My (New) Ten Commandments Of Style (Ok, Five)
Archive
May 29, 2013
Author: Garance Doré
Archive
May 29, 2013
My (New) Ten Commandments Of Style (Ok, Five)
Author: Garance Doré
I don’t know what’s gotten over me these past few months but I’ve gotten so tired of my clothes.I think it’s an epidemic actually. A lot of my friends are saying the same thing. Tired of accumulating stuff and of bling bling wear. They want simplicity, to buy less but better, and to be able to wear the same clothes from one season to another.Maybe it’s this orgy of streestyle & fashion weeks we’ve been in for the last few years? Maybe…In any case, I changed a lot of things and I can feel the difference. I’m traveling lighter, I only buy clothes I’ll actually wear (yeah, definitely wasn’t always the case before) and I love refining my wardrobe every season instead of having to redo it each time.And so here they are! My new commandments of style. #thisgirlhasfiguredoutthesecretoflife#1 – Fewer choices = More creativityI got rid of a lot of clothes from my closet (I actually just got rid of all the clothes I never wear, which was a ton) and I only kept the best of the best which means I can finally SEE what I actually have and mix the things I love whereas before I had to go through ten piles of crap before I got to anything useful.Result: I have fewer clothes yet wear more clothes.#2 – Perfect piece = Eternal joyLike, for example, I’m looking for the perfect t-shirt right now.I have a very precise idea of what I’m looking for and I know it’s going to take me forever to find it. But it’s fine, I like the research, and also there is such pleasure in finding the article of clothing or the accessory that fits you perfectly. It kind of becomes a signature.That’s what happened with my Porselli ballet flats, my Valextra bag, and my Wayfarers (even though I lose them all the time)…I should add that once I find a perfect piece, I stock up on it.Okay, I’m not going to be able to stock up on Valextras anytime soon. But a well cut t-shirt? Yes. A perfect pair of jeans? (Well, with this one I’m still looking for. I beginning to think my ideal jean doesn’t exist.)Totally. Why?CAUSE THE GOOD STUFF IS GOING AWAY (Are you getting that this girl is a little PO’d? Yeah. You’re right. Gap used to make the best white t-shirts in all the land and then suddenly, they stopped. It’s been three years and I’m still in mourning.)#3 – Quality = LongevityI’m not super into buying vintage (I dunno. I always feel like I look frumpy) but I love watching my clothes get some patina over time. Whether it be a shirt (Equipment shirts get softer with every wash), a pair of shoes (I have a pair of Dries Van Noten heels that get prettier every year)(and they’ve been caught in the rain more than once…) or a sweater (That’s a little more rare. A good cashmere, outside of Bompard, I have yet to find)(tell me if you have any leads).But to have an article actually age well, it’s gotta be top quality. That doesn’t mean it has to be super expensive (I have Zara stuff that I’ve had for years) but it does mean taking the two seconds to touch the piece and look at the label.Sometimes, we’ll mess up and oh, “luxury” doesn’t guarantee quality. I know it’s VERY annoying – but with time, we all have to learn that.#5 – Gisèle = Not meCertain clothes…Just will never work for me.GET OVER IT G, a high waist is not for you.#5 – Buy less = Buy betterThis one here is almost too easy for me to explain it.But since I love talking about every last detail of my life, here I go!Since I was buying too much, I lost the high.The shopping high, which is important. It’s like a mini-multiple orgasm. No no no, actually, it’s more like a love-story:– There’s the first time you lay eyes on the perfect article. Thunderbolts.– Then the purchase, which hurts a little, but we quickly forget.– The arrival at home when you first take your new treasure out of the bag, your first intimate moment together = the high.– The first night you spend together (Don’t even try and tell me you haven’t slept with a pair of Louboutins before.)(Totally kidding.)(Well, but that totally describes what is the high)(I actually have thought once or twice about sleeping with some of my shoes, I swear.)– The first time you go out, officially together.– And then… Of course, the first Instagram.Now that’s what I call the high! Like little butterflies in your stomach for an outfit! The emotion!And I had lost it. I treated my new clothes like a sac of potatoes I just bought at Gristedes. Get home, put them in the closet, no excitement, no afterthought, and that was it. Zero.Since I’ve started buying less, the high is right back in it and it feels good. I almost, almost, slept with a pair of shoes in bed the other day.You have to protect your clothing love stories. It’s important.—–Okay, seeing as I just told you every last detail of my life once again, we’ll stop there for once. My other commandments will have to wait until next week. Deal? You’ll see, we’ll even cover neon pumps.Translation : Tim Sullivan
