You're Not Stupid Because You Like Fashion

The ethos behind my favourite ever website/blog/publication, Man Repeller, is 'where an interest in fashion never minimises ones intellect', which is one of the reasons why it's one of my favourite places on the internet. For a long time, an interest in fashion and/or clothes has equated to being a little bit dim, to put it nicely. After all, the most intelligent people don't care about what they look like, right? Steve Jobs wears the same clothes every day! Wrong. Being interested in fashion, whether it's fashion styling, writing or simply shopping, has nothing to do with how intelligent you are. In fact, some of the people I admire the most because of their intelligence (cough, cough Pandora Sykes, my ultimate dream girl in every area of life) have built themselves or their careers through fashion, or use it to define a big part of themselves.

I've always wanted a career within the fashion industry, but as my life took a more 'academic' path and I really started to care about my academic performance, which also led to a boost in my grades, I began to doubt whether this type of career was for me. This was almost sub-conscious, perhaps partly because I know it's a competitive industry, but I think mostly because I thought I should do something more by the books, and, as an English Lit student, something specifically to do with books. Maybe I still will end up going down this path career-wise but I'm definitely more open and more interested in a career within the fashion industry, thinking of it as something that will allow me to reach my full potential in so many ways and something that I would be proud of, not ashamed of.

Many people think putting outfits together and photographing them is a waste of time and vain but, for me, it's a really creative process. It provides me with a space to be creative and, although I'm not always completely comfortable in front of the camera, it's something that I really enjoy altogether. It's not something that everyone can do, whether that's because they don't enjoy it/don't have the patience for it or because they simply are not good at styling. I'm not trying to say that I have a talent for putting outfits together or anything but getting dressed in the morning is a creative process for me and, especially on days when I'm glued to my desk doing UNI work, I really appreciate and enjoy this moment of creativity.

Wearing school uniform was something I absolutely hated, and wearing the same clothes for work at the moment has a similar effect on me, and unlike other peers who would say that they missed the ease of their uniform, being able to choose my own outfit every day, as little of a thing as it seems now, was so liberating for me. I don't have anything against Steve Jobs, or anyone else who wears the same clothes every day, and I'm not saying he's not creative (he definitely is) because everyone is creative in different ways. But just because I spend 15 minutes (sometimes much, much longer) deciding what to wear in the morning, that does not make me any less of an efficient or intelligent person and it is not something to be looked down on and I think it should be seen as creative as writing and drawing and all of the other generically creative acts, because it feels that way for me.

I carry absolutely zero shame for having an interest in fashion anymore and that's why I wanted to dedicate this post to Man Repeller. Because Leandra (the founder of Man Repeller) has created a space where women can have intelligent and important conversations, whilst also writing and reading about the phenomenon of gym shorts as a 'thing' (this is a real, and good, article currently on the site).

I try to create a similar space with my blog, but obviously in this case it's just me talking to myself. The posts vary from fashion-based, discussion-based to many other things and I feel just as confident in writing about them all. Man Repeller also allows me to feel justified in writing about more than one thing on my blog and not having a niche, something that I've tried to create and failed. I want this blog to be a reflection of me and because I am a multi-faceted human being, that means I am going to write about lots of different things, usually uniting them with posey photos of me, such as these ones taken in Liverpool's St John's Gardens.

Anyway, I ran off on a bit of a tangent there (what's new?) but I just wanted to write this post to try and dismantle the stigma around fashion . I hope I've helped you to shatter any negative perceptions of those who are interested in fashion you might have had, and I hope that if you are a fashion-lover (that sounds so 2012) that you embrace it and feel proud of it! It means you're creative and gives you an amazing way to construct your own identity in whatever way you want... But that's a different post all together! Maybe next time!