This blog thing as a whole has been quite interesting. At first it started off as just a thing I had to do before I actually cared at all and got to actively keeping up with it. Then when I began to take it seriously the “thing” happened. The one where you begin to plan out a lot of ideas on how you could take it from just any old blog to something bigger than itself. So my idea was to have it be a blog as well as have videos like a talk show or radio bringing people on to talk about the topic of fashion as well as its dos and don’ts. Well that idea quickly became to much of a burden as getting people on would be challenging enough considering scheduling and securing a sound location. It just couldn’t get done within a reasonable time frame and therefore had to be scraped. I then took it to just an informational with a direction which turned out great and took to doing feature pieces with friends who had time. I’ve featured quite a few friends on the blog to help give insight to different sides of the perspective as well as another interesting take on certain information and topics at hand. I enjoyed the blog writing and formulating process as well as just keeping up with it, it was always something to do during down time and reminded me the importance of social media interactions and pretty much how to keep up with posting on such sites. If I had the option and time I would definitely continue as well as expand on the ideas I never had the chance to because of time and scheduling constraints.
In reading Getting Things Done a section that really stuck with me personally was the section about your buckets and how you decide what goes where and what needs to be done. It puts my current work or projects into categories such things as “projects lists, next actions, waiting for, and someday/maybe” just to name a few. I personally have taken this and done this a lot as of recent. Being at home in quarantine I’ve had lots of time to start many projects and quickly took on way more than I could handle. So I’ve implemented this system where I put these projects into categories, for me its what requires the most amount of work to the least amount of work. After this I look over what I would need for each project and put them into can complete or cannot complete at the moment. Then I get to work on some of the projects I can complete and work from there. This method has been the most used out of all the methods thus far. Not saying its the best, but for me personally it brings about the most use for me anyway. How I organize these things is actually done in two ways, most of my projects start on my phone with notes and sketches so a general organization of how much work the project will be is done in this stage then it either gets transported to a physical draft or my laptop for working on in depth. Here is where these get categorized into whether I have the tools to complete them or not and so on. Since reading and utilizing this concept I’ve been able to get quite a bit more projects off the ground as well as finish more and a much higher rate.
This post is going to be a lot different, this is going to be slamming modern day culture and pointing out everything wrong with it and why it has turned us into mindless consumers aka sheep. First lets look back at the 80s and 90s, we had the big brands back in the day such as Nike, Fila, Reebok, Adidas, Stussy, Supreme, Thrasher, etc… The key difference is each brand had a specific audience and market. Nike and the others such as adidas and Reebok were more athletic gear for active use while the brands like Thrasher Stussy ad Supreme made up skate culture. Skateboarders used to wear these articles to the ground when shooting films and skating in parks and at events. The Air Jordan 1 which was intended to be an athletic shoe was taken into the skateboard community because of its leather makeup and versatility as a shoe. Its one of the very first athletic shoes to be crossed into another audience. The issue with today is that what “low culture” or skate culture is now promoted and being used to pass on hype. So all the Nike SBs which people skated to the grown have now resurfaced for the point of casual wear or just to buy for value. The term value being the key word here, what gave these hoes value back in the day was the materials who may be wearing them to skate if it was someone you knew and that’s about it. Today the main makeup of value in this culture is who is wearing them and how many pairs their are. If a shoe is limited no matter how it looks it will sell out simply because people want to have something that is limited or special, and that has always been the case its just now its done for the purpose of reselling ad not owning something that you like. The issue with culture now a days is that its curated to everyone of every age, their is no group or different cultures anymore because the media has made it all one large group. Everything on media is posted various times to gain attention so a lot of people are typically seeing the same thing meaning everyone likes the exact same things. Without variation people will typically like and talk about the same things and that’s boring. We see now that kids are talking about brands that adults are also talking about and as an advertising standpoint that’s great, but that is all the media companies will post because they know that’s all their audience likes. This makes buying something from those brands a lot harder as well as makes less promoted brands a lot less common to see meaning visually the market is not growing though in reality it actually is. Things like this and people all flocking to the same few brands to mix and match styles with creates a mass confusion as well as stagnates creative need. The brands can get lazy and by simply putting their name on something the people go crazy for it. This can clearly be seen by Supremes current product releases as well as the lack of creativity. To avoid going on an on about this subject just simply don’t be a sheep and find what you like not what your are told to.
