2 Trends I Won’t Be Wearing Soon
While trends and styles seem to change at an ever faster pace, trickling down from runways to Forever 21 and H&M before hitting the sales racks at thrift stores, you’ll notice my trend-watching hovers pretty far below the radar. I take notice given that the only reading material at the gym is In Style or Us, but noticing rarely develops into action. Looking over two of the ‘trends’ that are supposed to be so huge for summer (and I feel like both of these were supposed to be everywhere last summer, too), you might start to understand why trends don’t mean a lot to me.
The maxi dress. Even when this is done well, like the J.Crew eyelet dress, it still has overtones of night gown. When it’s done poorly, like this $455.00 cotton sack, it just makes me want to roll my eyes. Plus, I’m short. Ridiculously, ludicrously short. Pulling one of these off when you’re the height of a great dane is about as likely as nationalized health care.
Yeah, Talitha Getty, blah icon blah. No. Just, no.
Slightly related to the maxi dress, especially given the world traveler angle ShopBop seems to be going for, is the ethnic/tribal explosion.
Whether bags, tops, or coats, the ‘ethnic’ look is suddenly every where. Granted, this is a very personal thing particular to someone of my background, but I don’t need clothes to achieve an ethnic look. I mean, if you’re going for a bright, colorful look, or are interested in different textiles and prints–I get that. But that is not how this trend is being marketed and I think bell hooks would have a ball with how places like Shopbop are touting their items as being a ’sophisticated’ take on ethnicity. Oookay.
I understand that clothing should be fun, that we should be able to play around with looks and experiment with different styles. If fashion never changed, that certainly wouldn’t be possible. However, there are times when I can see the dollar signs in marketers eyes, and these two trends are definitely making me hold my wallet a little tighter.
Feel free to disagree.
Wow – I really don’t like wearing PJ pants to the store let alone a $400 dollar nightgown to a wedding. I’m so out of touch when it comes to clothes, I tend to stick to what I know buying the occasional “in style” office outfit at NY&CO.
As far as tribal prints go, I’ve never really been a fan. I don’t think they carry over well with jeans or khakis and my tribal heritage would have me smoking peyote and getting massacred by the troops, so yeah, I’ll just proudly know where I’m from.
I can’t really wear Ethnic either and it’s the same with floral prints too. I can’t work out what it is that doesn’t quite work but it’s hard to avoid them when the theme is so prevalent in the stores. By the way I added you to my blogroll :)
i think anything that takes a departure from nu rave and skinny pants, black hair dye and angular haircuts is a good thing.
now with that said…i do really feel that this look can be done well…it just takes a certain tact and definitely cues not taken from j.crew.
and if i had to wear my heritage it would consist of a texas tuxedo and a silk sarong. not pretty.
theue, I agree this *can* be done. I think some of the models in the maxi dresses look okay. But when even the model is having problems pulling it off, it’s certainly not something I’m going to risk.
And I certainly don’t advocate that if you *don’t* wear the ethnic look, you should somehow *only* be able to interpret clothes from your own background. My problem is really much more with how this look is being labelled and sold.
I think it’s great that you’re comfortable and confident enough with your own style to say, “No, I can appreciate this trend, but will not be wearing it.”
While I think Maxi dresses can be beautiful on the right woman, I’m probably too large a girl to wear it without looking like a massive blog in a horrible print.
I guess that long skirts and dresses are something I’ve always worn, so I’ll continue to wear them whether they’re trendy or not. I’ve always been fascinated with certain ‘ethnic’ styles, so the same thing goes for them–I won’t stop wearing the clothes I already own just to avoid a trend.
Those two tops are hideous, but I actually rather like the bag.
Indeed. I had been coveting a pair of Sigerson Morrison sandals, but when push came to shove, I felt uncomfortable because they were so ethnically “marked,” and didn’t work with, well, with me!
And I hear you about the nightgown-esque long dresses/flour sack.
i have to wholeheartedly agree with you here. Maxi dresses never look chic or polished.
i’m also not a fan of trends—here in tokyo, they seems to be forever changing, so i always just follow my “instinct” and wear what i want when it comes to dressing up
i love this blog btw
I love this line in your post “I don’t need clothes to achieve an ethnic look”.
Me too, sister :) Though I have to say, I do love things bright and colorful. Beige is my enemy.
I like it that the traditional Indian look is as close to “ethnic” as you girls will ever get. I just slip into a “salwar Kameez” and that’s it…
Now a salwar kameez is in my opinion one of the most elegant and gorgeous items of clothing in the world….. on authentic Indian women!
I look terrible in a maxi dress – like an anorexic hobbit. But there are those mythical women out there that can rock any look with panache, unfortunately, I’m not one of them…..
