taken ideas from paint swatches, food magazines, people in the line at the supermarket, sunsets, my son's artwork and any number of fashion magazines. When I take the time to consider how my creative process works, I do generally start with colours and then work toward decisions on metal and shapes of beads. I have found that it takes me longer to get the mix 'right' if I try to create from a different point in the process. People who know me will not be surprised by the realisation that I like working with colour - give me a choice between neutrals and bright red, bright red will win every time! Being able to create individual jewellery pieces in any colour of the rainbow has saved my sanity in my conservative workplace. I might not feel able to wear a multi-coloured outfit to work, but I can express some individuality in my accessories! And I will certainly never be able to own that fabulous silvery-midnight blue dress - but I can take the colour and turn it into something attainable.
My beading world is the study/office of my home, just a small room - not really big enough to be called the fourth bedroom (no matter what the real estate people said). Here I have my work table (a folding outdoor table), my storage system (a bookcase full of plastic tackle boxes), my inspiration (a photo of Chris Isaak and about 150 magazines) and my last ’serious’ purchase - a decent office chair.
I’m not a designer that sketches ideas, more often I see a picture or pattern and adapt from that. Sometimes I will try a design directly from the pattern in a beading magazine, but usually I will take the pattern and work out how to make it using techniques and beads I prefer.
I don’t like making wrapped loops, and if a pattern calls for them - I usually ignore that direction. In my experience, about 85% of the time a pattern tells you to use a wrapped loop, it is not necessary. My advice - perfect your plain loops and try the pattern with them, you will know if it works or not!
I don’t use a colour wheel, or consciously consider ‘colour theory’ when designing. My tool for checking how colours, shapes, textures work together is a small, clear glass bowl. I throw a couple of each bead I am thinking of using into the bowl - when you see the beads together like that, you know immediately if they will work together.
