How to Love Fashion
How to Love Fashion
I love fashion. Like, a lot. Obviously, I’ve centered my career on clothes but even before I realized that was a possibility, I’ve been obsessed with getting dressed.
Thanks to social media, not only have I been able to truly explore said love of fashion, but also, I’ve been able to virtually meet and connect with others who share my passion, and who express and pursue it in all kinds of ways that I both respect and admit that I could never do myself.
One of those people is Ryan Lowe, an independent fashion journalist who has interviewed some of the greatest talents in fashion, and who recently started his own platform to share his thoughts on this fun and fickle industry.
For this special Valentine’s Day newsletter, I’ve joined up with Ryan to talk about our journeys into and all up and through fashion and how to get you started on yours. Responses have been edited for narrative flow.
On Our First Fashion Loves
RL: I believe I fell in love with fashion when I was around 18. I would skip college classes to go to my public library and take notes on fashion. The history of fashion. Taking notes til my hand cramped!
Who would you say was your first fashion love?
RL: Alexander McQueen is the reason I am the way I am. I just fell in love with his work ethic. The amount of time spent creating, imagining, and pushing the boundaries within fashion. His runways are powerful!
I feel that way about Elsa Schiaparelli. I was also introduced to her around my college year (yes, the one year I spent in college), and I’ve been enamored ever since. Not just with her work but with the history around it. Her work with surrealists like Dali really inspired me to also take more of an interest in art.
On Fashion Gatekeeping
Sometimes I think about the democratization of fashion that’s going on. I think a lot of people see it as a new ability to take more than just a passing interest in clothes and really get to the heart of it and absorb as much info as possible. But I think others are squandering that privilege at times, or, rather, skipping the learning part and jumping straight to calling themselves experts for social status. Should we be gatekeeping fashion?
RL: I think it's never really okay, but people do have to realize some of us put in the time to access these things. Time equals money. I think people need to recognize if the information that they are withholding from the industry can make them more money than to be cautious!
[We are all] trying to figure out a way to teach people but also be rewarded for the amount of time & energy spent on researching, covering, highlighting, and what have you. We want to make the fashion industry better. We just need some reassurance sometimes that we're on the right path.
And what’s your path? Meaning, where do you feel your career taking you? As you know, I started as a designer: do you see a conventional way forward?
RL: It’s hard to explain where I want to take my career, because I couldn’t have predicted any of the people I’ve spoken to. But I hope I can continue to speak with pillars in the fashion industry and uncover stories that may not be published or talked about enough. My end goal… from this current perspective is a stylist. (Not you coming for my gig!) I believe I can bring a lot to a shoot or a campaign because I’ve been researching fashion since the eras of 60s-90s. I love new fashion, I can appreciate it, but for me, unless I know where it came from and the back history then I will never be completely satisfied.
Fashion history is so, so important.
So How Should Someone Get Started Learning About Fashion?
I recommend books to start, and magazines too. Watch Youtube videos. Watch ShowStudio interviews. Watch Lou Stoppard ask questions to everyone in the fashion industry. It's important.
You have a list of books and resources, too! I’m linking it here!
Yes, we’re going to work on another one this week I think. Way more high fashion.
I should recommend some books, too, good idea. Here’s my top 5:
What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and how Much of Fashion by Claire McCardell
If you’ve never heard of Claire McCardell, fix that ASAP. Ms. McCardell was the first designer to look at the needs of the woman—particularly the American working woman—when designing clothes for them, and her style advice is some of the most timeless you’ll ever read.
“Work up to effects: If you admire the way a woman looks wearing five gold chains and there haven’t been any gold chains in your life, don’t go out and buy five gold chains all at once. Work up to the effect you want gradually. Buy one chain, perhaps two. Try them together. Try them with a string of beads added. Increase until the effect is right for you.”
Reminds me of my own accessorizing advice…
A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries: From Catwalk to Sidewalk by Bonnie English
Coming in at just over 200 pages, you’d be utterly surprised just how much fashion knowledge this book covers, from the rise of haute couture, to Japanese designers, to sustainable and ethical fashion. It’s a great jumping off point to figure out what areas of fashion you’re most intrigued by, so that you can hone in on what sparks your interest.
“Postmodernist fashion relies on visual paradox—underclothing becomes outerwear, new is replaced by old, and propriety in dress is replaced by a total lack of respect for the display of status and value systems. Highly priced, slashed and torn garments symbolize an economic irrationality…The literal deconstruction of fabric and finishing techniques seemingly reflects the deconstruction of past values.”
Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion by Tansy E. Hopkins
Yes, it is possible to love fashion and hate capitalism, and this book breaks down exactly how to reconcile those two stances.
“In some ways it is easier to imagine the impact of these post-capitalism changes on a world-wide scale than to envisage their impact at street level…It is important to reiterate that we cannot know how people would dress in a post-capitalist world. Art, and fashion, resonate with people because they mirror and represent the world they are living in. Fashion thus changes over time because it arises in different social environments. A post-revolutionary society would have unimaginable consequences for clothing.”
Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You by Simon Doonan
Eccentric Glamour is less a book meant to educate and more one meant to entertain, but you’ll come away with more than few lessons on how to craft a unique style identity, unconventional style icons, and the value of self-expression.
“All over America, people are making kamikaze choices about what to wear. They are misrepresenting the goods. They are letting their clothes write checks that their personalities cannot cash. What about you? Are you a nun in showgirl’s clothing? Are your outfits telegraphing misinformation about your personality?”
The last book in my top 5 is not one that I can name, because it is unique to you: as you begin to dive below the surface of fashion, you’ll find your McQueen, or your Schiaparelli, or even your Halston or Mackie or Prada that truly makes you feel something. Ideally, it’ll be a designer who’s been the subject of plenty of books and materials to devour, and even more ideally, your journey down that artist’s rabbit hole will lead you all over the place in terms of styles, techniques, names, and eras.