Trendsetting: Follow Your Own Personal Trend Report

"Be a trendsetter instead of a trend follower".
I've been saying this for an extremely long time, more as a call to cultivating your own personal look rather than an anarchistic statement. Now, echoes of a similar statement are rippling forward like a wave from the very influencers of "trends": fashion directors and editors. It made me wonder, "Isn't this shooting your own foot and looking your gift horse in the mouth and taking candy from a baby all at the same time?".  All funny aside, as a personal stylist, its my job to create and cultivate a personal image for a client that shows who they are based on how they see themselves and in what way they want to express this individuality in their professional (and personal) world. Hearing publicly that other fashion professionals are saying the same thing (this is not an insider secret, rather a secret understanding not spoken in all my fifteen plus years in the industry), it really is a welcome to me (and maybe to you) that the top brass are letting the truth (or reality) come out.
What does this mean for the now ubiquitous trends-based fashion editorials that come out without fail (and with much fanfare) each season? I don't think that editors and directors and fashion designers themselves are negating these trend editorials in the slightest, or that they are saying anything conversely regarding trends in their collective thinking, nor do I think that these editorials are going to disappear anytime soon. I think they are just paying more direct attention to the solid fact that the consumer has the freedom of choosing any option that fits to their vestiary needs; in effect, we buy whatever we want regardless of trends. I strongly believe that there will forever be an intrinsic and highly elevated importance for editorials because that is the very place where we, the consumer, get to see the trends "in action" (and as an art form). The featured trends get planted into our sartorial subconscious and we take these images with us when we go to market (or sit at our computers and go to our favorite online boutiques) but here's the thing that happens: we see the visual merchandising or brand marketing and get another viewpoint of said trends. In that instant, our idea of said trends gets altered. This happens numerous times until, I feel, the latest trends become a uniform staple.
The marketplace needs trends, bottom line. It is the driver of the (fashion) retail business (through the mechanism of marketing campaigns, editorial coverage, and the like). It is what gets you into the store, and what gets your currency into the tills. Yet when you are making choices about your personal presentation, you really can't follow and adhere to trends entirely because (how my thinking goes) doing so becomes a crutch, becomes blandly utilitarian. A sprinkle here and there of one or two trends is all it takes; by utilizing the inspiration that any particular trend resonates with you and mixing that with your own uniqueness, that trend will bring your personal style to different expressions. We need to view trends in creative terms like texture or shading and contour on your sartorial canvas, allowing you to paint interesting style strokes into your wardrobe.

What about the notion of saturation--how many trends are too many trends, and, how many times can we stand to witness a trend returning (again and again) into our style consciousness? Once, thrice, ten times before we say "enough!"? For me, in this case, trends lose much appeal and they lose it fast. Here is where I ignore the notion of saturation and allow myself to be motivated in my purchasing choices each season by making additions to my overall fashion collection that will stand the test of time and keep my individual aesthetic fresh, vibrant, and holistically rooted in my personal image. And at today's quick rate of "trend overturn", over exposure to trend reports and editorials perhaps are where the notion of "trends are growing passe" is coming from. This may be, in fact, the case but more along the line that trends are no longer dictating personal style inasmuch as they are dictating the marketplace to get you in the door and let you adapt a trend to your liking. I am a firm believer in the idea of if a trend appears at least two more times as the "current trend" it is no longer a trend, it is a new mode of dressing. When you've adopted and adapted a new mode of dressing to your personal style encyclopedia, you evolve your style consciousness in a whole new way. Through adaptation, you've done away with trends, without ever having followed them in their entirety and have allowed them to be points of reference and of consumer options.

At their very core, trends are compendiums of choice. They're neat little packages to help guide you through the seas of fashion. In today's advancing information age we have innumerable fashion choices. Its not always easy to navigate through all the plethora of cuts and color and shape and fabric, yet somehow we do it, perhaps motivated by the positive notion of a trend, or perhaps by the notion of proving the trend contrarily.  And where there is choice, there is the liberty of invention. How you choose to express your style is amazingly complex, deeply expressive, and infinitely individual. We can't ever forget this nor lose sight of it. We have our own personal trend reports flowing in our minds. We cultivate them by seeing the art in fashion editorials and runway shows, in store designs and merchandising layouts, in advertising campaigns, and on the red carpet on our favorite celebrities. We compile these choices all into our ideal style choices and create our looks from them, season after season. We formulate our own aesthetic and realize our fashion self. We cannot forget, when we are presented with all of these fashion options that we stay, tried and true, to that internal trend report and use it as a compass and follow your fashion heart, to the fashionable you.

