FrenchTrotters at Paris men’s fashion week from FrenchTrotters on Vimeo.
I finally checked back in to my Google Reader after about a 2-week break from daily updates that overload my brain cells. While I was catching up, I saw the video above from FrenchTrotters that documents some of Men’s Fashion Week in Paris for the Spring/Summer 2012 season. In this short film I saw some familiar faces and brand names and it got me to thinking about how big the world is, how much access we have to it and how much some of us choose to ignore that. I really began to sink into thoughts about how great it is to have influences from all around the world when it comes to style and fashion in particular.
What matters to me is that other people also know these influences and know what’s really good all over the world seeing as how everyone is a stylist, designer, tastemaker, influencer etc. A lot of that is crap. Most people just follow trends and try way too hard to be different. While that may appeal to the common eye as being fashionable or having a “global perspective” many times it’s not. Yes many people can namedrop some fancy foreign designers nowadays but that doesn’t count for much because some folks don’t even know they like said designer, they just think its “cool”. People get so high and mighty because of a price tag not knowing that there are folks who literally jog in YSL trainers and give their daughter’s Chanel bags at 12 years old. They don’t know how Helmut Lang or Heidi Slimane changed the game with their slim cuts years ago in Europe that everyone seems to wear in the US now. That scene in “The Devil wears Prada” where Meryl Streep’s character straight schools Anne Hathaway’s character on why she even has on that cheap blue argyle sweater is so very true. Nowadays no one cares about the input anymore, they just want the output and reward and don’t even know how or why they’re influenced and aren’t really making their own decisions when its comes to style and fashion.
On a personal level my interest was sparked around 9 or 10 with outfits from comic books. Then I moved on and around 12-13 I started skimming through GQ magazines. I didn’t even know the clothes I saw came from other countries I just noticed the funny names. I thought everything was sold in Macy’s or Hecht’s company. Until this day I still pick up new magazines, some published completely in other languages just so I can see what’s going on style-wise in other countries. I come from a very provincial city and for the most part you only get props for doing what everyone else here is doing. That’s great for building loyalty but if your taste level is a bit above or different from your peers you’re frowned upon. Along with that, Baltimore isn’t a major market city, which means shopping can be very limited. This is where the global perspective kicks and I use my city’s minuses as a plus. Small market means limited access and that means I have to go find everything that I like or think is cool and it’s been like that forever. I take more initiative in researching products, brands, sales, markets, styles, shopping sites etc. because I can’t catch the train down to Soho and find it on the corner. I believe more people need to take the time to really find what they like before they claim to be someone special in the fields of fashion or style. Hell I don’t even consider myself a style blogger, stylist or designer (and I do a bit of all three) because that would be a disservice to all the hardworking people out there that really work in these professions. I just blog my life, do what I like and try to keep everything a bit stylish.
Having a global perspective on fashion and style not only helps me learn about clothes and designers, it’s made me more well–rounded, open-minded, less serious, and less judgmental which is ironic considering the pretentiousness that comes with fashion and taste-making. I’m not just up on release dates for sneakers I like, I’m learning about price points and shipping, dye-cuts and why said sneakers may cost so much. I don’t pretend to care about which fashion house is changing creative directors because I don’t know much about that fashion house to begin with. I do know that it can change the new ads I see or fads that begin to appear on runways and even what may appear on shelves in a department store near you if they make diffusion lines wit that new designer. I could go on for days but I’ll just say this…dig a little deeper, read a little more, don’t be lazy and arrogant. Understand that fashion and style isn’t just a superficial thing, its an artistic expression that requires some research. Its an expression that can and will be interpreted globally …unless you’re content with staying in your little box and talking about someone who you think isn’t cool because they are not wearing something that you are wearing because someone else told you to wear it.
