In the other room, I keep a small stack of magazines. Not one of them is focused on fashion. This stack tells me more about personal wardrobe style than any collection of Vogue, People, Glamour, Cosmo, Elle, Harper’s, Marie Claire or any of the hundreds of other consumer fashion industry publications on the stands. (Ok, I confess – I do have three or four back issues of People.)
The non-fashion magazines aren’t trying to sell a style or trend or fashion. The people on their pages aren’t high-steppin’ down runways; they’re walking down sidewalks. They’re not showcasing the upcoming Spring collections; they’re wearing clothes. They’re not dressed in this week’s hottest fashion trend; they’re dressed in what they chose from their closet that morning to wear to work, to wear downtown, to wear to lunch. They didn’t spend four hours in Hair, Make-Up and Wardrobe getting ready for a photo shoot. They’re not being lit from above or behind, being directed or specifically posed or framed.
The people on those pages are not setting trends or, for the most part, following trends. They’re wearing clothes. Just like you do, and I do, and your cousin Liz does, and your sister Karen does, and your neighbors do.
When developing your personal style blueprint, lean toward the stack of non-fashion magazines. Look at what other people are wearing – other people who are not size 0-2 or strutting down a runway at Bryant Park. To my thinking, the only people who should be striving to look like runway models are other runway models.
If you love a style, and if wearing that style works for you, wear that style. Period.
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