the f/w fashion weeks of the world pepper our winter calendars like little saviors; stepping stones of white runway helping the style-hungry across this season’s long and barren road. the industry’s embrace of the digital age has allowed most of us - the unlucky masses - to live vicarious, shows streaming live (even 3d) at office tower-stacked desks, tweets buzzing blackberries like whispers from a wall of fashion’s flies.
paris. new york, milan. glimpses of our future closets, of impending costumes and fashion waves. style brought to life off the runway as much as it is on. it’s impossible for a girl not to get excited. and as toronto’s own turn fast approaches, i’ve been struck with the theme for the week: the power of style.
like many, i’ve long been enraptured by the artistry in fashion; spirited visions of form brought to life from deep within a designer’s imagination. words may spill out of a writer’s nib. a gifted eye can turn a moment immortal with an camera’s blink. a sculptor can blindly form the shapes of his soul with his fingertips. yet no art can lend accompaniment to the fabric of life like fashion. like the imagination and creation of clothing.
except, of course, the wearing of it.
while exploring personal style as artistic medium is a practice about which many remain skeptical, few things seem to me more creative. to bring the (art of) fashion to life uniquely and extraordinarily is an art in and of itself. it is an art of the self.
style is a pastiche of influence and emotion, wrapped around person to reflect a mood. a personality. an energy. an iconography. it’s a visceral feeling, desperate for real-world declaration. it’s a whole new notion of wearing the heart on the sleeve.
having a unique personal style has now taken a starring place within fashion culture; diaries documenting closets and collaborations now sharing mind with glossy bibles. inspiration is just as likely from the streets of paris as a texas farm town. it’s not about what you are wearing, it’s about how you are wearing it.
i hope this upcoming fashion week breathes fresh life into our city’s style, a tapestry of takes on fashion and its tools. i hope we are more daring, experimental and extreme than ever before. i hope we find a unique sartorial voice. i hope we each find the power in our own style.
(i’ve already started planning what i’ll wear)
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jennifer newton is a toronto blogger, brander and style-enthusiast.