Do You Dress for Another City?
I’ve often thought about whether my personal style is representative of where I live. What I mean by that is, the people who most inspire my style are often walking the streets of London, Stockholm, Paris, Tokyo, and Cape Town. So what is it about the style over there that’s so different from here, where I am? And is there something about the style around me, here in Southern California, that jut doesn’t click or is this all just a grand generalization?
One way in which this difference becomes most apparent is in my love for androgynous styling. I love a bit of men’s tailoring in my personal style and am often drawn to women who rock oversized blazers, plaid dress pants and loafers. There’s something about it that is incredibly chic and feminine to me. I almost always feel more comfortable and more myself in a large white button down than something body-hugging. I find this type of styling to be very British, and this is very obvious in how popular blazers and suit sets are at the moment. But there are loads of other stylish women donning androgynous looks all over the place. Some people who do this so well are Londoners Lizzie Hadfield of Shot from the Street and Freddie Harrel, Anne-Miek Kessels of Modedamour who’s based in the Netherlands and South African, Rebecca Arendse of The Minimale Blogger.
I’ve also noticed that style in the Uk often champions an air of quirkiness, something off-kilter in the way an outfit is styled, clashing prints, or exaggerated proportions. This is a quality I love although I’m not always brave enough to rock it with confidence. But it’s this sense of imperfection that, in my humble opinion, really separates the great styling from the good. Someone who instantly comes to mind when I think about this styling je ne sais quoi is Manchester-based, Megan Ellaby. Her style is a bit bonkers and she can pull off a rainbow color palette like nobody else. While I don’t always gravitate towards her personal style (I’m a neutrals girl through and through), I DO gather so much inspiration from her fun approach to styling. Freddie Harrel is another person, who I will mention again for her insane color clashing skills on top of her penchant for power suits. Here in SoCal, I feel that there is a more uniform approach to styling sometimes. Perhaps that comes from the great weather year round that limit’s our need to get creative in the cold, or perhaps it’s just our desire to always be ‘on point’ with our outfit choices. Either way, I find myself wanting to experiment more with my personal style and inject some quirkiness into it just to switch things up once in a while.
There are of course some ways in which my personal style has become more adapted to SoCal since relocating here 2 years ago. First off, I approach styling in a very laid back way. Comfort is always my number one priority, because let’s face it, there’s a whole lot of sitting on beaches that needs to be done in this lifetime. I’m also pretty much always in a pair of sandals these days, and I’m certainly not complaining about that. And I especially love the ode to 70’s styling that’s big here, with bell bottoms and baker boy caps in heavy rotation around these parts.
I suppose, this long, drawn out rant has made me realize that it’s not really about where you are in the world geographically speaking, but how you combine all the disparate elements that inspire your own style. In my mind, I strive to be a bit of SoCal, a bit of East Coast, a bit of across the pond and a bit of the minimalist globetrotter that I’m inspired by every day. It’s an eclectic look but it suits me.
I’m super curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. Have you ever had the feeling that your personal style is more in line with another place or do you think that it’ something that various from place to place? Let me know what you think in the comments section below. Thank you for reading this train of thought post! xx Jessica
