I never know how to start with blog posts when ever I want to write something of consistency and/or with a valid point. Typically I write a post while I'm eating or half asleep or watching 30 Rock or doing all three simultaneously ("if you want a shot, you're going to have to dance for it...") so I don't get my mental gears going like I should. But then when I sit in silence in front of a computer screen with a black text bracket flicking on and off and on and off, I remain stuck in my thoughts and eventually I just write a couple of sentences, upload some pictures and then go off and do something else. And here I am again doing the exact same thing, but now instead of the mundane repetition, I finally admit I want to talk about something legitimate. Or at least something that's been lingering in my mind for the past weeks, months, years. I think I'm just going to go with the flow and see where my mind takes me (you'll probably be in that twisted dark cave from the 1970s Willy Wonka movie by the end of it, just a word of warning).

Fashion is frivolous. I hear and see that in so many different ways, contexts, confused proclamations, concerned glances, condescending laughs - the list goes on. It took me a long time to understand it and even longer to accept it. These days I tend to ignore cynical things that are said and I won't let it get the best of me (I'm talking about things said about fashion, not personal style, because I'm at a point now where I don't really mind what is said about the latter). I've grown to learn that frivolity comes from a hazy subjective lens of a certain individual, ones who can't go "I don't get it but do whatever floats your boat" but instead declare the opposite.

I thought about this a lot after a quick but discerning conversation with a 76 year old architect that constantly comes into the restaurant I work at for coffee. When he asked me about my career path and I told him what my plans were, he congratulated me and wished me luck in whatever I decided to do with my future. 

"Well I'm actually considering something in fashion" I told him after his "good for you!"s and "stay in school!"s. I remember he just raised his eyebrows and asked, "what, like a designer? are you going to design ball gowns like Valentino?"

"Haha, no, I'm interested more in concept." 

"LOL. Fashion isn't concept at all, it's just for girls to look good."

At this point I started asking him if he knew any Japanese designers and he responded that no he didn't because they only became notable in the past few years to which I started mentioning early 80s Paris Yohji and Rei (I thought the architect cred maybe he would know some of them because of their store's minimalist designs? or it's most likely because I'm stubborn and don't let anything go) and it completely escalated to the point where we raised our voices a touch. Even though it was maybe a minute long conversation tops, the fact that this man denied that fashion had any concept at all got me so angry I could have burst right then.

This was last summer. Since then I've come to terms with the fact that someone could have such an opposing mentality, mainly because they don't see the thing you find as meaningful or legitimate to you the same way. I think why I got so offended by his "fashion isn't concept" was because the only reason I liked (and like) fashion is because of concept. It's naive to think that fashion is only just Cosmopolitan and TLC style shows because that is media fashion, not actual fashion. True fashion is it's own breed of art, complete with tinges of what society labels as general art within it - for example, some runway shows can be seen as a performance art (early 2000s McQueen and A/W 98 Chalayan come to mind almost immediately). Fashion is also one of the only arts that adds physical real human form and concept to create an overwhelming feeling in the back of your heart like you know you're staring at something miraculous. Look at the ballet dancers wearing CdG S/S 97 pieces, how they gracefully move their body and the juxtaposing tumour-like shapes the dresses create against the viewer's predetermined notion of form. "Dress meets body, body meets dress". Everything about this is in the concept. It takes a toll on us through visual means but that overwhelming feeling of uncomfortable, radical beauty is in the end a conceptual means.

This entire video is about the Lumps and Bumps collection (it's from a documentary on Rei in Japanese on Youtube, but skip to 4:05 if you want to see them dancing while wearing pieces from it).

A lot of opposition is a repercussion of personal subjective ideologies. But sometimes I just want to show a person a video such as the one I just posted or of other runway shows for them to realize that fashion isn't only that one street style blog they read and that one US Vogue magazine they bought eight months ago. But I don't want to seem uptight and pretentious when it comes to fashion. Maybe I am a bit protective of it like a mother to it's cub, but admiring something so much has also taught me to respect what others admire to (as long as it's not like beating someone up with spatulas or throwing dogs from the Empire State Building). 

I am getting tired (aka I'm not reading this back so if I come off as unintelligible I apologize) but here are some poorly lit pictures of what I wore a few days ago.

Harry Potter shaped-Willy Wonka TV room glasses. Also my hair is fading so fast, but on the bright side it's getting whiter fast which means I can dye it again but this time ANOTHER NEON COLOUR :D

Pinned my cardigan up because it's boring without being pinned.

Hiding behind lights and my fading hair :'c

Everything is thrifted except for the sunglasses and the maxi dress which are from H&M.

P.S. This is the most perfect thing I have ever seen ever EVER. It is my actual aim to look like this in negative 1 month. (Does anyone have a source to this? It would be much appreciated bbs)