…or at least I wish for an anti-fug ordinance. This post is dedicated to the Fug Girls, who give the gift of spontaneous laughter to the world. They write in verse (4th item)! What dedication!

We have entered the age of Style Amnesia. We wake up and turn on the television or flip through US Weekly to be guided in our dress. “Ooooh. Low-rise jeans today. Multiple layers of draped jersey today. Oversized leather belt and oversized sunglasses today. Ballet flats today. That’s so hot. I’m gonna look awesome….” Trouble is, this trend is stagnant and has been mercilessly stuck in a perpetual feedback loop for years now. In this country, those with an effortless individual style are fast becoming a rare breed.

image: Lindsay Lohan www.gofugyourself.com

So who can we blame for style amnesia? The media? It’s true that the media perpetuates an eternatween look, but it is the individual’s responsibility to know what cuts, colors and fabrics look best on them. Addressing these items with finesse never fails to develop a personal style that displays confidence and pride. This is America, where we are led to believe we are free to do what we choose and dress as we please. We are free to express ourselves by way of personal style, and this means we may offend others. Offending people through dress or by other means of individual expression is a natural byproduct. It becomes dangerous, however, when offensive dress is propagated by the media. This leads to a hazardous lack of civility and dignity and reminds me of the selfish behavior of a drug addict.

image: Bai Ling www.gofugyourself.com

Shopping for clothes results in disaster when it is a drug. Where there is a drug, there is more likely than not an addiction. It is my understanding of drug addiction that it unconditionally requires two things: time and money. It is not uncommon for drug addicts to refer to themselves as victims. Nor is it uncommon for those who have the time (or make the time) and the money (or the credit cards) to excessively shop for clothes to be referred to as fashion victims. Pathological shopping is distinguished by a person losing touch with the reality of what lines, cuts, colors and fabrics flatter them.

image: Sienna Miller (being relentlessly hounded by the paparazzi) www.socialitelife.com

The shopping addict responds to even the most simple of Pavlovian conditioning techniques used by the marketing machinery. The “victim” is consequently unable to reason out which fads to overlook and which to indulge in. A very good example of this is the Low-Waist Hipster Jean Problem, which can make a slim girl who has any hips at all have “hipster love handles”. (This effect is even more disturbing on a man.) The resultant blight has inspired legislation to stop it in the state of Louisiana. This is clearly a departure from common sense in favor of being reduced to a consumer clone. Fashion should ignite fantasy and reflect passion. It should be part of a comprehensive vision of beauty and expression. Fashion is more than “retail potential” or a handbag advertisement demanding a reflexive response from the consumer.

image: Uma and her Louis Vuitton British Vogue, September 2005

A shopping addict who has plugged themselves in to the medium woven by clever marketing finds that their judgment is impaired by the opiate-haze of nostalgia. This is a powerful relaxant which quickly leads to abuse. If an ad campaign is not directly referring to a specific cozy period in time then its presentation is smothered in familiarity, creating a scene that brings forth flashbacks of the Saturday Evening Post.

image: Ralph Lauren British Vogue, September 2005

We don’t need to dress up all the time. An intriguing personal style has as much chance of being formal as informal. Just as in architecture I favor a floorplan in which certain rooms perform certain functions, so various occasions call for corresponding dress. As with all aspects of life, deciding what to wear is a delicate matter of appropriateness.