CL – Today I have my partner in crime, Roberta Laidley A senior at Medaille College majoring in veterinary studies. Its great to have you here today, but today we are going to talk a little bit about fashion and school. In the book that I’m reading that I told you a little bit about before asking you to join me today I told you about Chapter 10 which focused on getting projects under control. For me personally I allocate a day such as Sunday to go over everything I want to accomplish that week or what I have coming up and start to purpose days for each project. I also have this thing where at 3 am if I have something in mind ill start working on it or drafting it right then and their to have that to go off of for later when I pick it up again. So how I differentiate what is important to do now versus later is simply by the due date for them and when I personally want them to get done. So how do you get everything under control and how do you decide what is worth focusing on versus something else?
RL – So for me I am very coordinated. I use a calendar to keep myself on track and to keep track of everything in my life. It helps remind me what needs to be done. It also helps separate the most important things from the less important. How, well if its important its written down either on my calendar or in my notes of reminders. If its not written down then it isn’t worth focusing on at the moment or at all. I have a lot going on so my brain is finding it very hardto remember it all so I find writing it down helps so much.
CL – I agree with you 100% if I write it down its incredibly important to me and something I have to get done. I dint really use my phone for reminders simply because I feel like my phone is a huge distraction and checking it would simply dstract me and cause me to focus on it instead of my project. When things come to mind I like to work on them right away to get all the ideas out to work on. One more question for you about the book and that is when starting a project how do you go about taking action or getting the mental train going persay?
RL – Well my secret is I listen to either classical or slow gospel music. It helps to calm my surroundings and my mind so I can pick one thing to put most of my focus on. So that I can think better. This applies to any type of projects. I would practice this until that project is completed.
CL – Wow I do something like that but for me its more of R&B. I am a strong believer that lights and music can change the feel of any and every environment. Now lets talk a little bit about fashion, so earlier I had a guest who also attended college upstate tell me about their fashion. So tell me a little bit about your fashion sense?
RL – I am colour coordinated. My colours have to blend or match in any way. I also like to mostly be casual, I love feeling comfortable, but with a little twist to standout, be different. Leaving those around me to remember me as “The girl who wore that and that together and made it work” don’t get me wrong I do switch it up from casual to remind everyone I can do and slay it all.
CL – Hot take now what would you say are your go to pieces in you closet at this current moment?
RL – I would say cute leggings with a cute sweater or hoodie with sneakers to match.
CL – Now you being from NYC have you noticed any significant style changes when moving upstate for your higher education?
RL -Hell yeah, the over use and wearing of flannels is still a thing upstate. If its not flanenels its sportswear. Pretty much no one cares upstate, while in the city its a 24/7 fashion show with every street being a runway.
CL – Damn I like the way you put it, Every street being a runway. That’s crazy because its very true, in my experience the people upstate who really care about it only care about the hype and not really fashion as a whole just what other people find nice and what is most sought after. That’s great don’t get me wrong but that means you have no identity just random pieces in your collection or just dressing the same as other people which is a good start. Its a great start but when that is all you do it shows a lack of character. And my last question for you, for someone who is just getting started in the world of fashion what tips or advice would you give them?
RL – Wear what make YOU happy not others. Dress for yourself and not to please others.
CL – Very well spoken. I’d like to thank my guest Roberta for featuring here today and remember at the end of the day everything we say here is just a suggestion so you can really do whatever you want. Whatever makes you happy.
Today I want to again talk about this book I have been reading called Getting Things Done which focuses on the art of getting things done stress free all while remaining super productive today I want to focus on his talk about inboxes and how we sometimes have to go through everything we have saved or put somewhere and just clear it out or get rid of it. For me personally I burn it or shred it, but whatever way works for you. The importance of this task is not to create more space to store stuff even though that’s what you are doing, but it is to begin the process of organizing your life and keeping track of what you still have and don’t have. So the essay you wrote in high school that you still have to this day, why do you have it still. You don’t need it, I can guarantee that if you were to delete it you wouldn’t miss it. But instead of deleting it you could just throw all those old cringy pictures and bad essays into a folder and call it something reasonable like “old high school stuff”. Anything so you know what it is and then maybe move it off the computer. Free up that extra space for something like more work or the new call of duty warzone its up to you. Now just like this you should also be doing the same with the clothes and shoes you have. Now we all have that one t-shirt from years ago that we have to this day simply because “Ill wear it again” or “Its important to me” and they say step one to letting go is to let go so you should trash it. To start much simpler begin to go through all your clothes and shoes and see whether its still up to par with your style or if it can even fit anymore. If you can wear it keep it and put it with similar clothes of either that colour or style if not discard it or donate it. Their may be people who look to thrift a vintage shirt like that assuming it is vintage and in a good and wearable condition. The moral here is that occasionally it is important to declutter the mess, declutter your life. It is important to see what you have and go through it keeping only what is important to you, this will be the first step or the first steps to clearing your mind as well as organizing and getting a grasp on life, because we all know how crazy that can be. Especially with this virus right now.
