How did your style evolve?

[MJRH]

I shop for clothes mainly

[jurassicsnark]

Honestly, I have always been obsessed with clothes, and I think about style constantly.

Certain kinds of dress have always strongly attracted me: samurai, vampires, military uniforms, zen monks, whatever it was that Adam Ant and David Bowie were doing at the time... I would see a photo of Berber people in National Geographic and think "Damn! They look AMAZING. Why don't I look like THAT?!?"

I had the same visceral reaction when I first encountered the clothes we talk about here. I loved them. But things were out of my price range (still are)... And since I am curvy, I didn't think I'd be able to pull the look off anyway, so I didn't really bother.

But I had a breakthrough — on an item I received by mistake. I had ordered a pair of Y-3 sweatpants for my hip-hop dance class, but they sent me a pair of crazy Y’s ninja pants instead. Once I realized what they were, I tried them on to have a laugh (they're huge), but I realized that I loved them.

With the help of therealreal, Yoox, and some good sales I've had a significant wardrobe overhaul since then. My favorites are Ann (everything); Rick (jackets, shoes, and bags); and Margiela (accessories, bags). I love these clothes for their craftsmanship, philosophy, and general paucity of fucks to give about mainstream culture.

On the whole, I’d say my look is casual and relatively minimal, in a slightly sloppy West Coast way. I like pieces with a sense of humor (thanks, Margiela), and I balance my big designer loves with a lot of basics.

I generally don't wear visible logos or branding — sneakers are an exception to this, and I do love sneakers. Almost everything is black/white/grey, though I love dark, muted blues and greens; plum; and saffron yellow, even if I don't often wear them. I travel constantly, so I value comfort and like having pieces that will work together easily. Shoes and outerwear are my biggest weaknesses, and I would probably be fine wearing the simplest black clothes in the world as long as I had a really good jacket and the perfect combat boots.

[Rick-A-Doodle]

In the beginning I was a big Dior fan. I was a high school senior in Ohio (transplant from LA) and I really liked Hedi's stuff. Never could afford it though. Kept things simple with slim jeans, monotone palette, etc. Nothing designer.

2010: I got fell in love with Rick, Ann and Boris, but still couldn't afford anything (I was in college, delivering sushi after work in Boston). I would thrift hunt like all fuck for stuff at consignment stores and on eBay. Still, tight jeans, all dark colors, military inspired shirts/coats.

2012ish: Graduated, got an OK paying job but still only bought 2nd hand (still do, actually). More discretion was put into what I bought, and it wasn't just "Oh, cheap designer shirt at ____ consignment store".

2014: Started working at Barneys and went fucking wild with my discount. Not to the same extent most employees did, but I bought a lot of Dries, Rick, Ann, and designer basics. Spent too much, and ended up selling quite a bit of it after I left.

Now: Same brands, I find myself incredibly disinterested with what's coming out now. I think I like hunting for those grail pieces I never could afford when I was 18, and that's honestly more fun that trying to afford what's out now. I've been selling a lot of my more hard-to-wear pieces I never wore and stick with what works. In Texas, most anything you wear that's not workwear as fuck is adventurous, and I'm cool with that. At the end of the day I just like wearing Rick tees, jeans and boots. And Dries. I fucking love SS14-15 Dries.

[gustavobradley]

Great thread idea, really like reading this kind of stuff from people.

For me, I was always in to self-presentation, but didn't get in to capital-F fashion until a couple of years ago (as I was entering university). Throughout middle/high school (2006-2012), I was really influenced by the music I listened too (aka scene music, metalcore and stuff), so generally wore tight jeans, American Apparel deep-v's or band shirts and Vans/TOMs. I did work at an Urban Outfitters in HS, so I also wore a lot of plaid flannel. I was super in to raw denim, too, which was kind of a "gateway drug" into the world of more expensive clothes, as it helped to initially ease the idea of spending money on clothing.

Liking music served as a pretty easy gateway to SLP, which blew me away when a coworker showed me the SS14 show, right after it had come out. It was basically a lot of stuff that I always knew I wanted to wear, but never knew how to look. Coupled with the fact that that the store I worked at carried a lot of high-end clothes, I started getting more and more in to it.

I've always appreciated designers like Rick, Ann, etc., but for a long time didn't feel that I was ready to go down the rabbit hole, and stuck generally with pieces that worked in a very SLP style, while buying a lot more basic pieces to round out my wardrobe. In this journey, I also discovered that I really liked Dries, too (especially after the SS15 show, which is still my favourite season of all time from any designer). Now that I've got a solid foundation, I'm starting to expand my wardrobe into more "romantic" or "poetic" territory (with lots of inspiration from that Dries show), if that makes any sense.

I'm probably leaving out some stuff, but this is the basic gist.