“I don’t get it! Do people actually wear that?” My uncle asked as he picked me and my two large suitcases up from the Port Authority bus station in New York. It was September of 2014, and New York City was at the onset of yet another bustling fashion week. I didn’t bother reminding him that he had asked me this question before(i.e every time he picked me up from the bus station for fashion week) or that I have heard it a thousand times from my own friends. Instead, I launched into what would be my thousandth time explaining the difference between the exaggerated styling on the runway and what people actually wear.
“So, what’s the point? I don’t get your fashion world. I guess I’m just not a fashion person.”
The fashion world, in particular, has always had a sort of outsider/insider stigma; where you either get it or you don’t, where it is for some and not for many, and I, for one, have always taken a neutral, journalistic approach to the whole thing. I’m neither an insider or an outsider. I don’t pretend to be a snob who completely gets it or a snob who dubs it as materialistic for the sake of sounding like they have far better things to do with their life.
This fashion season was very to special to me because for the first time, I could finally respond to the “what’s the point?” question. I felt like after 7 years I finally get it beyond the picture taking. And I thank God it’s all finally coming together. I decided I no longer want to simply be an observer, documenting what I see on the streets and saying very little about it, instead; I want to translate it into something meaningful—to bridge the gap between “I don’t get it” and everyday inspiration.
I asked myself how do I take this from just beautiful imagery to something that can be useful to you. Perhaps, by sharing different looks that can serve as inspiration for your everyday wardrobe or by sharing trends that you can incorporate into your looks without breaking the bank or while breaking the bank (I’m here for both)!
During fashion week this season, I took you behind the scenes on what it is like to be a style photographer. Through Instagram Stories(now saved in highlights), I shared the day-to-day to hustle of shooting street style and my strategy for shows. You got to observe my crazy world attending shows, missing shows, photographing in the pouring rain and waiting almost two hours for Marc Jacobs. Though it proved to be a lot of work documenting the behind-the-scenes of a job that is already incredibly attention driven and time-consuming, I enjoyed sharing every bit of it with you.
For the upcoming fashion week posts on Armenyl.com…
My goal is to break down the street style looks into digestible pieces. I am a huge advocate for searching for inspiration and reinventing it with your own personal touch. While attending fashion week this season, I disclosed to you that this was the very first time I put some effort into what I was going to wear. At first, I almost didn’t bother trying, but then I decided to put myself up to the challenge. I researched trends from the past season and looked for items in my own closest to reinterpret those ideas. It was a great learning experience for me, and it reinforced the idea that fashion doesn’t have to be hard, exclusive or unattainable. As some of you know, to my surprise, one of those looks landed a spot on Manrepeller.com’s Best Street Style looks this season! Ok woah!
If there’s one message I want to put across as I share “trend reports”, “style inspo”, and the “hot items of fashion week” with you, it is to draw inspiration from these looks and make it your own: You can pick and choose the trends or mix them all together. You can reinterpret the “Look of the day” posts with items in your own closet. Or treat yourself to the hottest items on the street style block.
The good news is that this New York Fashion Week was the first one in a while where I found a lot of street style looks that were as attainable as piecing together everyday items in your own closet. I hope to share more easy-to-recreate styles with you and even for those that may be a little complicated, I’d love us to delve into how to make it your own. We will be deconstructing a lot of styles from the streets and talking about all the trends you can incorporate into your looks this fall.
Get ready for some major fashion!
