Or perhaps more correctly titled One Way to Spot a Fad. Please leave a comment and share your method. Here’s mine:
When you see a look that contains an inherent contradiction, it will probably turn out to be a fad.
At the very least, it will project a somewhat dramatic look. For example a sleeveless turtleneck sweater, a 3/4-sleeve coat, stilettos with jeans; all contain an inherent contradiction. Which explains why the modern Bermuda suit is so much more wearable than yesterday’s (corduroy or whatever) “city shorts”.
When to wear it anyway:
- When your personal idiom is high drama. Either your style personality is glamorous or trend-setting, or you work in a high-fashion arena.
- When the look just matches you, for some unique reason. Like my pink-striped flip-flop necklace. Casual, and with a hint of a joke, the color and pattern on it are just right for me.
- When you can be certain you are going to wear it so much while the look is hot that you achieve your cost per wear before it cools off.
So, only one question remains: How do you spot when the fad is expired?
I’m going to have to be contradictory here. 🙂 I have the worst trouble calling to mind any fad, and that’s maybe part of it. I think that art/design is about new ways of looking at things. It is how fashion moves forward, sometimes with the backward glance. To me, styles get labelled “fads” when the observer doesn’t like them or they begin to look dated and fall out of favor. Also, for me, I’m happiest when there’s a bit of contradiction or counterpoint included in my outfit. I love mixing the hi-low. I love white in winter and black in summer. Did it for years until someone called me The Snow Queen. 🙂
In the example you offered – I like ALL of them! I’ve seen the sleeveless turtleneck oft ridiculed but it makes great sense to me if you want to wear a slim-sleeved jacket and your upper chest is the place you get the coldest. It’s a slimmer way of layering, in any case.
The 3/4 sleeve coat is a passion of mine and I am a person who really wants to be warm. Someone on Sartorialist commented about such a coat that it made them always think of dancers. Maybe that’s another reason I like it. I am continually pushing up all my sleeves to 3/4 as it leaves me feeling freer. Just need longer, warm gloves for that 3/4 sleeve coat. I think of it as a very youthful, energetic look
The stilettos with jeans I goggled at, at first. Now, I don’t wear stilettos anymore but I think the original message here is that this once lowly garment is now going out wear. And I think that is exactly what happened in society. I can’t count the thousands of times I have seen a “dress” pair of jeans advocated for an evening out. This aspect of the “fad” never died away and is still mainstream. Look at the photo on this site of jeans and a nice top for a supper date with husband. I have been thinking of this constantly since I saw it. I never wear that, though I could, most successfully. And it’s got me wondering why not. And whether it might turn into a suitable “uniform” template for me as it would fit almost every situation (segment) in my life. As I get older, I dress younger. More lighthearted. Who knows, this might be my uniform of my 60’s and 70’s.
The “bermuda suit” is something I would instinctively shun but “city shorts” are a whole other matter. This terms signals to me something that the word “bermuda” does not. Bermuda is pink sand and motor scooters and warm sunshine. “City” means grime and bustle and pavement and the pedestrian’s exposure to all kinds of temperatures and situatiions. Quite the opposite of “no cares.” By juxtaposing the terms “city” and “shorts”, it leads me to understand that I can break free of preconceptions and am freer to extend my options of what works in a city or at work. It implies to me that these shorts, vs bermudas, will be of a finer summer suiting material, citified!
I’m wondering if a fad has more to do with a detail or embellishment? The poodle skirt? Sometimes we can retroactively identify a fad that is caused by the lockstep of designers and manufactuers such as avocado appliances. Earth tone appliances were probably a refreshing change at first judging by how widely they were embraced. Still, you can’t buy a color of anything that isn’t in the stores, unless you buy used or dead stock. Color in appliances was a big contradiction of sorts since even today the trash regulations in my city discuss how they will pick up “the whites.” So now avocade and harvest gold are long dead – probably due for a revival – but non-white appliances remain with us, even if they are now faux wood-tone or stainless.
Maybe that’s the answer to when a fad is dead. When no one will let you buy it anymore. 🙂
When I see a lot more celebrities wearing it 😛 Like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan…
I also tend to avoid fads like leggings.
I didn’t think stilettos and jeans were a fad.. Unless you mean TRUE stilettos, like 4″ high with jeans. Those I see as being a fad, as they aren’t comfy, but I wear 2-3″ of heel with my jeans when I want to dress up a bit, but not be too formal.
Vildy ~ I think that says alot about your style personality. Not that it’s bad to wear those things, just that I don’t expect their popularity to last as long.
Embellishment is another great way to spot a fad.
More later.
You’re both right, I take that back: stilettos with jeans, while certainly containing a contradiction of sorts, don’t really qualify as a fad. As I have lamented so many times before, the peer pressure, at least in most places I have lived, is almost unbearable to wear nothing but jeans nine months out of the year.
Maybe that’s why I am so comfortable with summer clothes, I feel quite at home in either (long-ish) shorts or (knee-length) skirts. I pretty much put away all denim until fall. By then I’m happy to bring it on again!
I believe a fad is over when too many people wear it!
I’m not a huge fan of fads anyway – occasionally there will be one which suits my style and body (the whole high waisted skirts, 50’s glamour look for example!)