Writer's Block: Out of fashion

[tabular_rasa]

[Error: unknown template qotd]

While there are certain things I will never wear (and some things I plan to continue to wear even when they are no longer "in fashion"), I don't hold my standards to other people; if they like it, they're entitled to carry on with it. However, there are a few things I think are generally bad ideas and would definitely advise against for just about everyone:

1) Super low-rise jeans. It's really no wonder I never had pants that fit in middle and high school, which was during the height of these jeans' popularity; I got cameltoe just trying to get my waistband to rise higher than my hip bones. While certain figures benefit from a lower rise, no one needs a rise so low that you can see the top of your pubic hair. (Or your butt crack when you sit down). Plus, super low-rise rise jeans just encourage other awful trends like thongs sticking out above pants and muffin-tops when your shirt fails to meet the top of your jeans.

2) Speaking of muffin tops, crop tops or otherwise midriff-revealing shirts. There are so, so few people in the world that can pull this off-- and even those who can tend to look trashy with this look. I would recommend keeping the midriff-bearing looks at the pool or in bellydancing class.

3) Leggings as pants. Now, I like leggings as their own garment; they are a good way to winterize a skirt (but are warmer and more durable than tights), and I will wear leggings *as pants* with a tunic if it's long enough to be dress-length. However, leggings are not completely interchangeable with pants and never should be. They leave nothing to the imagination; you can see pantyline and cameltoe and every unflattering curve of the body, including in some cases ripples of cellulite. Even if you've got intense body confidence, you're not doing yourself any favors, and even if you've got a rockin' body-- trust me, you'd look just as good better in skinny jeans. Even skinny jeans look bad with a short, fitted t-shirt (you get the ice-cream cone look going on with your legs), but with leggings I think the principle of balance is even more important: if it's skin-tight on bottom, the outfit should leave something to the imagination on top by being long and loose or baggy. (And it goes without saying that tights as pants is totally unacceptable as well. I have sadly seen people try to wear opaque tights as pants before O.o).

4) Thongs and g-string panties. Thankfully we've moved on from considering them sexy to finding them skanky, because I find those suckers totally uncomfortable and not worth it. If you're worried about a pantyline, buy really thin panties. They make them specifically for that purpose so you don't have to give yourself a perpetual wedgie.

5) Not really a fashion look, but more of a principle: real fur used in clothing. I'm not some crazy PETA person who's going to throw paint on people who wear fur coats (honestly, I find that way more offensive because now that animal gave its life for nothing!), but if you like the fur look it's so easy (and cheaper) to just get it in a synthetic material. I don't really care if people want to wear vintage fur coats, because the deed is already done and we might as well not make waste, but I'd be in favor of ceasing to make new fur garments.

There's probably more, but this is what I could think of for now.

Oh, and I imagine 99% of the people who respond to this will put Uggs and/or Crocs, but I can't in good conscience include them since I've worn both. (Well, $15 Kmart fake Uggs and present-from-my-mom Target fake Crocs). And you know what? The fake Uggs were warm, comfortable, and waterproof with treaded soles that cost about 1/3rd of what I would have paid for the winter boots I would otherwise would have worn during snowy, slushy winter commutes in college. (While the price of real Uggs is majorly inflated, a pair of good insulated waterproof snowboots is typically way more than $15). And the fake Crocs? When it's rainy but too warm for rain boots and flip-flops just feel too exposed, they're pretty darn practical. (No, I don't still wear them, but I refuse to be ashamed! :-P).

Comments

[eternitat.livejournal.com]

"is wearing Target fake crocs"

They keep my feet warm inside the house during the colder months of the year.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

I support your croc-wearing habits, lol. When it's all said and done, I am hugely practical. If something makes me warm or comfortable or prevents me from being uncomfortable (like my hideous rain pants keeping me dry), fashion naysayers be damned I'm wearing it.

[belovedwarrior.livejournal.com]

I'm curious; how do crocs keep your feet warm? Aren't they a shoe that's full of holes and doesn't even cover the back side of your foot? I haven't actually ever worn a pair so maybe they're deceptively warm? I thought they were a shoe that you wore in the hot summer months to keep your feet covered but cool?

[jean-c-pepper.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you on Thongs, Crop Tops and Low Rise Jeans. Leggings- I haven't worn Leggings in 15 yrs. And, I don't own fur but I don't hate those that do wear it. I mean, just because we eat the meat to make leather doesn't take away from killing the cow and I figure it's either all or nothing. Therefore, I am higher up on the food chain. I have to be more concerned with human concerns(human trafficking, increasing breastfeeding among african american women, monitoring the police, GLBT issues, addressing violence in the communtity- just to name a few I'm involved in.)I own one pair of Crocs(fake) and i love them in the rain.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

I'm about as nonactivist as you can get on the fur thing, lol; I certainly don't hate people who do wear it-- but I also don't hate people who wear low-cut jeans with crop tops (I just think they should reconsider their clothes :-P). I don't think we should ban fur or anything, but I think it would be a good thing if fur went out of style, since it seems not just more fashionable but more ethical.

Yeah! Another person who appreciates the practicality of Crocs in the rain!

[juushika.livejournal.com]

These are all rules that can be gloriously broken for the sake of Fashion and the person with the right spirit and body (I've recently been watching LA Ink and I'll be damned if Kat Von D doesn't pull off crop tops and American-flag patterned legging-pants with aplomb), but the hidden truth there is that they are still rules, intended for the vast majority of people to follow.

Because: Yes. For so many reasons, shit like this needs to die (or at least approach extinction).

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I think what the attitude should be is these are very difficult garments to pull off, and so if you wear them you should do so with the awareness that 1) you may shock or offend people or 2) you are going to have to put extra thought into styling it and projecting confident.

They should not be, as they have been, the mainstream trend that people use as their default daily clothing.

[gemma-thompson.livejournal.com]

You forgot "The Snuggie" on there.


:P

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

Except for the part where the Snuggie is totally fashionable and everyone should totally wear one all the time, duh :-P

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

I actually saw a girl who couldn't be more than 12 wearing shiny skin tight leggings as pants the other day. She had the camel toe and all. It was extraordinarily disturbing!

I used to wear leggings at that age, but I wore thick cotton ones under big t-shirts so all you could see was my legginged legs. No camel toe.

[tabular-rasa.livejournal.com]

>.< Poor dear. Fashion victim already.

I wore leggings as a kid, also with big tshirts. And I still wear them now, but always with a dress or skirt that covers all my private bits. If I wouldn't be mostly comfortable wearing the top WITHOUT the leggings, it's not going to be much better with leggings, either.