-fggofstyle


RELATED LINKS

"Freedom of Choice: In Fashion, Are Trends Passe?" by Ruth La Ferla, New York Times

Love to Love You: Donna Summer

It seems that these times of our lives have introduced us to many a legend who have come and touched us in their special way, and when they leave us, we remember how poignant their expression of Creativity has indeed left its mark and truly moved us. With over 130 million records sold, 31 #1  International hits, it is really no wonder that there is almost no one who hasn't heard "the Voice of a Decade" or The Queen of Disco, or, simply Ms. Donna Summer.

For me, Donna Summer embodied a style and charisma that could not have come from any other time except the 70's. I remember dancing with my Mom in the kitchen to "Try Me I Know We Can Make It" (which is still my absolute favorite Donna Summer song for various reasons and 18 minutes of pure disco sensuality) and I fondly remember always hearing Donna playing in our house all the time. I grew up listening to her voice, and kept growing up listening to it and being influenced by the messages coming through her voice even as an adult. It was through her voice that I learned many things about my self and about love, beauty, and style.
As a fashion/style icon, Donna had a style about her that was strong, courageous, and vibrant. The legendary fashion photographer, Francesco Scavullo definitely saw this in her and she was one of his most photographed subjects (see my pictorial tribute below). I will never forget that brown sequined disco dress she slips into to perform "Last Dance" in the movie "Thank God Its Friday". In that moment we learned that's how you do sexy and confident at the same time: it become a signature look not only for her but for countless women in the Disco era, and beyond--all you have to do is look at Tom Ford to see her fashion influence translated for our modern time--that alluring, seductive, sultry, amber-scented, confidently strong woman that Donna Summer put a look and face to for an international audience who would express their self to the world by following her cue. 

from "Once Upon a Time" album cover photographed by Francesco Scavullo 1977

from "Once Upon A Time" album art 1977 photographed by Francesco Scavullo

Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer from "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"  single album art
 photographed by Francesco Scavullo

photographed by Francesco Scavullo 1980

Donna Summer as Marilyn Monroe photographed by Francesco Scavullo 1976

photographed by Francesco Scavullo while performing in New York 1978

photographed by Francesco Scavullo 1978

 The cue that I have personally followed that Donna taught me comes from "Try Me I Know We Can Make It",
 "I just wanna show you love and make it all time..."
This is something I do every day and I learned its wisdom coming through the voice of Donna, as that is what she did with her gift and creativity. She showed us all Love. 

Thank You and Rest Peaceful.

-fggofstyle

Related articles

• Beyoncé Pays Homage To The Late Donna Summer (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• Memories of Donna's Disco Nights (New York Times)

A Tribute to Whitney Houston, The Greatest Voice of All

It is with such sadness for me to accept the news of Whitney Houston's passing on Saturday here in Los Angeles. Although she has had many personal struggles and it has cost her in many ways (ending her marriage to Bobby Brown, losing her New Jersey mansion, making a failed comeback in 2009, losing her iconic voice, etc), there is no denying the indelible mark this brilliant artist has left on music. Beginning her career in fashion as a model, all the while harboring a voice that will change the industry when she makes her debut in 1984 with her self-titled first album, "Whitney Houston", and the string of hits that span her career, no one saw that she was going to change and evolve the face (and sound) of pop music forever. Here is a collection of some of my favorite images and videos of this true icon through her career and life...

"Greatest Love of All" single cover, 1984

an early modeling photo from the 80's

photo by Richard Avedon from "Whitney" album cover art, 1987

one of my favorite Whitney songs written by longtime Madonna collaborator Jellybean Benitez, from "Whitney", 1987

album interior cover art for "My Love is Your Love", photographed by Dana Lixenburg

album interior cover art for "My Love is Your Love", photographed by Dana Lixenburg

still from "It's Not Right But It's Okay" music video,  1999

album cover art from "I Look To You", 2009

a still from the music video "I'm Every Woman" from "The Bodyguard" 1992

May You now be at Peace, Whitney.