It is 2020 and all you see are the following Gucci, LV, Balenciaga, Coach, Supreme the list goes on and on. While these are great brands they are also pretty expensive in regards of acquiring things from them. Now if you can afford them that’s great, but the biggest trap people fall into is thinking you’ll good in clothes just because its a well known brand or because its crazy expensive. You see the media has a much stronger impact than ever before, it literally tells millions of kids nowadays what they should like and what they should buy, seamlessly stripping them of their individuality and make them into mindless consumers. Then theirs the impact in which what has become a joke or meme somehow gets accepted and becomes popular. For example the Balenciaga Triple S is the ugliest shoe I have ever laid eyes on and if you own a pair *I hope that comment hurts* but anyway the shoe was a joke an expensive joke. And as culture has it now, the things that become memes are easily then passed as acceptable so people don’t really know what looks good or bad anymore. If it looks good that’s great if it looks bad it becomes a meme than becomes good. I could go on and on about that, but more importantly how to dress properly with brands that you like or alternatives. High fashion is great and all if you can afford it, but if you cant some great alternatives would be Uniqlo, H&M (thought they can be a bit odd sometimes), and Urban Outfitters. Here you’ll find great pieces for much cheaper prices though if you wanted to they also feature some higher end pieces Urban featuring brands such as Guess, Stussy and Napapijiri just to name a few. At these stores you’ll also find a much wider assortment of apparel to match any style you had in mind as well as lots of pieces that can easily be mixed and matched. When choosing the right clothes you have to take into consideration how versatile it as, how it fits and feels, and how you look in it being the most important.
Taking things a step back I’m going to talk about some own habits and quirks. So for me I am a big shoe guy meaning I’ll buy the shoes and then work off of those. So I would then buy pieces that could be paired with them. They in a sense are the backbone of my clothing choices and decisions. In regards to work I am kind of the same way I create a few generalized ideas and then work off of those. A lot of things for me are trial and error, I’ll gladly explore lots of ideas and if they fail either use what I know to cross off other ideas or try another idea and see how it goes. I would say I have a somewhat compulsive and very excessive sometimes, their are times where I would just find something I enjoy and then just excessively do that for a period of time. Sometimes it develops into something deeper and other times its just a one time thing. When talking to my little brother about fashion being a college student and majoring in Aerospace engineering he tells me that keep track of everything is very difficult so his habits are more of a get things done as needed and when needed. He is really big into utilizing his phone as a tool setting alarms and things of the sort. For me I’m more of a lets get this idea on paper or work on it right away. I usually et things done as soon as they come to me, so if an idea comes to me at 3 AM I would either right it down or depending the day start working on a draft for it.
So not all of us can just keep track of everything in our head and even though you can you might not want to after I tell you about this website called Behance. In the book in currently reading he talks about how you organize and make life much more organized and tidy as well as streamline certain processes, for me I use this app to help organize my creative clutter. In my opinion it is a much better version of “Instagram”. I say this because it is an application where you can view peoples artwork without all the stupid ads and clutter of IG. Here you start by creating an account and then go through appreciating other peoples works of art all created and original from those on the site. A lot of them also give out useful links for info you may want to use on your own projects such as fonts, vectors, etc. The app is full of people looking to learn and grow and people who are happy to interact with you and help you learn how to get better at whatever it is you may be doing. For me its an app that helps me generate ideas from cartoons to fashion, food, drawings, their is so much of it that I consume to help my brain start and then help me get ideas. It like a fire once you gather the materials needed and then light it and get it going you’re good. And as you continue to feed it, it grows larger and larger. Another great thing is all your appreciated pieces have a separate tab so you can go back and find them as well as have the ability to add them to a mood board. I use the mood board to put like minded ideas and inspiration from other people into one folder and then when I have the time to work on these projects I simply open the folder and their they are. Overall its a great app and tool to help channel ideas as well as view other peoples works of art and share your own. Everyone on the app is happy to be there and will appreciate what you have to say as well as give information and feedback to you to help you get better.
