TRAILBLAZERS

Gabrielle Coco Chanel once said that “a fashion that does not reach the streets, is not a fashion”. Simple statement, but you would be surprised that so many people would not understand what it means. Hell, it took some time before I could fully understand what it REALLY meant. It’s quite simple really. It simply means that the streets, much like fashion, is a strong medium of our individual expressions.

However, I still find that when we occasionally run into that bold individual who refuses to succumb to the ordinary standards of fashion (which is often regarded as normal or acceptable) and just simply expresses their fashion-forward individuality and identity, we stare and react like they just jumped down from Mars or Pluto. Yet we claim to understand fashion and still go as far as labeling ourselves fashion gurus or icons. Wow!

                                      
If fashion is a medium of individual expression, then how can one really stand against what another is expressing? After all, it is supposed to be about individuality right? I think this where it all gets all tricky and sticky. Are we now saying that the way in which you personally want to express yourself and your individuality should always bear relevance to what the rest of the world thinks is okay or acceptable when it comes to fashion?

Does this now mean that when the rest of the world decides that purple or green is the color for the season, you cannot wear your yellows and reds and still be considered fashionably relevant?

I have come across a lot of people who have “defied” the “norms and conformities” of fashion. And for me, these are the people who have managed to make an everlasting impression on me. Simply because they were causing a revolution of their own.

I am referring to people who went totally haywire when a certain trend was seen as the “it” factor. I am talking about the nomads, the minimalists, the print freaks, the rocks, and even the cross-dressers. These are the individuals who stand out for me when the rest of the world feels like…I don’t know…”military” is couture. These are my personal fashion street soldiers. Does this now make them fashionably blasphemous or irrelevant?

                                                
I think quite the opposite is true really. I think that fashion is what initially becomes your own interpretation. I have never been one who has followed trends on color for a certain season. It all boils down to preference at the end of the day. Look at it this way, we all know what color works for us and which is our favorite. Right? Be it because it flatters our complexion or our silhouettes, we know what colors and pastels work for us.

Fashion for me has always been a personal revolution. And for me, like everybody else, the streets were the best way/place to amplify this revolution. So they are both very interlinked. Too interlinked if you ask me. It is for this reason that you find fashion designers, stylists and bloggers will be going to all corners of the world for “inspiration”. And you can bet your ass on it, one of the first few places they go to seek this “inspiration” is… THE STREETS.

  

So if you are sitting there and feeling like crap because the girl with a pencil skirt and a floral blouse at reception cracked a giggle when you walked by in your futuristic or tribal ensemble, get a hold of yourself because you have reason to strut and celebrate. You are contributing to a fashion revolution. Your own fashion revolution. Does it get any better than that really?

                                        

And if you were too scared to walk down Bree Steet this morning because you felt like that tribal dress was a bit too much, and therefore opted to take the long route to work, i dare you to wear an even more defying dress and walk down Bree Street tomorrow morning.

 You are exactly what the streets of Joburg need. You are FASHION. And trust me, it does not get any better than that. Do your fashion and take it to the streets. You’d be surprised how many nods you are actually getting from the individuals who truly and really understand fashion and its revolutions.

Nods from even the Coco Chanels and Alexander McQueens in the heavens. You are fashion. Now let’s take it to the streets.

IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN WHAT SEPARATES THE ORDINARY FROM THE EXTRAORDINARY, THE COUTURE FROM THE MAINSTREAM AND THE BOYS FROM THE MEN!