n.sync

givenchy FW11

If February is the month of love and July is the month to give into lust, then September is the month to wear Agent Provacateur lingerie underneath a smart trenchcoat and walk around seducing the city. September is fashion. September is desire; desire to dress sharply, look chicer and toss out the old in order to welcome the new. With all the post-fashion week buzz going on world-wide and in Ottawa, I’ve felt compelled to put some thought into what’s actually going on in the fashion world.  No. I won’t bore you with a list of what hot and what’s not, nor will I try to fake my way through a trend report. But lately, in the always theatrical fashion world, I’ve noticed a trend in synchronicity. People are becoming enlightened with universal connectivity.  

Living in a world crammed with information, and having it all at our fingertips, things can get noisy. We often don’t hear the right notes in a rhythmic succession when they are drowned out by the toneless ones. Over the last year media, technology and especially fashion have focused on curation more than ever to cut through to what’s authentic.

Once upon a time, fashion was exclusive. Only specific industry insiders were invited to attend, take part, comment and engage in the stylish scene. This is not the case anymore. Bloggers, magazines (on and offline), designers, spokespeople and fashion followers are emerging quicker than I can type s-a-t-o-r-i-a-l-i-s-t.  Whether or not the doors to this coveted world were opened up or knocked down, one things is for sure-we no longer receive information about fashion from a single omniscient source. Fashion is interpreted, represented, mocked and criticized in countless ways by a myriad of perspectives. This change towards a more scopic attitude in the industry makes me happy. I think the more individualism in any field grants opportunity for greater innovation. However, inclusivity leads to oversaturation, which leads to overkill. This is why it is necessary that the tastemakers stay true to their aesthetic, in both design and direction. The industry leaders should be the ones to represent the truest form of autheticity within a conceptual framework that encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems that display synchronicity.

malignant optimisn

image from the film daisies

The people in Ottawa know how to take a dig. Think about it. Across the country other Canadians think we have no taste, no style and no fun. We’ve been coined the place that fun forgot and labeled the most unsexy city in Canada.  Most recently we were blacklisted as one of the worst-dressed city in world. It appears that we have been seared by not one scarlet letter, but by a triad of Bs - boring, bureaucratic and bland.

We’ve got to face the facts. The odds are against us.

Population. Ottawa’s inhabitants consist mainly of civil servants mindlessly punching in and out of offices that generally resemble pine boxes with peep-holes.  

Location. We are in the middle of two of the most energetic and culturally diverse cities in Canada. Considering that we already battle against ongoing identity issues (*however this might be a Canadian-thing, not just an Ottawa-thing), we are clearly geographically positioned to have a superiority complex as well.

Attitude. The most significant reason we are always under attack for our lack of elegance, I believe, is our overpowering sense of optimism. At first you may think, what is this crazy blogger talking about? Optimism is a good thing, no? Well, not is you want to be stylish. Seems like the happy-go-lucky people of Ottawa, always seem to think that life is just coming up roses, while in fact, most are blind to what makes a city, and a population, in vogue.

The cynical are stylish because they don’t give a damn.  They are so disenchanted by society that the rules seems hardly worth following anymore. Freed of simple-minded optimism, the cynical are critical, complex, independent and rebellious – all the elements of great style. Fashionable people fundamentally do not consider the moral and social dogma that ties so many unstylish people up in knots. Thoughts such as ‘I wonder if the print of my skirt is too much?’ ‘will <insert loquacious co-worker’s name here>  say something about the height of my heel?’ ‘I hope my boss likes my tie’ would never cross the mind of a cynic.

I think to be chic you must have no great optimism in the natural state of things. You must forgo fact— such as this matches, this doesn’t match, this is in season, this is out of season— and replace it with notions, ideas and conceptualization about style. Natural beauty should become something to take pruning shears to.  If architecture enables us to appreciate the landscape of a city, liberated from practical concerns, fashion should do the same for the citizens.