How To Manage a Fashion Passion

Meaning vs Extravagance

In the past, I judged my fashion passion as superficial, extravagant, not environmentally wise. After closing my 2800-square-foot fashion store 32 years ago, I became a personal shopper for my former customers, escorting them to Bay area factories where the fashions were made. But something was lacking. I returned to the field of education and then moved into the fields of aging and eldercare.

As a director and regional director of elder communities, I facilitated apron activities and brought together the elders with millennials for clothing exchanges, donating much of my work outfits to younger folk.

The fashion passion didn’t go away. No matter what else I am working on, fashion keeps creeping into my life. As a pastime, I spend hours surfing the Internet for fashion….an outfit, not too bold, but not too boring, to wear to my cousin’s upcoming wedding, fur-lined sandals to keep feet warm, $10 striped Amazon jerseys. I re-design hand-me-down garments.

Fashion Preferences

I personally prefer dropped shoulders, large armholes, wide silhouettes to move without restriction (Japanese style), solid or small geometric prints, subdued colors, mostly black, grey, cream, a touch of red or yellow to both fit in and stand out. Yellow is a happy color, red is a strong color. Black and grey don’t show stains as much as other colors. My wardrobe is mostly foldable, non-wrinkable, natural fabrics, and long scarves or kerchiefs that tie it all together. Frequent changes in my wardrobe energize me, even if no one else is around and during the Pandemic when we were more isolated.

Bay Area Version of Cunningham’s “Fashion on the Street”

Just before the Pandemic, the county senior fair committee invited me to stage a fashion show at the 2020 senior fair, but I knew the Pandemic was coming so instead I offered to create a video of fashions in the county or Northern CA, a West Coast version of Bill Cunningham’s video reporting:

Bill Cunningham was a New York Times photographer and fashion reporter who rode his bicycle around Manhattan to photograph people and the passing scene on the streets:

• Known for

  Cunningham's columns On the Street and Evening Hours ran in the New York Times from 1989 until shortly before his death in 2016. He was known for photographing people and the passing scene on the streets of Manhattan, often at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.

• Bicycle

  Cunningham rode a Schwinn bicycle around lower Manhattan to photograph people and their clothing.

• Style

  Cunningham was unimpressed by wealth or celebrity. He lived in a small studio in the Carnegie Hall building for fifty years.

Source: AI

Cunningham's most notable columns in the NY Times, “On the Street and Evening Hours,” ran in the paper from February 26, 1989 until shortly before his death in 2016. Source: Wikipedia

In 2019, Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography, a book, was written about him. In 2020, a film was made about him (see video trailer at the beginning of this post).

What Would a Bay Area Fashion Film Look Like?

Northern California fashion is not the same as NY fashion. In my county, hiking, biking and workout fashions for men and women are preferred to black jackets and heels.

I changed my mind about the value of my fashion passion. It is not superficial or extravagant. It is environmentally wise. It is a form of art that expresses who I am and opens up opportunities for others to express who they are, what our values are, what our lives are like. Fashion is creative. Look at children’s choice of wardrobe…butterfly and angel wings, ballet skirts, Superman, Batman costumes, the list goes on and on, and evolves over generations.

A No CA film, to feature a fashion passion, is in the air.

Something To Think About

• What are your favorite fashions in your wardrobe?

• What fashion styles do you prefer? Why?

• What fashions do you yearn to share with others?