Spring Break
The confessions of a fashion magazine addict
Issue date: 2/21/08
I ignore the people who tell me that I take fashion too seriously; I love clothes and I love wearing them in fun, interesting and sometimes unusual ways. As anyone who has walked into my room can attest to the fact I am a fashion magazine whore.
From Elle to Glamour, if it lists the top 10 new looks for summer and can tell me the best way to dress for my body type, I will read it. Nothing is better than sinking into a couch on a lazy afternoon with a cup of hot tea and the newest issue of Vogue.
However, as I start to flip through the pages, I begin to realize that I can neither afford nor realistically wear anything that Anna Wintour has chosen to feature.
While a "luscious jewel-tone shift in silk twill that doubles and redoubles back on itself like so many enormous ruffles" from Proenza Schouler sounds marvelous, the close-to-five-digit price tag and the fact that I, sadly, have nowhere to wear a dress like that makes me feel as if spending the $4.99 on the magazine was a waste of a large raspberry gelato from Café Q.
"Shopping" magazines like Lucky do feature clothing that is wearable, though the $375 3.1 Phillip Lim jacket is still well beyond my price range. Yet I continue to buy these magazines regularly (I really should just mail those inserts in and subscribe) because looking at the featured clothing can give me a sense of what to look for when I go shopping for price tags that don't empty my bank account.
Extracting the wearable from magazines is the best way to personalize looks and avoid looking too trendy.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. When you only have 20 minutes to get out the door and make a mad dash across campus to your first class of the day, the last thing you want to be thinking about is wearing something "fashionable" when something "comfortable" is so much more enticing.
However, with a few strategic shopping moves (like buying that perfectly cozy no-fuss dress) and some approachable pointers, it's really just as easy to look like you stepped out of one of my magazines as it is to pull on those ratty sweatpants.
From Elle to Glamour, if it lists the top 10 new looks for summer and can tell me the best way to dress for my body type, I will read it. Nothing is better than sinking into a couch on a lazy afternoon with a cup of hot tea and the newest issue of Vogue.
However, as I start to flip through the pages, I begin to realize that I can neither afford nor realistically wear anything that Anna Wintour has chosen to feature.
While a "luscious jewel-tone shift in silk twill that doubles and redoubles back on itself like so many enormous ruffles" from Proenza Schouler sounds marvelous, the close-to-five-digit price tag and the fact that I, sadly, have nowhere to wear a dress like that makes me feel as if spending the $4.99 on the magazine was a waste of a large raspberry gelato from Café Q.
"Shopping" magazines like Lucky do feature clothing that is wearable, though the $375 3.1 Phillip Lim jacket is still well beyond my price range. Yet I continue to buy these magazines regularly (I really should just mail those inserts in and subscribe) because looking at the featured clothing can give me a sense of what to look for when I go shopping for price tags that don't empty my bank account.
Extracting the wearable from magazines is the best way to personalize looks and avoid looking too trendy.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. When you only have 20 minutes to get out the door and make a mad dash across campus to your first class of the day, the last thing you want to be thinking about is wearing something "fashionable" when something "comfortable" is so much more enticing.
However, with a few strategic shopping moves (like buying that perfectly cozy no-fuss dress) and some approachable pointers, it's really just as easy to look like you stepped out of one of my magazines as it is to pull on those ratty sweatpants.
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