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There is a vast gap between fashion and
style. Fashion is about clothes and their relationship to the
moment. Style goes way beyond fashion; it is an individually
distinctive way of putting ourselves together. Fashion is in the
clothes. Style is in the wearer. The distinction could not be more
revealing. Style goes way beyond fashion; it is an individually
distinctive way of putting ourselves together. It is a unique blend
of spirit and substance—personal identity imposed on, and created
through, the world of things. It is what people really want when
they aspire to be fashionable.
Style can be anything from knowing how to put just the right pieces
together to accepting that not all fads and fashions will work on
your body -- and not forcing them. Understanding what works with
not only your body, but your personality and persona is key, too
--if the clothing is wearing the person, it can look like a
costume. Style absolutely must be honed and encouraged, and it
often doesn't come easily. Fashion can be very easy -- anyone can
wear the exact outfit shown on a runway, with the fiscal
availability, of course. It's so much harder to have style, though.
It means seeing beyond the label, seeing beyond what everyone else
is doing, and making something work for you.
In some quarters, it's fashionable, as it were, to trivialize
style. It's true that style doesn't have life-or-death impact, but
it isn't devoid of substance, either. Through clothes, we reinvent
ourselves every time we get dressed. Our wardrobe is our visual
vocabulary. Style is our distinctive pattern of speech, our
individual poetry. Fashion is the least of it. Style is, for
starters, one part identity: self-awareness and self-knowledge. You
can't have style until you have articulated a self. And style
requires security—feeling at home in one's body, physically and
mentally.
Of course, like all knowledge, self-knowledge must be updated as
you grow and evolve; style takes ongoing self-assessment. Style is
also one part personality: spirit, verve, attitude, wit,
inventiveness. It demands the desire and confidence to express
whatever mood one wishes. Such variability is not only necessary
but a reflection of a person's unique complexity as a human being.
In order to work, style must reflect the real self, the character
and personality of the individual; anything less appears to be a
costume.
Lastly, style is one part fashion. It's possible to have lots of
clothes and not an ounce of style. But it's also possible to have
very few clothes and lots of style. Yes, fashion is the means
through which we express style. Whatever else it is, style is
optimism made visible. Style presumes that you are a person of
interest, that the world is a place of interest that life is worth
making the effort for. True style, in addition to being irrevocably
social, is even morally responsible. Consumption isn't promiscuous
or random, at the whim of the marketplace or the urging of
marketers. Rather, it is focused on what is personally suitable and
expressive. In the end, style is fundamentally democratic. It
assumes every person has the potential to create a unique identity
and express it through grooming and a few well-chosen clothes.
Yet style is also aristocratic. It sets apart those who have it
from those whose dress is merely utilitarian. It announces to the
world that the wearer has assumed command of herself.
As the speed of all our transactions increases, we need fast ways
of transmitting information about ourselves without losing
authenticity; we have less and less time to make our mark in other,
more leisurely ways of knowing. Style, like a perfectly fitting
book jacket, evokes the substance within by way of the surface. It
makes an authentic visual impression, is a memorable mark of
identity in a world that otherwise strips people of identity. There
was a time when style was a luxury. Today it is a necessity!
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