With Love and Rememberance,
-fggofstyle

Strike a Pose, Express your Pinterest, and Tumblr for Me

As social media and the blogosphere continues to grow in more and more expansive, interesting, and co-interdependent ways, the outlets for self-expression and live blogging become more varied and available to suit any type of expression. In the past two years of producing this site, my main focus has been to create content that shares my viewpoint on the fashion and style business all while allowing access to my expertise and insight on it. In order for me to continue to open my world up to you, fair reader, I have created new outlets to show different aspects on my viewpoint.

Here at the FeelGoodGuru of Style, I have created a new companion site on Tumblr called Style Shrine, which features varied content I find stylish and utterly fabulous. Its range spans the worlds of art, fashion, entertainment, photography, music, and lifestyle. Style Shrine is the official sister site to this one, meant for quick consumption, inspiration, and fun. I'm excited to raise her up and watch her grow and I hope you will be too.

I am expanding my live blogging vehicles ( Facebook and Twitter) to now include two relevant and fun fashion/lifestyle-centric applications: Pinterest and Pose.
On Pinterest, you can view my pinboards, which serve as my internet-based inspiration for creative projects I am involved in. I of course utilize real-life physical pinboards for creativity, but what draws me to Pinterest is how I can build and create my internet boards which I end up using to shape and form as an additional reference source. Plus, its very interesting to see how other Pinterest users influence and inspire each other, by way of the mechanics of the site.
On Pose, its more about documenting my own personal style and how I see the fashion I am constantly in contact with.  I find the format of Pose as a direct way to share my personal fashion choices (through the outfits/looks I wear), and the physical aspects of fashion styling (through my visual merchandising and client looks, or the goods I see while out and about in the marketplace). Pose allows me to expand my viewpoint and share with you how I interact with the fashion world, based on commerce and brands I find relevant.


I invite you to come and follow me at any or all of these outlets as content I post will enhance and evolve the core content found here in new and interesting ways.

 This site is the Heart of the FeelGoodGuru of Style experience; I Thank You for allowing me to show and share it with You and for being a part of it. I look forward to seeing you all over the World Wide (Fashion) Web...

-fggofstyle

A New Year, A New You

Each new year brings with it the resolve to finally become a new you. We see it time and again and try all these different ways to improve ourselves in the new year. I love that we are creatures who continually seek to evolve and empower ourselves and improve our lives. It is one of the most remarkable aspects of our nature, one I am truly in love with. 

In reflection of this past year, I can see just how precisely I have evolved in myself, and I can see just how I have contributed in helping my community and society evolve as well. I am truly proud of this.
In this coming year, I strive to continue to evolve myself and my community, and to always share and spread the joy, happiness, and the feel good in all that I do. I hope that you will do the same, and I wish all the best for you and it is my deep hope that you also find joy, happiness, and love in everything this coming year. Don't forget to share these blessings with others and continue to share the feel good in your way too.

Happy New Year 2012!

-fggofstyle
"look good, feel good, in style""

Related articles

• New Year, New Decade 2.0 
• New Year, New Decade 

Happy Holidays

May your Season be filled with Joy, Love, and Light!

Let us remember that this time of year is (and always will be) about community, friendship, love, and happiness. It is the Light in the darkness of Winter, the time to feast and share our collective abundance, and show our heart appreciation for the people we can say that we love and cherish.

Thank you for coming to my little space in this world (wide web) and allowing me to share with you, commune with you, enjoy the feast of creativity and fashion with you, and for your time and friendship. May you continue to enjoy all that feels good.

Wishing you and yours, Happy Holidays!

-fggofstyle

Gratitude (Be Thankful For What You've Got)

Be Thankful for what you've got--
Infinite creativity, an unconditional and giving heart, youthful optimism, unbounded imagination, an inquisitive nature, a learned mind, healthy vitality, kinetic energy, universal peace, global outreach, eternal gratitude, social cause, inspiring peers, a positive attitude, boundless love, natural intuition, good intentions, divine wisdom, innate style, true faith, shining light, and, most of all, Love.


Happy Thanksgiving and Thank You!!
-fggofstyle

Where Have All the Models Gone?