I don’t know what’s gotten over me these past few months but I’ve gotten so tired of my clothes.I think it’s an epidemic actually. A lot of my friends are saying the same thing. Tired of accumulating stuff and of bling bling wear. They want simplicity, to buy less but better, and to be able to wear the same clothes from one season to another.Maybe it’s this orgy of streestyle & fashion weeks we’ve been in for the last few years? Maybe…In any case, I changed a lot of things and I can feel the difference. I’m traveling lighter, I only buy clothes I’ll actually wear (yeah, definitely wasn’t always the case before) and I love refining my wardrobe every season instead of having to redo it each time.And so here they are! My new commandments of style. #thisgirlhasfiguredoutthesecretoflife#1 – Fewer choices = More creativityI got rid of a lot of clothes from my closet (I actually just got rid of all the clothes I never wear, which was a ton) and I only kept the best of the best which means I can finally SEE what I actually have and mix the things I love whereas before I had to go through ten piles of crap before I got to anything useful.Result: I have fewer clothes yet wear more clothes.#2 – Perfect piece = Eternal joyLike, for example, I’m looking for the perfect t-shirt right now.I have a very precise idea of what I’m looking for and I know it’s going to take me forever to find it. But it’s fine, I like the research, and also there is such pleasure in finding the article of clothing or the accessory that fits you perfectly. It kind of becomes a signature.That’s what happened with my Porselli ballet flats, my Valextra bag, and my Wayfarers (even though I lose them all the time)…I should add that once I find a perfect piece, I stock up on it.Okay, I’m not going to be able to stock up on Valextras anytime soon. But a well cut t-shirt? Yes. A perfect pair of jeans? (Well, with this one I’m still looking for. I beginning to think my ideal jean doesn’t exist.)Totally. Why?CAUSE THE GOOD STUFF IS GOING AWAY (Are you getting that this girl is a little PO’d? Yeah. You’re right. Gap used to make the best white t-shirts in all the land and then suddenly, they stopped. It’s been three years and I’m still in mourning.)#3 – Quality = LongevityI’m not super into buying vintage (I dunno. I always feel like I look frumpy) but I love watching my clothes get some patina over time. Whether it be a shirt (Equipment shirts get softer with every wash), a pair of shoes (I have a pair of Dries Van Noten heels that get prettier every year)(and they’ve been caught in the rain more than once…) or a sweater (That’s a little more rare. A good cashmere, outside of Bompard, I have yet to find)(tell me if you have any leads).But to have an article actually age well, it’s gotta be top quality. That doesn’t mean it has to be super expensive (I have Zara stuff that I’ve had for years) but it does mean taking the two seconds to touch the piece and look at the label.Sometimes, we’ll mess up and oh, “luxury” doesn’t guarantee quality. I know it’s VERY annoying – but with time, we all have to learn that.#5 – Gisèle = Not meCertain clothes…Just will never work for me.GET OVER IT G, a high waist is not for you.#5 – Buy less = Buy betterThis one here is almost too easy for me to explain it.But since I love talking about every last detail of my life, here I go!Since I was buying too much, I lost the high.The shopping high, which is important. It’s like a mini-multiple orgasm. No no no, actually, it’s more like a love-story:– There’s the first time you lay eyes on the perfect article. Thunderbolts.– Then the purchase, which hurts a little, but we quickly forget.– The arrival at home when you first take your new treasure out of the bag, your first intimate moment together = the high.– The first night you spend together (Don’t even try and tell me you haven’t slept with a pair of Louboutins before.)(Totally kidding.)(Well, but that totally describes what is the high)(I actually have thought once or twice about sleeping with some of my shoes, I swear.)– The first time you go out, officially together.– And then… Of course, the first Instagram.Now that’s what I call the high! Like little butterflies in your stomach for an outfit! The emotion!And I had lost it. I treated my new clothes like a sac of potatoes I just bought at Gristedes. Get home, put them in the closet, no excitement, no afterthought, and that was it. Zero.Since I’ve started buying less, the high is right back in it and it feels good. I almost, almost, slept with a pair of shoes in bed the other day.You have to protect your clothing love stories. It’s important.—–Okay, seeing as I just told you every last detail of my life once again, we’ll stop there for once. My other commandments will have to wait until next week. Deal? You’ll see, we’ll even cover neon pumps.Translation : Tim Sullivan