Use What You Got

The other day I was talking to some friends of mine. We were discussing what we thought of style. I said something along the lines of “Having good style is being able to dress like yourself no matter what is in your wardrobe.”

I think this is an important idea to maintain and one that fits into the ethos of what I try to convey in what I do. It is to use what you have around you and make it work. When I look to designers that I admire this seems to be a common practice that they use. If you look at Margiela and how he was using vintage clothing to express new ideas, Mcqeen using bin bags.

When you look at subcultures they often use basic garments and manipulate them to convey the look they are trying to achieve. Think of biker gangs cutting the sleeves off of Levis denim jackets adding their emblems to the back and other patches, punks tearing t-shirts and embellishing with pins and spikes. You see the ability to take what is around and transform it to what is necessary for your expression becomes far more vital than buying a piece that comes ready made to fit a style you are going for.

If you look in your closet and feel these clothes no identify with you, I encourage you to see what pieces you can take and try to adapt them to who you feel you are. This again goes to my previous post about autonomy through sewing. Enjoy the process, and don'‘t be afraid of “mistakes”.