Fashion Styling, Storytelling and Choices
Fashion styling is the art of putting together a great outfit. Stylists craft narratives around people, trends, products… The main goal of styling is to create something pleasant for the eyes, but not only that. Styling is also about entertainment and art. At The Curator, we believe that everybody should have fun while getting dressed and that your image (clothes and demeanor) tell your story. And that’s the best part of fashion <3
Inspired by one of my fashion muses, the super talented Thais Farage and her monthly newsletter (in Portuguese, sign up here), I have been thinking a lot about Style, Fashion Styling, Storytelling and Cultural Narratives. I don’t know if it’s because I study narratives and literature is a great part of my personal and academic life, but it is impossible for me to not think that the image you project tells a story. This is an obvious statement, of course, especially in times of personal branding and all these artifices we see marketing savvy people advocating for. But we are talking about commoners here, tangible styling, for people like you and me, not about what the magnanimous Law Roach does for Zendaya, for instance. We are not discussing what is the function of styling for commerce or fashion campaigns.
Personal styling. That’s what we all do every day. Clothes have overcome the simple function of covering a body a long time ago—this is a fashion blog, I don’t think I need to defend the idea of caring about how you look, LOL. Putting clothes on is not something automatic—with some exceptions like a uniform, for instance—, even the least fashion committed person will open their wardrobe and consciously choose something to wear, something they consciously choose to buy. And these choices tell a story.
The storytelling starts right at the label level
Dressing is also a political act. You can choose to get more involved and understand the origin of what you are wearing, you can make more sustainable choices, being adept to circular and sustainable fashion, you can dress ethically, support environmental-slow fashion brands, or you can ignore it all, which is also a political choice. And beyond these ethical and sustainable choices, we also face the social choices. Will you wear what you are supposed to, according to society norms?
This label choices also have an economic impact. Different people, different budgets, different brands… you know where I am getting at. But mind you, more expensive does not mean better, neither more ethical nor sustainable. Money facilitates everything. With money you can go for the obvious haute-couture label choice like buying a Birkin that tells an instant story: the bag is symbol of wealth and exclusivity due to its high price and long waiting lists, aside from the fact that you need to follow a Hermès hierarchy before being allowed to buy a Birkin. But you can also go for the quality and a (way) less pricy label. I am not saying a Birkin doesn’t offer quality, my point here is that there is “affordable” high-quality fashion products on the market.
And then we have fast fashion. Before its advent, fashion was a privilege of a financial elite. The clothes were tailor-made by seamstresses and tailors, and were expensive and inaccessible to most people. With fast fashion, clothes have become accessible to a wider audience. Aside from that, there is the injustice of sizes. Fast fashion brands offer a bigger range in sizes, catering to more diverse types of body. These companies make fashion more accessible for more people, because of the prices and the sizes. However, these brands offer ‘fashion democracy’ at a very high environmental and social price. Known as one of the most polluting industries in the world, fast fashion and its mass production of clothing require a large amount of natural resources, such as water, energy and raw materials. The production process also generates a large amount of waste and pollution, from the use of chemical dyes to the improper disposal of toxic waste. The difficulty here is for those who have scarce options, be them caused by financial or size limitations. I can’t judge people who do not have a choice.
In conclusion, our label can tell the recipient that you want a fashion statement or that you worry about sustainability or that you prefer ethical fabrics or that you did your best within your personal budget. There is a story behind every choice, even when they are limited.
Obvious Narratives of Style: The example of “Sex and The City”
Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are being rediscovered now thanks to the sequel “And Just Like That” that put “Sex and The City” on the streaming map again. Outfits are a big thing for the plot. The show influenced the millennial wardrobe, and Harper’s Bazar summarized it for us here. Of course, since it is a TV show, the narrative factor is quite obvious. It is about the story of four successful women, whose personalities were meticulously crafted to be archetypically different, living a great friendship full of haute couture, boozy brunches and hot men in trendy New York. Growing up, I was amazed by how great they’d look and of course, I wanted that life (and who does not?).
“Sex and The City” created a canon that is still referenced—and I can use myself as an example, my dramatic flower brooches are Carrie’s inheritance, just like my obsession for color block, Samantha’s greatest hit. Even though the luxury brands the show endorses are the opposite of affordable, semiotics is everything, and the styling of the show told us exactly what they wanted to convey: be successful, be rich, be an empowered woman, be sexually free! The association is very clear: when I have a business meeting, I channel Miranda’s power suits; if I want to look girlie and romantic, I’ll do my best to impersonate Charlotte’s classic taste.
What I want to say is that…
Back to our practical lives, style is something we build. As we have read in the article about Fashion x Style, style is related to the individual and it is timeless. Styling is a form of self-expression and will tell a story, whether you want it or not, after all, we all know that old book judgement by its cover. And rather than saying there’s nothing we can do about it, I’ll say: seize the act of dressing. From conscious label choices to matching accessories in the morning. It doesn’t matter if you wear cargo pants and a tank top to be comfortable and practical, or if you dress up daily: just embrace styling and have fun being who you are.
I heard people calling me shallow for caring that much uncountable times. But honestly, I couldn’t care less. The process of dressing to me is as important as taking a shower, brushing my teeth or eating. From choosing my story since the label, trying to find something that can be ethical and that fits my available budget to choosing how I am going to style it are part of choosing who I am, or who I want to be. Daily.
