I've always loved fashion. For me, there is something so intriguing about the way the culture surrounding fashion and style works. Fashion Week, especially New York Fashion Week is such an exciting time for me. Although I am not able to go watch any of the shows in person, I love streaming them online and watching the snippets bloggers and editors post on social media. With brands like Chanel and Ralph Lauren charging an arm and a leg for their clothes, I'm not watching these shows to create my winter shopping list, I watch them to see where these big name labels and designers think fashion is going in the next few months. These shows help create the trends that stores like Forever 21 and H & M will be stocking in the winter.
My perception of fashion was always that what these shows presented was fashion law for the upcoming season, that if you weren't following the trends set by these people you didn't have style. The whole concept of fashion and style changed for me when I stumbled across The Man Repeller.
The Man Repeller is a fashion and style blog started and run by Leandra Medine. Medine is my (pop) cultural hero, and I didn't realize how much I was missing her in my life until I stumbled upon her in an issue of Lucky Magazine (which, sadly, is no longer being published).
Man Repeller was founded in 2010 on the belief that "style is a meaningful form of self-expression. They mix humor and intelligence with fashion, which completely comes through in their articles and even more so on their Instagram, which is a must follow in my opinion.
Their mission statement is "Be yourself. With us", which I think says it all. They aren't writing to dictate your style and opinions on fashion, they're creating to inspire you to be creative.
One look at any article or any picture on their Instagram and you'll realize that this is not a normal fashion publication. Although they are not avoiding trends, they don't follow them, in fact, they are more often than not wearing whatever the heck they want and not caring what anyone thinks of them.
One of my favorite looks Man Repeller has ever done was when Medine turned a dress shirt into a skirt.
The article, "Repurposing Your Button Down" and another article I found "3 New Ways to Wear Your Button Down Shirt" offers new and innovative ways to wear a dress shirt that "normal" people would shy away from. Since reading this article, I have wanted to rock this look, and I finally did a few weeks ago.
The result? Freeing. Although I think the bunching makes me look slightly pregnant, I didn't care while I was wearing it. It was amazing to wear something because I thought it looked cool and not because someone told me it should look cool.
This idea of self-expression for the self is what Medine and the other talented people at Man Repeller are showcasing in their articles. They are redefining the fashion culture for me, and I love it. They are letting me create my own definition of style and fashion that is personal to me. Although I don't think I'll ever stop watching fashion shows, I know watch them for inspiration only, not for hard rules that I have to adhere to, to have "style".
Fashion is meant to be fun and Man Repeller reminded me of that.
