Help for the fashion impaired

Fashion magazines or the fashion sections of Yahoo. I'm no help. In my closet, I have a sheet of paper with digital photos of all my dress shirts and the ties that go with them. For real.

Style.com always posts the latest season's fashion shows, so it might be an interesting resource to poke around in. The stuff on the runway can be pretty interesting for lack of a better word, and tends to take a season or two to filter down to the streets and chain stores. The couture stuff is usually one-off, and can cost upwards of several thousands of dollars because of the materials, hand-sewn nature, etc. The lines called "ready to wear" are more affordable (relatively speaking, heh).

Here are some names to get you started:

Shoes: Christian Louboutin (red soled, with heels mostly above three inches--~$300-$1k), Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik (hit height of popularity with Sex and the City, but still very much 'in')....

Quirky high fashion / couture: Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga (also known for their purses, the motorcycle line), John Galliano, Rodarte, Chloe, Hussein Chalalyan, Thakoon, Zac Posen....

Classic high fashion / couture: Chanel (especially their tweed jackets), Gucci, Prada, Balmain, Carolina Herrerra, Fendi, Celine, Dior, de la Renta, Hermes (their Kelly and Birkin bags average anywhere from 5-10k and are custom made; there's always a waiting list), Lanvin....

Hope this helps!

A few more that I didn't see mentioned... You can easily check any of these out online to get an idea of their lines, styles and prices.

Dolce & Gabbana

Versace

Burberry

Armani

Bottega Veneta

Valentino

bebe

Domenico Vacca

La Perla - if the character is going to be obsessed with what's showing, she's going to be obsessed with what's underneath, as well.


For jewelery and such...

Tiffany

Bulgari

You don't say if your character is male or female.

The time of day for clothing is also important.

Seasons also come into play.

Then there are functions to be decided upon e.g. work, parties, galas, theater (Not movies. Who cares what one wears in the dark?). Embassy balls--the kind where you dance. Weddings--be sure the gown is reversible so it can be worn in divorce court later on.

For the a well dressed man the choices, while equally as elegant, are much simpler than for a well dressed woman.

Then there is makeup for women to consider. Men too if they are acting in a movie or other theatrical production; as well female impersonators or someone transitioning to female.

Scents are important. Stay away from anything that is labled "Musk".

Accessories, useful ones as well as ornamental need to be explored. The list provided in an earlier post is helpful here.

Remember that just because the label is designer doesn't make it attractive. Less is more. Ostentation often screams wealth but not necessarily good taste.

One more thing. Do not have your character wear leather pants or be seen in the company of anyone who does.
C

Do not have your character wear leather pants or be seen in the company of anyone who does, unless they are motorcycle riding. Then they can wear leather chaps. Oooooh!


Actually, got buy a copy of Vogue (for women) and GQ (for men) and look through those. They are both 80%+ advertising but you can see the clothes the high fashion folks are selling.

citymouse said:

You don't say if your character is male or female.

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I assumed that fashionista was a female noun, but Otterella may be using it as a gender-neutral word.

My novel has a group of characters who work for a major fashion magazine. I've been clothes-shopping in New York enough to dress the male characters, but to dress the women I've gone online and looked at Saks and Bergdorf Goodman to see what they have available. As mentioned before, it's important to consider the season.

Some fashionistas are loyal to one or two designers, and others wear whatever's popular. Someone who's a "label whore" probably bought a few things from Jason Wu after he did that white ball gown that Michelle Obama wore the night of the inauguration. Someone who likes Jason Wu's designs for what they are will actually buy something else when a new collection comes out.

There is a web site for Fashion Week where you can see all the outfits from the runway shows. Some of these are true couture, that customers can order custom-made, and others are flights of fancy to get the designer's name out there and improve sales of their much more ordinary line at Bloomingdale's.

There's one problem with fashion in that it dates very quickly. So either your screen play will need to be rewritten before you submit it every time or it will look dated by the time it comes to being used.

Then, when the screenplay is actually used all your fashion decisions will be completely overruled by the costume department anyway.

To get around this you might want to either be vague and say things like 'the latest chic little number' rather than 'a Marks and Spencer Xyzzi dress' (can you spot _my_ fashion sense?), or stick to classic names like Chanel.

Anyway the points is that a screenplay _will_ be adapted so you'd be better off spending your time on plot and character rather than fashion.

I used to work in the fashion industry. Only in organising fashionista parties, but I still needed to be down with it. By the time a fashion has reached the magazines its already out of fashion among the hard-core. So you can't really use it as a guide. Back in the day, the only way to find out what was going to be hot was to either go to trade shows, talk to people who went to trade shows or talk to people who with a seemingly magical power knew two years in advance what was coming. That still applies today, but now it's much easier. There's tonnes of young girls down with fashion who have fashion blogs and fashion Youtube diaries.

The people who follow fashion magazines religiously tend to be parodies of fashionistas. Not actually fashionistas themselves. Fashionistas laugh at them.

Fashion comes down to one simple factor. It's a tool to ferret out who knows important people and who is popular. Simply by keeping track of what brands and styles people are wearing, its easy for people in the business to save a tonne of time, by avoiding the obviously clueless, and those who can't help them. It's the same deal with the hipsters.

I left the business ten years ago, so I'm no help as to what's hot now.

I disagree. Fashion comes down to one simple factor: "What looks good on me?" If you're not following that rule, the clothes are wearing you.

A "fashion victim" is someone who accepts fashion advice blindly. Chandelier earrings, shoulder pads, and six-inch heels have all been fashion trends - but if they make you look stubby, boxy, or wobbly, will anyone say "oh, she's so fashionable?" Or will they say "what the heck is she wearing?"

mtrenteseau said:

I disagree. Fashion comes down to one simple factor: "What looks good on me?" If you're not following that rule, the clothes are wearing you.

A "fashion victim" is someone who accepts fashion advice blindly. Chandelier earrings, shoulder pads, and six-inch heels have all been fashion trends - but if they make you look stubby, boxy, or wobbly, will anyone say "oh, she's so fashionable?" Or will they say "what the heck is she wearing?"

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The OP clearly states a "fashionista". Stop applying common sense.

Make up names ... assume there will be a few old guard designers, some rising hot shots, and a couple of really wierd ones: for shoes, clothes, etc.

Pick names from world cup teams or something - fashion has really gone world-beat.

Tsu Dho Nimh said:

Make up names ... assume there will be a few old guard designers, some rising hot shots, and a couple of really wierd ones: for shoes, clothes, etc.

Pick names from world cup teams or something - fashion has really gone world-beat.

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Ooh, I like this! You can also combine the two by making up the name of a person who's doing a special line for an established company.

Tsu Dho Nimh said:

Make up names ... assume there will be a few old guard designers, some rising hot shots, and a couple of really wierd ones: for shoes, clothes, etc.

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I think this is really clever. This way you're sure the names will never get dated. And fashionistas are falling over themselves to find the new hot brand name, nobody has ever heard of before. French sounding names are pretty safe to use.

The best bit is that it'll save you a lot of work. As long as "the right people" in your book are impressed it'll work.

A thousand dollars for a pair of shoes?! Excuse me?

Bloody hells bells.....

here's a good fashion blog thats realy really easy to follow: http://www.whowhatwear.com/website/home.php

also, check lookbook.nu

Old thread, closing.

Karan, please stop opening old threads unless you have a specific question. It's starting to smell spammy in here.