UNIFORM DRESSING!

+.｡☆ﾟ:;｡+ﾟ ☆* 10 of my favorite examples of uniform dressing... +.｡☆ﾟ:;｡+ﾟ ☆*ﾟ

i was watching an episode of sex and the city earlier today and was reminded how charmed i am by carrie’s momentary style uniforms. something she wears over and over again signifying a certain period of her life.. her ratty fur coat from season 1, those giant rosettes she wore for 3 episodes straight in season 2, the gold carrie necklace she lost and found in paris symbolizing her loss of identity through her relationship with alexander petrovsky…

for better or worse, i treat dressing as an extension of my personality. almost as a way to articulate who i am without the daunting pressure of words.

in elementary school my uniform consisted of giant bows in my hair i would wear as an unconscious effort to tell the world i value making my life feel a little bit more whimsical where i can

in middle school it was the distressed brown leather boots that loudly clacked while walking down the hallway which made me realize how powerful i feel in a heel

in college it was a pair of glittery gold vans sneakers that i wore as an effort to incorporate the smallest sliver of glamour in between shower shoes, those plastic dining hall food containers and the starkness of bright white cement dorm room walls

last year it was my pink hair and multiple new tattoos as an effort to balance out the seriousness that slowly starts to ingulf your social ecosystem after you turn 25

my uniform lately has been big bows i’ve been wearing in my hair paired with pleated mini skirts which feel oddly referential to that initial phase in elementary school when i began expressing myself before any external buzz started to make me question it

i feel so drawn to anthologizing periods of my life through the habitual items i wore for the same reason why i get dressed in the first place, looking back those choices they explain to me way more than whatever i wrote down in my diary at the time. 

HERE ARE 10 OF MY FAVORITE STYLE “UNIFORMS” 

1. jenna lyons- anyone who knows me knows how much i love jenna lyons, i remember the exact day when i read an interview with her in teen vogue about how she wore a denim jacket to the met ball. to me there has never been anything cooler than jenna’s commitment to juxtaposing denim with delicate fabrics. this is also very appropriate given she wore denim pants to the rhony reunion…

2. zoe kravitz- i worship her street style for a lot of reasons but mainly because it has barely changed over the years. she is always in some sort of oversized silhouette paired with a classic minimalistic flat such as her mary janes from the row

3. alexa chung- and speaking of flats.. unsurprisingly alexa chung is a top 5 it-girl for me, her commitment to a dainty flat with a little heel throughout vicious ebbs and flows of the ballet flat trend cycle is very inspiring

4. the green lady from brooklyn- i am very drawn to the concept of exclusively wearing a color you feel the most like yourself in, the most iconic example of this is elizabeth sweetheart aka the green lady from brooklyn

5. andre leon talley- the first time i came across alt and all his prolific glory was when i rented the september issue via dvd on a middle school friday night when i had no plans. later in life he started exclusively wearing caftans, a reporter asked him why during an interview and he replied, “if marc jacobs can wear a lace dress, i can wear a caftan or anything else i want, at any time”. i find that to be deeply fabulous and a phenomenal retort

   

6. jane birken- not surprising that she is on my list, however i actually appreciate her commitment to whicker baskets as a functional handbag over her heavily charmed namesake birken bag.. i think there is something about the unpretentiousness about carrying a simple whicker basket that speaks to her general attitude and approach to life

   

7. fran lebowitz- she would probably hate that she is on this list. i think culture is drawn to fran’s style less for the actual components of her formulaic blazer + button down + vintage denim + visibly worn cowboy boots and more about her omnipresent attitude that creates the rejectory tension that is displayed in both her personal style and her work

   

8. joan dideon- one of my favorite JD quotes is, “i don't want to differentiate between style and sensibility, by the way. again, your style is your sensibility” which to me points to why she always wore giant celine sunglasses, as a barrier from herself to the permeable outside world

   

9. sara berman- one of my most cherished gifts i have ever received was a copy of sara berman’s closet given to me my by aunt. the book is written by her children as a ode to her extremely neat and all white wardrobe. the book is such a beautiful celebration of how our life experiences dictate our sartorial palette and the items we feel connected to

   

10. eloise (..at the plaza) - ok so this kind of doesn’t count because she is a fictional cartoon character; however, she has always felt viscerally real to me. her disheveled uniform of a black pleated mini skirt, suspenders, white button up blouse with puff sleeves, knee socks with mary janes and the lone pop of color of her red hair bow perfect captures her chaotic and sophisticated view of the world

    

XOXOXO