The Fall campaigns run the spectrum of many things that fashion companies want us to focus on--color trends, new silhouettes, the mystique of their brand, and, most importantly, the desire to spend your money with them. The ad campaigns do this by creating beautiful hair and makeup looks, cohesively edited and styled looks by a cadre of experts, eye catching graphics, and the all important brand logo. And now, and most importantly, by employing a celebrity. Um...where have all the models gone?!?

Its a sad fact that now you can't even buy a magazine with a fashion model on the cover, which is horrible to fathom to me. And now, you open said magazine and in the campaigns there is an overwhelming number of celebrities who are touting everything from fragrance to shoes to clothing. This is becoming even more a regular phenomenon. What happened to the suspension of belief and mystery of the fashion model? Do I need to apply an actual personality to the campaign who just becomes a running reminder of their latest musical or cinematic project to me? Is the choice of fashion models so slim that there aren't enough of them to employ in these campaigns? Have fashion models become too expensive to employ and the celebrity is the more economical representative ( I highly doubt it)? I applaud Vogue Magazine for going with a model (Kate Moss) on the cover of the September 2011 issue (a very long time coming) but not many other magazines have followed suit and the major campaigns fail as well by following the celeb-as-model trend. 

Yes, its nice to see Kate Winslet looking great but in three campaigns? Or Julianne Moore in another three? Drew Barrymore knocks it out of the park in the Neiman Marcus fall campaign but granted, she is an actress/model who has had success in her respective careers separately and not in concert with each other. Marion Cotillard also does a great job in her campaigns but she French and doesn't count (I'm kidding). And lets not even talk about the beauty campaigns, which has been over run with celebrities for decades now and seem to continue to give any new female musician or actress a contract at any given moment. Fashion models have been relegated to fashion shows and editorials, which yes, is the core of their work and where they really are the only pros who do that job and do it well, but who is to say that the next trend is to have the celeb in the ad campaign walk to runway next? This is the homogenization of the industry in the age of celebrity and I hope it doesn't go that route.

One of the best campaigns in fashion had to have been the Versace ads of the 90s that featured celebrities like Elton John or Madonna. Whats was great about that campaign was the idea (and fact) that the celebrity in the campaign was an actual customer of the brand and you knew it, believed it, and made you want to wear it. This same ethos even translated to the campaigns that featured the models of the time in the brands campaigns as well, making those featured models into Supermodels.  This held the allure of the brand and elevated it to status. I don't see this happening in today's campaigns and feel its become homogenized and very general. 

Its even more sad when you think about the state of the modeling industry, where to land a major magazine cover was an achievement and now its a rarity.  A top model is now lucky to get an editorial and even in that respect, its being dominated by a select few (of a happily diverse mix of) models.  But even still, models are in the job of inspiring us to explore our presentation of our inner selves and embody that, I believe. They capture, in that moment, what the brand's image and history convey, and present the objects of that brand in a distinct and different light than a celebrity does. 

Its time to bring back the fashion model. To the campaigns, to the magazine cover, to the forefront of the industry, and the front of our fashion minds often and again.

-fggofstyle

Oceana Event 2011

I'm proud to be a part of this event, as host of it at the Elie Tahari boutique at Saks Beverly Hills, for it is in celebration and support of Oceana's wonderful efforts in ocean protection and conservation. Come learn more about Oceana and to enjoy La Mer treatments! And since you'll be at Saks, what better time to shop: Designer Sale is in full effect!!

-fggofstyle

Androgyny Me

It has taken the greater fashion-sphere to take notice of something that I have always known and that is: its better on the other side, of the gender dress code, that is. With more "mainstream" males and females co-opting articles of clothing from each other and wearing them with their own style, it was bound to become de riguer (almost) for the masses to take note and follow.

I have always loved that, through fashion, you can come to express yourself and carve out a sartorial definition of yourself, no matter how you chart the course. If you want to wear a tailored suit head-to-toe, or a prim and pretty dress with matching accessories, its all good. As long as you stay within the lines? Um, no thanks. We all have to remember that fashion is an outlet, a creative process, used for express of the craft/art and of the individual. It allows us to pick and choose and carve out our own individual display by offering us the multitude of choice. For men nowadays to wear women's clothes shouldn't be outrageous or strange, or for women to do the same thing as sexy and defiant. It should be, I feel, natural and unexpectedly expected of anyone to choose any style of dress or any item of clothing from any gender closet to express who they are.

