Fashion Trend Ahead...Clean Hair Please

I have some GOOD news and I have some BAD news!
The BAD NEWS first.
From all fashion fronts I understand GRUNGE has made a "comeback". For those of us who lived through it the first time is was excruciating to watch a simple and economic way of dressing/living be turned into another trend. As an artist the thought of wearing my "work" clothes as a fashion statement was beyond me. I wanted to dress up to make a fashion statement and dressing up meant washing my hair, throwing on some perfume, a little jewelry and maybe a nice frock and a coat. When I first saw the look that was all about Salvation Army finds and army & navy store caste offs being paraded down the run ways of high end fashion designers I literally boycotted fashion until the 1st tailored piece of clothing appeared on the cover of Vogue. I also continued to shop second hand and "borrow" my much taller boyfriends' clothing. It was around this time that I actually bought and wore my first "custom made and then tailored by me I want to be a Chanel Suit", a Salvation Army find I still have. Of course I wore it with my steel toed combat boots, but I digress.

Though this look has been lurking about for the last few years or so, as well as on the backs of most of friends of my generation, many men - cough cough, we all know it takes a while for us, the public, to acquire what has been showing up on the runways at stores that carry their versions at prices we can afford, so please expect to see heavy doses in rotation this Spring at stores near you. But before you forgo shopping and go digging in the back of your closet for that plaid flannel shirt, the tiara and cut up prom dresses, your Doc Martens and holey jeans or those Laura Ashley dresses you kept "just in case" the GOOD News is like all interpretations of "an original non-trend trend" is that this time around is a little bit more managed because it's being done by a generation that can "improve" upon the original look they never experienced. (I don't know about you but the 80's "Dynasty" trend that lasted a hot minute looked better to me than when it actually happened).

The new, higher priced Grunge is cleaner and more Hollywood. Young designers (Alexander Wang, Louche Luxe, Jenny Kayne, Karen Walker) are following the more established design houses 2005/6 attempts to bring this look back but are introducing tailoring, fabrics and silhouettes from other decades so that the grunge girl or boy is a mere shadow of their 90's ancestors. Lots of soften biker-like boots (refer to upcoming Jan 9 post on Baker's boot purchase) and jackets, the looser boy friend fit jeans with tattered knees and rolled up hems (it's all Katie Holmes’s stylist's fault!), the oversized boyfriend cardigan sans belt and plaids (didn't anyone feel the cold wind blowing when red & black plaid was all over the place?). The overall affect is that of someone who has good quality and higher priced clothing but chooses to coordinate rather than just roll out of bed and get dress.

Though considering this new trend has made me nostalgic for the "simpler times" it has also reminded me that time moves on and people and seasons change. I don't know about you but they are going to have to rip my shampoo, conditioner and blow dryer from my cold dying hands before I sport that unwashed greasy haired look again!