New Year, New Look

With the recent revamp of The Contributing Editor, online magazine, one editorial really caught my eye.

Paris Je t'aime is the title. At first I really loved the overall feel of it. So youthful, so fancy, so nonchalant. However upon researching a lot of the vintage designers who's pieces were used in the editorial I found myself learning about some of the greatest unknowns of the fashion industry. Patrick Kelly for instance, the first African-American to be granted membership into the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. After researching his style I'm amazed at how iconic it was and how much it played a role in the early 90's nightlife of Paris.

The overall feel to me is so existential and brave. I'm trying to adopt this style, because for me it is the perfect physical exemplification of how I feel on the inside, refined but wild. To me the styles presented in the spread transcend this idea of trends and materialism in a way that is almost objectifying it. In a way ironic, but still maintaining a standard of EXTREMELY high visual quality.

As I sit here in my imitation Chanel Jacket writing this so many questions about materialism and the physical representations we give ourselves each day swarm within my brain. Lately I've felt very enlightened, maybe even illumined. So I would say this sort of is my way of physically getting my point across that there is much more to life that what lies on the outside. I mean living in Charlotte, NC and dressing this way isn't really something that goes on within the Queen's city so in a way, I guess I'm asking for it. For me however, it's about the statement, the statement of rejecting modern ideals and stereotypes through objectification, ridding yourself of lust by becoming in a way androgynous, and most importantly taking the idea of trends vs. counterculture and completely obliterating it by doing something so against the grain. So far I've pulled off only one look from the spread but it got people's attention, in a brand new way however. There were no negative reactions, and really no positive ones either. It was more of a fascination, something so obscure and off the map from what modern American youth society is used to that it's like seeing something for the first time, you can't pass judgement because you have no point of reference, or maybe it's every point of reference. Either way I'm enjoying it.▲

Check out the entire spread HERE.