Ginger Rogers, dance on air: Vogue, Vogue, Vogue

I love Vogue.

Two giant stacks of Vogue greet visitors at home. The thought of pages being ripped out or the thought of missing a month is, well, incomprehensible.

I'm not sure if it started with Sex and the City and Carrie's love for Vogue, and subsequent employment there, but both magazine and tv series are hugely influential on the way I dress, look at fabrics, choose trends to adopt, choose trends to drop.

The aim is not to be trendy, or ultra stylish, but half the fun is constantly evolving, working out your style, what to wear, how to team one thing with something else, how to wear a black dress with jewellery and never look the same. I often think I should write down outfit combinations I fluke, but I'm far too lazy for that. I get it wrong a lot of the time and end up having to loosen belts, keep pulling down tops or yanking stockings up; God does love a trier!

Thank goodness I am a person of little consequence fame wise! The media would tear me to shreds undoubtedly. I see it now. In response, I'm likely to behave a la Christian Bale on the set of Terminator Salvation.

I love the layout of Vogue, the foresight, the complete indulgence in fashion. An occasional nod to the eco-friendly, the political, the literary and art worlds (for these two worlds cannot help but influence fashion and society and vice versa), but really, at the end of the day, Vogue is a monthly, updated bible for me.

Op shops freak some people out. I can't think why. What a trove on every corner supporting either Red Cross or Mary Potter! Get amongst it- these little gems deserve your money more than 'secondhand' stores!

Vogue is like a little tip-off for me. I see what's happening in the hierachy of fashion, absorb it, and then sub-consciously form an idea in my mind of what I 'need'. Next on my list is a couple of lace collars and a gentleman's fob watch. Proper, not costume. Just to wear in place of a necklace or brooch. I've actually been looking for ages, but not seen anything that grabs me.


Now, parents are, when you don't live in a nearby vicinity to them (or when you do upon thinking that one through), those little voices in your head, those midget like figures on your shoulders asking you if 'this' or 'that' is a need or a want?

I need fashion. I love the idea of getting older, having children and looking at photos with them and hearing them giggle when they see my plum coloured hair, flared jeans/tapered jeans/sneakers & jeans...and then seeing them go through the very same fashion trends.

Meryl Streep's speech in The Devil Wears Prada about Anne Hathaway's cornflower blue cable knit jersey being dictated by the fashion powers-that-be was brilliant. People that don't 'care' about what they wear should be, quite frankly, shot.

I have two very good friends, guys, who always look so dappa, purely because they take the time to care about what they wear. It helps, although it's not the sole attribution to their fashion sense success, that their wives are stylish too.

Sceptics or those that are blasé towards fashion, clothing and trends pay heed: caring about style is not a sign of being shallow. It is more than the cliché of "expressing oneself". What I care about in fashion goes beyond just me. It's about paying respect to clothiers of note: Chanel, Valentino, Lagerfeld, McQueen, McCartney, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein. It's about looking to the designers of today who have earned the right to be movers and shakers surrounding what hits the fashion shows of New York, Paris, Milan, London, and feeling inspired. If you were to observe common trends in your local city, you would not be able to help but start to feel that these trends suit you too: flat shoes in Wellington for instance, a classic. Wellingtonians, as a general rule, walk everywhere, and an Aucklander once wrote that Wellingtonians are usually a well turned out bunch, apart from 'hideous' shoes. And we usually need a hood too considering umbrellas are not practical!

Getting dressed daily, or carefully picking out an outfit for an event involves conscious, and sub-conscious, thinking about what previous generations have worn, choosing to be adorned with a grandmother's brooch, or a mother's ring, wanting to be noticed as someone who cares about presentation, embracing a new garment that was either an impulse buy or a careful lay-by.

Loving being in vogue, or just loving your own style, is yet one more thing that makes waking up in the morning so exciting!

Enjoy the sales, but always try and remember that it's not a bargain unless you're actually going to get some mileage from it!

Catch ya later.

L.