Non-Fashionista

I was watching Emily in Paris the other night, feeling an uncomfortable mix of annoyance paired with just-one-more-episode. But what stood out even more than the scenery which brought me there in the first place, was the clothing of the skinny American girl in Paris.

Like a younger and lonelier version of Carrie Bradshaw, she too was an everyday princess with long locks and high heels – a true fashionista. And because she was in Paris, she occasionally chose to wear berets and blouses with the Eiffel tower on them, because who doesn’t dress in symbols of the country they are visiting.

To get to the point, her outfits annoyed me. And I wondered why.

Yes, they were tacky and weird, but isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder? Am I against self-expression? Do I want everyone to dress the same?

Yes, no, and no. Then what was it about her, besides the fact that whatever she touched seemed to turn into gold? Throwing ideas and posting “clever” social media updates, she was successful both in her day job and on Instagram. Her IG profile quickly grew out of proportion and she became an influencer.

Realistic or not realistic? Maybe a bit of both. Annoying? Yes. Jealous? No. Maybe. (I’m not on Instagram so I most likely won’t gain a million followers overnight.)

I think back towards my personal fashion history. Let’s take a look…

80’s: uniform to school, everyone dressed alike
90’s: I wondered why anyone would use their allowance for clothes, how boring
00’s: traveled to London with my friend and she bought two pieces of the same coat – one beige, and one “camel”. I still didn’t have the answer why
10’s: uniform to work in a metal tube in the sky
20’s: almost held a video presentation at work for 100 colleagues in my pj’s, simply because I forgot!

Hmm. Does anyone else hold uniforms responsible for not developing a taste for fashion?

To be honest, I do care about what I wear. I just don’t like what’s called fashion. Sometimes I’ll like the jeans that are on trend, sometimes not. Most of the time, I’ll buy them because when something is trending, nothing else seems to be available.

But my busy past also includes a stint as a sales rep at a large clothing retailer. I loved their clothes and actually the job, too. The only bad part was when people I used to know came in and wondered why I was working there since I had a uni degree. (Long story involving dreams of flying – so what?)

A colleague there told me that I had a casual look, and that it was a good thing, since most of the customers did, too. Another one said I could make any cheap clothing look like Filippa K. I’m not sure if it was a compliment.

I wonder what they would say about my Covid era WFH uniform and unattended hair!

Luckily, no one will ever know. It feels like the movie Surrogates.