Flying Under the Radar

I'm going to talk today about something that I've been thinking about ever since I got tired of wearing "teen/kid" clothes and felt that I was ready to have a wardrobe that I could wear now and for at least another decade or so.

It's called "flying under the radar"

Wait. Hear me out.

Every year there are new fashion trends that pop up, some of them absolutely to die for outrageously fabulous, and you want to try them all out (is that just me? Oh. Okay.). BUT if you're anything like me you would rather not buy a piece of clothing that you can only wear for a year and then it looks outdated. BUT you don't want to have to stick to classic, meat and potatoes clothes either. There's only so much whiteshirt-blackpants-trenchcoat-LBD-suit a girl can take you know!

So what do you do?

Invest in something that flies under the fashion trend radar.

For example, this might be a bit extreme, but for example say I'm absolutely loving the harem pant trend. Now you could go full out and buy this from netaporter.com:

But then what are you going to do next year? These are so extreme that they will look hideously outdated because they scream "REMEMBER THAT SEASON THAT HAREM PANTS WERE COOL????"

Or, you could get these:These still have that harem shape to them, tapered at the ankle, with a fullness in the seat, but instead of channeling the Arabian Nights these look more like a pair of pleated trousers. So this might be a bit of an extreme example, but honestly, which pair could you still see yourself wearing next year (or actually wearing at all)? The trick is that the second pair of harem pants are SUBTLE. Therefore, people won't be able to pin it to a specific year/season and date you. They might be a bit unique after this year, but they won't be outdated.

This years trends done "flying under the radar" style. Check it out!

Ripped denim, I don't feel I need to explain why this is a no.

Classic color, classic clean shape, and a little bit of edge. Yes!
Okay, I can promise you, cross my heart, that the one shoulder trend will never, ever be popular at the same time as the neon trend ever again.

If this had one shoulder and was in black (grey, white, what have you) or had both shoulders and the hemline was lowered a few inches and was this flaming orange neon, it would be okay. But two trends should never exist in the same piece of clothing. No.

Again, classic conservative cut, avant-garde color, this is a yes.
Okay, this is actually a tough one for me because I was considering buying a sequin dress almost exactly like this but in black. However, I realized just how in your face a sequin dress like this is, and how memorable. I'd rather not have people knowing that I bought my dress in the F/W 09 season.

So instead I got a grey tank with a bit of sequin bedazzle to it. I get the same razzle-dazzle, but its much less glaringly obvious and therefore less dating.

Okay, there are other options than flying under the radar.

You could buy into these trends cheap so that you don't mind throwing them away at the end of the year. I just would rather not because I'm looking to build a wardrobe, not throw parts away at the end of every season.

Or if you really really really NEED a trend, love it to death, will wear it when no one else will, till death do us part commitment, go for it. If I had needed that black sequin dress in my life more, I might have bought it and I would've worn that thing for years. However, I don't have anywhere to really wear an all over sequin dress to regularly, so a subtle tank top made more sense for my lifestyle anyway.

I have to say when in general my bottom line for clothes and style is nicely summed up by Michael Kors (one of my favorite designers by the way)

"Something about everything you buy should be new and exciting, and something about it should be familiar. If it's totally familiar, then its like Bore! And if it's totally out there, then you'll never wear it"

and my other favorite fashion/beauty/life advice is from my hero, Miss Piggy (yes I take life advice from puppets)

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye"