Do we really dress in catwalk trends?
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Although women interested in fashion follow today’s trends, I don’t think the majority of us shop the catwalks for a head-to-toe look: apart from celebrities in the thrall of a stylist or earning the pay of the latest ‘Big Brand’ dress, and young fashionistas wanting fast throw-away fashion. Nor do I believe that we should all change our identity with each new season. In short, we do observe trends and nod to them, but don’t entirely follow them. We can be influenced by the looks laid down by today’s designers, without being a slave to them. It is about feeling good and looking individual, by putting your own twist on a look or outfit. The trends have never been more accessible than they are today, with the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all the glossy fashion magazines, giving us all a live stream of up-to-the-minute looks, advice and catwalks at our fingertips.
We should make fashion fit us now, not the other way around. In the midst of a ‘credit crunch’, which we are hopefully now showing signs of recovering from. One thing is for sure, our shopping habits have changed. We are now looking for items that will instantly update our wardrobe, focussing a little more on durability and wearability. We want items with timeless aesthetics that transcend the seasons. It’s all about how you want to look as an individual. It’s about not wanting to wear what everyone else is, and feeling confident to do so.
Trends will always be the drivers of fashion, and there are some amazing designers out there creating them for us, but being individual enables us to cherry-pick items that work for us.
Women do not stop looking great the day after their 40th birthday, so it is strange to see that this market has been ignored by a large part of the fashion industry for many years. It doesn’t help, when almost every area of media fuels the global obsession of youth and catwalk figures. Bar a few exceptions, the media role models held up to aspire to, are largely under 30 and dress size 6, or below. At Anna Perena, we ensure that our brands are not inextricably aimed at youth, but are aimed at women that want to dress confidently, combining style, fashion, and glamour with an individual look. It is with this in mind that we cherry pick our styles for our customer, and it is for this reason that we can tailor our buying to our customers changing needs, ensuring that they always remain stylish, and fashionable, without the pressure of having to buy what the High Street dictates.
Spring collections have begun to arrive and are looking very fresh and exciting. Over the next couple of weeks we will be adding the new stock to the website as it arrives.
