Good morning, Wednesday. Khan and I have been waking up a bit early with the time change and with David out west for a shoot. Needless to say, we're still cuddled up in bed and watching the news together. Such news hounds we are.
I've been meaning to write a post this week about one of my favorite subjects, eccentrics. I moved to New York in the early 90s when there were still plenty of these types around, and trust me they're still here now but become somehow out of favor. I was walking through Soho last night and noticing the way people are dressing these days and I'll tell you what- although the chic of the chic were out at Balthazar as I sipped on a martini (a well needed martini I might add), I couldn't help but fixate on one older woman sitting by herself in the corner of the bar. She had steely hair, pulled back, and a thick wrap of a sweater, with some Pumas that somehow did not fit the rest of her vibe. But none of that is interesting until you saw the rather large dachshund at her feet. In the restaurant. Hanging out at the bar while she ate some steak frites.
In New York, dogs are not really allowed inside restaurants, let alone famous emporiums of tourism like Balthazar. But this woman somehow had broken that rule- because she was a local, a fabulous, wacky local that was possibly too rich to care and too over it to worry about whether this was appropriate behavior or not. In a sea of strategically placed ski caps and Rag and Bone everything, this was the woman that won my heart. We need more eccentrics. Period. They know how to live life.
Just this weekend, Andrew O'Hagan wrote a piece in the New York Times on the demise of the fashion eccentric. He talked about people like Isabella Blow, and her love for mink antlers and a sense of real drama when it came to dress. O'Hagan notes that true eccentrics like Quentin Crisp and Vivienne Westwood and Anna Piaggi are becoming extinct, with a slew of fakers taking their place. I love he how notes that "the true eccentric gives us more mystery, more wonder about being human, a new side to beauty, while the faux-eccentric gives us less of everything". I couldn't agree more- and though I am a huge fan of the democratization of fashion and bloggers and Pinterest, I can't help but think we've all become a bit too styled within an inch, and we need to move the needle towards a more individual sense of dress- think Simon Doonan's Wacky Chicks or the lovelies of Advanced Style. I myself have always fancied myself a bit of a Peggy Guggenheim (in a fantasy sense) at heart. I may dress in more of a minimal way but in my heart, I'm a patron of the art in crazy glasses throwing wild parties.
In further praise of eccentrics, the article notes that "People like this are like beautiful storytellers, breaking rules you didn’t even know were there, just so you can see better and maybe be better. Life is so full of rules and so full of predictable routines that one can almost forget that art and life depend on spontaneity. Enter the eccentric". Do come in.
The circle of influence called social media has caused us to look at fashion in a very different way- we seek approval from friends and family in the dressing room as we upload photos, we curate a point of view on Pinterest, and we wait in longggg lines for cheaper versions of our favorite designers at stores like H&M. Why not just throw on a headscarf and wear nonsensical layers a la Edie Beale? We need more crazies- the RIGHT kind of crazies. Life has just gotten all too vanilla when it comes to fashion. To me, and as noted in the Times piece, maybe life does not always go perfectly, but at least the eccentrics know how to dream. These are the mad ones I spoke of yesterday- it's not just crazy for crazy's sake but its a style moment that's full of wit, a lack of pretension, and a whole lot of originality. These are people that just go for it, and think nothing of bringing a dog to a fancy restaurant or wearing pajamas to a dinner party, with a turban and a fur. It's a confidence in who you are vs. caring what others think you should be. It's a beautiful thing.
My favorite paragraph comes at the end of the piece, in which the writer notes on Ms. Beale- "You wouldn’t say things worked out well for Little Edie, but she was a beautiful woman who went her own way. And maybe that’s the true definition of an eccentric — someone who can’t be slain by what lesser people might say." That's it right there- it's time for women and men to be who they are when it comes to dress, and color outside the lines in this hyper curated time of style. Life is short.
There, I said it. Cause that's what's up this boom boom it's great to be crazy kind of Wednesday in the wacky old world of New York. Yours, in style. Go be original today, you. You should never be afraid to be yourself. XO