If I was going to wear clothes from my heritage, I’d either be dressed in a hessian sack, convict style, on the boat from England to Australia, or in a British military uniform, all ready to rape and pillage the natives, like.
Neither look appeals, for obvious reasons.
Anyways, trends are overrated – wear what suits, and wear it with pride. That’s all I can say….
Leah xx
(I think I may be delurking here in a big bad way…..)
Too funny BUT I disagree that shorties can’t rock the maxi dress trend. It can actually lengthen a bit in my opinion!
Hhm. Yeah, I’m not sure I’d buy those either. They may look okay on some people… and those some people may have the big dollars to buy them. However, I am not one of those people. So, I’ll just stick to my jeans, thanks.
i agree with you!
and i too hate the use of “ethnic.”
what does that mean anyway?
and the maxi dress.
i too have never been able to pull something like this off without looking like i’m abotu to go to bed.
ditto to risa’s comment, every word. the “ethnic trend” just affirms how white-identified the fashion industry is (not that that is such a surprise, but it is not always that crude). and “sophisticated ethnic”… um is that supposed to be in contrast to “trashy ethnic”? and is the latter what actual people of color wear? sigh… sorry… i could rant about this for a few hours :)
that said, i do love the maxi dress, but to sleep in!
xo
Wow, thank you guys for all of your thoughtful comments–both pro and con. I love a good discussion and am so glad to see varying opinions on this.
I’ll be skipping ethnic, but I’m still contemplating the maxi-dress. Not sure if it’d be a giant nightgown on me or not.
Nice post.
I’ll have to agree with you there Ambika. Also, my fashion techniques involve thrifting. Therefore, these articles of clothing look a little too clean for me anyway. Ha.
I probably should sport the ethnic look though. My pale skin is disguising my Filipinoness. I’ll have to get that fixed. Maybe a bag will do the trick.
“A sophisticated take” on the ethnic look is an insulting statement for so many reasons. It’s almost as bad as when a few years ago anything made with wood beads got labeled as “tribal”…
i love the maxi dress
I believe that maxi dresses are all about finding the appropriate one. If you find the one that works for you, it can be stunning. But it’s a quest. I’m not a fan of “ethnic” or “tribal” trends. Why should these things be trendy? Why can’t I wear kente cloth for longer than one season? Why don’t more designers use it every season? I just hate when things from people’s cultures are made to be trendy. . . like in high school when some girls walked around wearing bindis. . . as if they knew anything about sanskrit or Hinduism.
After reading your post, I must admit that I’m slightly disappointed in myself as a Media Studies major that I fall victim to almost every trend that emerges. It’s nice to be reminded that I don’t need to embrace certain looks, especially when they don’t do anything for my body (the big baggy dress? not my friend). Great post, and I love your blog!
The ‘cotton sack’ is a combination of the Mexican wedding shirt and my grad dress I wore in the seventies. That’s all I’m going to say :)
Gina
I’ve seen quite a few people in Maxi dresses and it always looks like the dress is wearing them and not vice versa. I don’t like the drowning in fabric look.
It’s funny you mentioned the Ethnic look ad campaign. My boyfriend and I were watching the Old Navy commercial and he just turned to me and asked how do they define ethnic? what does that even mean?
I feel much the same way as you about these trends, particularly ‘ethnic’- if I wore some of those pieces pictured above, it’d end up making me look like a walking cliche.
But on the other hand, clothing of that persuasion in India isn’t some seasonal trend, it’s what many people here actually wear. I’m not forking out for it, though..
Props to Bell Hooks…I feel like the “tribal/ethnic/exotic” thing has always been here since the 1920s to varying degrees though it is being heavily marketed…again…I also recall a lame documentary in high school or something that wanted to convince us all that Vogue was evil and fashion editorials submitted women to further denigration by living out male photographer’s/society’s rape/murder fantasies in bublegum colors…From the same film they mentioned that “ethnic” models are much more likely to be put into “animalistic” poses/outfits/contexts than their white counterparts. I think it’s true but it ain’t gonna keep me from weaing embroidered tunics.
The maxi dress can be carried off but as so many have already noted it’s a very delicate line to walk between Little House on the Prairie and Clara from the Nutcracker.
I hear you on being short and the maxi dress not being for short people. I’d feel overwhelmed swathed in so much fabric.
I know I’m the umpteenth person who’s said this but the whole ethnic thing totally rubs me the wrong way. How is it that white people can have things from their culture marketed to them everyday as just something normal, but when I want some from my culture, it’s only a trend and it’s labeled? Ridiculous.
I do like maxi dresses though. Just as long as you’re relatively form fitting.