So lets say you have all the fashionable pieces in the world, you’ve got the shoes, the crazy expensive pants, the European shirts, the whole thing. The problem you have is that when you wear them they don’t look good but when you see other people wearing those same things they look great. The issue you may be having is the issue with sizing your clothing correctly. Now I am assuming yes your clothes fit you properly, but certain clothing is baggy or skinny fitting now that’s great because they still fit you, the issue is that those pieces don’t work together. Lets take the Air Force 1 for example, its a fantastic shoe that almost everyone has at least one pair of the issue with this shoe is that it is a large shoe and while it looks good on feet, wearing skinny jeans or any type of skinny pants does not compliment the outfit as a whole, in fact its a step backwards. The big shoes with skinny clothing will end up making you look like you are wearing clown shoes. What you instead want is some loose fitting pants that are form fitting while also just big enough to not be considered baggy or loose. The same thing goes with shirts while this one is a little bit harder because depending the look you are going for you may want to pair a baggy shirt with slimmer fitting clothes and vice versa. It really just depends the bottom half of the outfit that can make or break the whole thing. If that still doesn’t help then maybe you are matching the wrong pieces together and should try planning your clothes and outfits prior to you wearing them.
Today I am joined by my good friend Janet Cuevas, she is a Psychology currently finishing up her senior year at Oswego. I have her here today to discuss the “culture” of fashion and psychological factors that play a major part in these ideas and trends.
CL: I’m currently reading a book that discusses the idea that although we only 24 hours in a day making time a very valuable asset, we can still properly schedule ourselves and arrange our lives in a way in which we can get things done. I’m sure you are very busy how do you keep a tight and orderly schedule as well as make time for yourself and get the things you want to do for yourself done?
JC: Google Calendar. If it’s not on my calendar then it’s not important. I also have a planner where write down assignments, due dates, exams. I also like to make a weekly list of things I have to get done for both school and personal stuff and I check them off throughout the week.
CL: Upon further reading one of the the ideals that stood out to me the most was what is its purpose? What is the purpose of whatever you are doing, and it seems like a simple question that you would never think about because you assume what you are doing has a purpose, but I took a step back and noticed that some of the actions and activities I did and took part in had no purpose making it seem to be a waste of time. Do you believe that everything has a purpose and that what you are doing has a purpose and if so why? And even if it doesn’t would you consider it a waste of time?
JC: Yes, everything that I do during my week is part of the bigger picture, it all has a purpose
CL: Now lets talk about fashion and the term culture that is thrown around within it. So for starters tell us a little bit about your fashion sense, what you like to wear, what are you go to pieces, and what you could do to improve it if need be? For me I like to wear more of a dressy and put together with a hint of streetwear in it. So like a solid black fit consisting of a turtle neck and slightly dressy pants with a pair of Air Jordan 1s that make the outfit pop with a bit of colour. I really could use some more versatility in my closet though my foot wear at the moment is currently lacking big time and my pants and tees I need to mix up a little bit more, in terms of colour and style. The mixed dressy fits for me are my go to though.
JC: I like to be comfortable! I typically wear graphic tees, most of them from concerts that I have attended. You will always catch me in sneakers, never anything else. My current rotation consists of AJ1 Shadows, Stan Smiths and Vans Old Skool. I would definitely love to step out my stepping out of my comfort zone. I wear lots of black and dark colors, I would love to start wearing bolder, brighter colors and accessorize more!
CL: Oh Yes accessories are a big piece that people are missing out on in my opinion. So you are from the New York City area correct? How different is fashion here in upstate New York versus near the Big City?
JC: The fashion in Upstate New York is COMPLETELY different from back home. I feel like most people wear the same things, there’s no variety. Most of what people wear around here are “fashion fads”, influenced by social media, those ugly ass chunky fila shoes for example. You can clearly tell when someone on my campus is from the NYC Area, you can tell by what they got on feet, the brands and even the colors.
CL: And my final question to you how has fashion changed in general, in your opinion do you think it is changing in a good way or bad way? I think we are beginning to see the market lean towards more of an unnecessary high end feel. Where we have brands collaborating with high end brands because the people all want to have fancy clothing but no one wants to buy it, yet that’s all they talk about. What we have recently began to see is the emergence of trend dominance in which we see people flocking to brands and specific pieces because that’s what everyone else likes. So everyone not only dresses alike but also looks alike and yet they claim to have a sense of individual style when you aske them.
JC: Fashion is definitely not what I used to be. But I think it’s changing in a good way, I feel like a lot of the new fashion trends are now more comfortable which I am definitely a fan of. However it is definitely affecting sneaker and street wear culture negatively. There is now a higher demand for sneakers, which leads to re sell prices making it impossible for people who actually wear and love sneaker culture to enjoy.
CL: Thanks again for taking the time to be on my show. I would like to point out that everything we said although true is our opinion so if you feel some way please keep it to yourself because at the end of the day you can do and wear whatever you want.
F@$K Your Fashion 