Well, lots of people commented on yesterdays Style Evolution post!
Not Just on the blog, but on Twitter and Facebook as well. It made me start thinking back even further. I wasn’t planning to do this post today, but I want to deal with the kind of questions it bought up (for me) while it’s still fresh in my mind!
General consensus seemed to be of the “Gosh! Haven’t you changed!” opinion, and indeed, over that 5 year period I have. Though personally I can still see the elements of my style there all along. I’ve never been one for too many frills and fripperies. I like simple fitted tops and full 50s style skirts. A little black dress and pearls instead of pink satin.
I was always interested in WWII social history from the age of about 10 or 11 and the elegance of womens dress in the mid 20th century. I’ve also always loved dressing up and I’ve cobbled together little historical influences in my outfits, much as I think I do now.
The biggest change to my mind was my weight and my hair. I feel like I now dress like I would have always dressed if I’d known I was allowed! Little changes like wearing stockings, curling my hair and carrying a proper handbag are because I’m no longer afraid to draw attention to myself.
The reason I chose that 5 year period was that it’s the period I have most photos for, thanks to the world of digital photography! If you go back a little further though the story isn’t quite so clear cut. In my teens I was a flamboyant dresser with bright red hair. I favoured flicked eyeliner, red lips and plenty of bright green. Through most of my university years I liked nothing better than to go to the pub wearing bright green eyeshadow and gold shoes. But at some point I lost that. I still liked to dress nicely (I once had to borrow trainers to go on a course because I didn’t have any flat shoes AT ALL) but I lost that flamboyance.
Maybe it was working in an office full time, then at some point maybe it was the weight I gained that stole some of my confidence. Either way I DID lose it a bit. But while the last 5 years might look like a massive reinvention, viewed over the past 10 years I see it as rediscovering the *self help speak alert* Real Me™
So, I dug out some scanned photos from the before the age of digital photography. These date from around 1997-1998. I was at university and they’re all candid “in the pub” shots rather than posed outfit photos.
I particularly love the ball outfit in the left hand picture. I was wearing a black velvet vintage maxi skirt and vintage velvet choker. The bodice was M&S and, yes, that is a stick on beauty mark. I rag curled my hair and tucked dried roses into my hairband, but you can probably see it’s already falling flat. My hair is SUCH a trauma!
I think the girl in these pictures looks far more like the 2011 Retro Chick than yesterdays 2006 pictures.