So what if Kanye wore a woman's shirt (er, blouse)? He saw the art in it and wanted to wear it. And rock it. So what if Janelle Monae wore a tuxedo to the Grammys?? She wore it with gusto and damned well showed all of us a thing or two about tailoring. So what if Blake Lively wore a super mini pair of shorts to the Chanel Resort show in Cannes? She was wearing Chanel!

We all have choices. Pick and choose your own, and wear them because it makes you feel good, and look good, in your very own, gender-you style.

-fggofstyle

It is not the Future, it is the Now!!:

Is Gender-Neutral Fashion The Future?: style file: daily fashion, party, and model news

Ramblin' Rosy

As a personal stylist and retail expert, I get called upon to assist with some serious shopping for a wide range of clients. I have had the most distinct pleasure of making the acquaintance of a fashion savvy and in-the-know client known as Rosy, who was in town on her "Rosy Reports" assignment for the well known and renown website "Love always, Bear". She was shopping with her Mom and celebrity stylist Sydne Summer. Rosy is one fantastically stylish "gal". Thanks so much and the pleasure was all mine!

-fggofstyle

Follow my blog with bloglovin

If you are following this blog on bloglovin', I suggest you click on the link here in this post because if you haven't noticed, the webpage address has changed! Here at the fggofstyle, we are now a .com site. The web address is easier to follow, remember, and share so tell your friends and don't forget to click to start following via the new addy: Follow my blog with bloglovin

Thanks!
-fggofstyle

Real Boys wear Pink

Jenna Lyons and her son Beckitt
(photo via Huffington Post)

Congratulations for being an open minded and forwardly progressive and, downright creative human Ms. Jenna Lyons, by encouraging free play and creativity in your son by letting him wear pink nails. And painting them yourself. Thank you for fostering individuality, creativity, and fearlessness in him and by doing what comes naturally to children and letting him play and explore. In pink nails. In yellow nails. In striped and bejewelled nails. In natural nails. In his own skin, in his own way, in his own expression.

Thank you,
--from a child who was encouraged by a lovingly open mother and who has grown into a fantastically swell and creative, confident, adult human being not afraid to wear color.

-fggofstyle

Manifesto Destiny

On Saturday, YSL distributed their limited edition Spring 2011 "Manifesto", a comprehensive look at the Spring Collection, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinood Matadin, throughout various "secret" locations around Los Angeles. This is the first time the venerable design house has presented the manifesto in LA. I had been on the search for the locations for weeks (as soon as I heard the news that LA would be getting the Manifesto) with no prevailing information given to me (go figure), so I simply made a kind request to the PR powers-that-be to be a dear and deliver it to me, "I'll be at a particular place at a particular time", in a half-mocking tone but with wholehearted aplomb. To my great and sheer surprise, a young woman from YSL came to me with the Manifesto and tote in hand to hand deliver one to me, at the particular place I was at at the particular time I suggested, with kind regards, and said a special gift will be delivered to me in the following week, part of the Manifesto package. Then I saw them descend upon the location like YSL clad angels: the Manifesto street team. I watched in awe as they handed out the coveted tote and Manifestos to very unsuspecting and overly jubilant passerby. It was great to not only be gifted with this but to be a witness to a fashion moment, a first of many for LA (I hope). Receiving a copy of this season's Manifesto is such a great surprise. Surprise is actually putting it mildly. I'm beyond the beyond overjoyed. I'm in complete awe in how asking for something kindly and sincerely actually works when you least expect it. Believe me when I say that someone at YSL is getting a lovely floral arrangement and a Dayna Decker candle gift set this week, hand delivered by me. In fair kind, right?
And in the spirit of the good and fair kind, I am giving away a copy of the YSL Manifesto to one lucky winner in a contest to begin on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Please visit then for more information and to enter. Good luck!!


-fggofstyle

Hello, Nice to Meet You Generation Y

The question of Generation Y, or, better known as the "Hipster Generation", has been turning around in my mind over and over again and I've come to realize that I know very little intimately about this generation that follows mine. I see these hipsters everywhere. Standing alone, gathered in groups, in their Minis and Priuses, riding their one speed bikes, drinking skinny lattes, wearing skinny jeans and vintage clothing...Hipsters, please stand up and introduce yourselves to me!

