REDEMPTION
Story Story Night‘s REDEMPTION: Stories of the Comeback, was on Monday, January 30. With an audience of 450+, it was our biggest show ever, again. (Commence: deer in headlights look.)
So guess what’s making a comeback? Sequins. Also liberty.
Both embodied in this fantastical J.M.C. silver sequins with gold and black beading dress ($34, on sale from $42, Antique World Mall).
So what decade is this dress from? The tag looks maybe late 1970s/early 1980s. The concept looks 1920s, with a pinch of 1950s, and a dash of modern art. In the end, it fits. And was on sale. And that’s what really counts.
I hold a core belief on the concept of REDEMPTION in fashion.
All it takes is the downfall of one five letter word to really free up your whole fashion/life experience.
That single word to banish? Don’t say it with me now: “dated” (also see, “out of date”). You control fashion. Fashion does not control you. Even and especially the empty, over-priced garb on photoshopped starlets starring vacuously from the cover of every magazine. Even and especially the trickled-down, tragically mass-produced dross marked-up and racked-up in every soulless chain.
Imagine instead that the last 100 years of fashion are your playground, as interchangeable as a change of outfit. Trust me, some era or three idolized your very body type. In this magical universe, stars align all the time. Tailoring and fit: impeccable. Fabrics: nuanced and rich. Prices: cheap as sh*t.
Perhaps when you say dated, you mean unfashionable or tacky, mainstays that transcend every decade. Or perhaps, you mean reminiscent of another era, which possibly means, winner.
A whole new world exists in redeeming old clothing from the racks of thrift stores. Just turn on your creative eye, and then try everything on that interests you. EVERYTHING. Just try it on. Do it. Rhinestone hair clip ($5, Antique World Mall).
When I wear some clothes, I feel the mojo of the lady who wore it before me. I mean, someone who would buy this dress must have been a total bad ass with some serious cool sh*t going down. This strengthens me, even when forced to stand for hours in these admittedly gorgeous Enzo Angiolini black velvet and gold pumps ($7, thrift store).
And if someone doesn’t like it, respectfully, FU. It’s not an insult, it’s a fashion universe. The journey is the destination. Because what you wear is who you feel like. Enjoy your time here, and everywhere. Be creative. Be cheap yet discerning. Above all, be free.
Thanks Dan Costello (seen riffing adorably behind me) and Anna Demetriades (who also gifted me this lovely art deco rhinestone necklace) for backing me up at Story Story Night no matter what I wear, or sometimes say.
Thanks Anna D. for the photos too!
