Personal Style: Amy Turns Ladylike

Amy walking 2
Photo by Alli Cortes

This is me. And yes, I dressed up. I never dress up. Unless it’s for a big party, like Glamorama. Other than that, sneakers and a flowy top over tight pants has been my unofficial uniform for 2011. However, New York Fashion Week seeped into my blood like a virus and now I’m getting a huge kick out of dressing up like a lady. Or maybe, as my friend Alli mused, my friendship with Jena has rubbed off on me more than I realized. I actually like dressing up now. In other news, hell froze over and pigs are flying.

And apparently I’m not alone: fashion appears to be moving away from the rocker-chick towards a more ladylike silhouette. Jason Wu, Proenza Schouler, and Cushnie Et Ochs all riffed on the housewife archetype of structured knee-length dresses for Spring 2012. Sure, the easiest explanation is to blame it on the Duchess of Cambridge. An even lazier solution is to barely lift a finger and point at the Mad Men 1960s craze. But fall farther into the rabbit hole, beyond that lovely Banana Republic window styling offering to transform you into Betty Draper, and you’ll see that women are tiring of the Balmain “I just paid $5000 to seem like I rolled out of bed with a hangover” look for a much more important reason, one that is changing the way an entire generation dresses. This trend of ladylike dressing runs much deeper than a stylish TV show.

Amy walking
Photo by Alli Cortes

A primary element behind this movement is a reaction against the collective emasculation of economic crisis. Sure, my generation can’t find the well-paying executive jobs our college degrees were supposed to prepare us for. But we can find clothing that channels the image of successful adulthood. Women, especially young twenty-something women like myself, want to wear clothing to make us feel polished and powerful. Fashion inspired by the homeless (Olsen twins) or a rocker burnout (Kate Moss) was a lot more fun back in the mid-2000s when everyone had jobs and houses and credit cards. You know, back when we were playing “dress up” as this New York Times article from 2005 eloquently explores.

Nowadays we live in an era when a lot of previously middle-class people are actually homeless, jobless, and without credit cards. When the ideas referenced by fashion become too literal it becomes tasteless. On a more superficial level, and probably more important to the fashion set, the aesthetic loses its edge. I believe what we’re seeing today with this prim-and-proper revolution is fashion fulfilling its greatest mission; commodifying the hopes and dreams of a populace and making it available for purchase. There is no sarcasm – I mean that in the best way possible. Fashion has always been in the business of selling us dreams. After all, you can’t land that entry-level executive job since it no longer exists (outsourced to China), but you can land that tailored shift dress that would look perfect behind a desk in the corner office. It will be made in China, of course. Many designer clothing lines are today.

Fashion always exists in a state of tension. That’s what makes it fashion. The irony of all this ladylike attire is that our hair-styles are falling apart. Literally. In the October 2011 issue of American Vogue, Sarah Harris wrote an excellent article about the perfectly un-done seen on the Fall 2011 runways at Lanvin, Rodarte, and Balmain (page 268).

My hairstyle in the outfit above was inspired by Rodarte Fall 2011. I even clipped my Cynthia Rowley bow barrette in for extra “girly” points. I made a mistake by not asking Alli to take a close-up, because I was very proud of how well my hair came out. My manicure is a combination of Chanel ‘Peridot’ and Deborah Lippmann ‘Don’t Tell Mama,’ which made for the appearance of delightfully poison-tipped fingernails. I couldn’t just do ladylike. I had to do something subversive, so I kept my hands gloomy with noxious gas colors and a black, morbid ribbon ring by Cynthia Rowley. It’s like whimsy, inverted.

Photo via my Twitter, @ChiStreetStyle

Outfit Credits 
Jacket: Giorgio Brato exclusively for Sarca
Dress: vintage from Grey Dog Vintage
Shoes: Louboutin simple 85 pumps
Hair: Cynthia Rowley resin bow barrette (available at 1653 N Damen)
Ring: Cynthia Rowley resin bow ring (available at 1653 N Damen)
 Earrings: vintage faux pearls

SUNO at Ikram + Maasai Street Style

IntoyeWM
A Maasai woman I met on my safari

Today I went shopping with my friend Meagan from LATTERSTYLE. We visited my two favorite high fashion boutiques, Ikram and Sarca. While at Ikram I picked up a SUNO dress for an upcoming event. SUNO uses Kenyan fabrics in most of its designs. I was not expecting to find a dress that resonated so emotionally with me because my mom and I visited Kenya two years ago. Now every time I wear my SUNO dress I’ll think about the best adventure I ever had with my mom.

SUNO DressPS
My new SUNO dress

We spent four amazing days at the unbelievably luxurious Fairmont Masai Mara campground in the Serengeti. I was able to photograph all five of the big game; a lion, water buffalo, rhinoceros, leopard, and elephant. After our safari, we flew out to the Kenyan coast and landed on Lamu Island, just 60 miles south of the Somalian border and located in pirate waters. Lamu City is the oldest African city on the Eastern coast and one of the oldest settlements in the world. Lamu City is known for being a living medieval city (with donkeys as the only form of transportation) as well as the end of the African Hippie Trail, a Shangri-La of sorts. We stayed at the family-owned Peponi Hotel in Shela, a quiet beach town outside of Lamu City. Lamu Island is a favorite vacation spot for British royalty, who value its extreme privacy, inaccessible location, and the supreme discretion of the local people. Below are some photos from my Kenya trip:

PHOTO SLIDESHOW

The video below was taken at a Maasai village close to the Fairmont campground. We each paid $20 to the village scholarship fund that pays for the village children to attend a prestigious private school in Nairobi. Tourism dollars, which previously were used to build a well so women no longer have to trek three miles through the savannah to get water, are helping to create opportunities for the Maasai. Kenyans who I discussed foreign aid with told me one thing: Africans don’t need charity or free handouts, they want opportunities to join the global economy and create wealth for themselves. Dead Aid is an excellent book by Dambisa Moyo about why the foreign aid system is broken and perpetuates the cycle of poverty.

VIDEO

A video I took of the Maasai welcome dance during my safari

Needless to say, it was the best adventure of my life and permanently transformed me as a spiritual being. Street style is about the unlimited ways in which humans express themselves on a daily basis. When people hear about my trips to exotic locations like Kenya and India, they usually ask how those trips affected my personal style. My trip to Kenya taught me to use LOTS of color and how to mix prints. Even today, I purchased an expensive designer dress from Ikram years later because it was made in Kenya, using Kenyan fabric! Maasai women are experts at over-accessorizing, as you can see on the intoyie above dripping in intricate beadwork, and they influenced my love of massive necklaces.

Alexander Wang X Linda Farrow Sunglasses

Alexander Wang Glasses

My new Alexander Wang X Linda Farrow sunglasses have become a ubiquitous element of my daily look. Regardless of what I’m wearing, these bad boys are perched on my face. I receive lots of complements on them for their bold silhouette. I bought mine at the Alexander Wang flagship in Soho (New York) but you can purchase yours online on Zappos Couture.