My generation, Gen X, brought to the cultural forefront many different things: rave culture, minimalism, RuPaul, MTV, the early beginnings of video games and home computers, Prepsters, the pop supremacy of U2, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, leggings, Neo Soul music, and double denim dressing.

What's going on with Generation Y? Ok, I must thank you for the skinny jeans movement (I'm a BIG fan) and the return of vintage clothing popularity (especially designer vintage), high/low dressing, and eco-conscious products and practices. But tell me what is up with the unkempt hair and grooming (beards, moustaches, and goatees, oh my!!!), sub-par social etiquette, vapid demeanor and disdain for society and the global culture? Why has your infinite style potential become so homogenized and common (plaid shirts, for example)?  What about the push for the contemporary and edgy and original?

Perhaps my own (limited) personal experience with hipsters has left me a bit sour on you, or I feel like you co-opted things that were original or new to my generation (prepsters, for instance), or I have just grossly generalized you to such an extent that I can't see the forest for the trees but what I do see is so much potential that its unfathomable. I don't want to see it get lost in the mire. I want it to come bursting forth and shower over the world. I sense the change in you, Generation Y, the change that a future brings. Please step up and bring it: the newness, the difference, the individuality. I'm doing my part. Other members of my generation are do their part as well.I know some of you are doing your share as well. I guess this is my summit, my "Geneva Convention" in my mind here, and its just time to meet and shake hands and know each other and welcome each party to the Dawn.

-fggofstyle

New Year, New Decade 2.0

During this time of year, fresh off the heels of New Year celebrations and revelry, everybody starts talking about the changes the intend to bring in with them and implement. These changes, or resolutions, most of the time get lost and forgotten within months. We get bombarded by the media by "resolution stories" to the point of annoyance (to me).

I don't make resolutions, I make choices of evolution.
I intend to continue to change the way I conduct my life on many levels. I intend to make change in how I serve the world and my community. I intend to further embrace my creativity and my commitment to it and its expansion. I intend to strengthen my business so that it evolves and grows exponentially. I intend to grow my personal relationships and always express my love and adoration to those who are dear to me. I intend to continue to explore the scenes around me and share my point of view of it with you. I intend to always have an open heart, an open mind, and open eyes so that I will always see the good surrounding me, feel the infinite good around me, and to do it with my own style.

-fggofstyle

New Year, New Decade

Here is a great verse from George Michael's song "Waiting For That Day" that sums up this time for me:


"now everybody's talking about this new decade
like you say the magic number
then just say goodbye to
the stupid mistakes you made
oh my memory serves me far too well


don't you know that
the years will come and go
some of us will change our lives
some of us still have nothing to show
nothing baby
but memories"

It's strange to think of the past year, let alone the past decade. Time seems to keep trudging along, bringing with it much much change. In its wake, it leaves memories. It is these memories that I will think fondly of, no matter if the memory is of something difficult or painful or something happy and joyous. It is these things, these changes, this growth that helps me (and you) to do what we are really here on this planet to do: Evolve.

So to the New Year and New Decade I welcome its Evolution and wish for a Joyous, Prosperous and Happy New Year for everyone!

-fggofstyle
"look good, feel good, in style"

Happy Holidays

Wishing you a Happy and Joyous Holiday filled with Style!

-fggofstyle

"Influencers: The Documentary"

  I see influence abounding all around me all the time. I have often wondered how this visceral sense I have about it weaves its way into an intellectual and concise actuality. Its the contiguousness of creativity, I believe, and to me, thats beyond...good.

Please take a look at this great documentary about how creativity and influence thrives in our culture/world. Click *here* to view "Influencers: The Documentary", a film by R+I Films.

Enjoy!

-fggofstyle

Thankful

at the "Fashion is Art" Gallery Exhibit
wearing a print tank by Theory, top by Plastic Island, vintage Dior clutch
photo by Catherine Asanov

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful to you for coming here and being an integral part of my fashion world and for allowing me to share my world with you.
I truly hope that you continue to embrace my ethos of living: "look good, feel good, in style" and spread the feel good!

-fggofstyle