Sayonara, fashion police

Guess what: Good news! I am the mayor, the governor, and the president, and I am hereby expunging any and all notions of the so-called fashion faux-pas.

(According to my Dictionary Widget, the informal use of ‘faux-pas’ connotes ‘boo-boo’ or ‘blooper.’ Adorable!)

As mayor, am having to make some nonsense cuts in WELIKEITHAUTEville. Tough times. So. Fashion Police – you’re fired. Fashion rules, same.

Because I’m making black-with-brown OK. And brown-with-navy, too. And black-with-navy, three! And wearing white whenever you want. (Speaking of which, if anyone can provide an accurate historical context for the Labor Day rule, you will be made Vice Mayor.)

The most basic point here is enough with cockamamy rules. On the one hand, bless their hearts, because they’re a lot of fun. Here is an “Accessories Faux Pas,” found on The Internet, for example:

Dark socks with white shoes. Also, white socks with dark shoes. (Think Michael Jackson.)

From Fashion Faux Pas: Dressing Mistakes to Avoid.

Wrong again, womensfashion.suite101.com! Saw this done about two days ago and it was beautiful. (Full disclosure: my dark socks, my white shoes.)

The only rules worth subscribing to are shape shifters with great flexibility and relativity, that prefer to delicately suggest rather than prescribe. (Unless it’s something about wearing what fits your body, because that is the truth.) From what I can tell, fashion — much like other arts and fun — has a lot to do with testing and stretching boundaries, when not totally disregarding them to begin with. So why establish rigid, mutually exclusive rules? Maybe to later have something to break, but otherwise, forgetaboutem.

Fit for a Disney princess

In the middle of browsing through Spring 2009 ready-to-wear shoes.

Wouldn’t these:

Chanel Spring 2009 RTW - Oh, Karl

Go just perfectly with this:

?

We switched between the debate and Project Runway

And Leanne won! Her collection was a favorite, at least among the couch-bound group I joined to watch. It projected a cohesiveness that didn’t suffer from petal overload, like Nina Garcia suggested. And the colors were gorgeous. And the shapes! The volume, the silhouettes! Coolly architectural.

See?

Another favorite Leanne look.

And to anyone wondering what the Kensley Balenciaga copycatting was about, behold (and click through for more):

WE do not flirt

Flirt Fashions

Question: What is Flirt Fashions?

Answer: Good question.

F♥F♥ stands where Opulence once was in downtown Athens (153 E Clayton St), staying consistent in a number of the lines and designers it carries, like Kensie and Mink Pink, and generally maintaining the same set up.

To the casual customer, the space’s changes seem minimal: A short hiatus for renovations. New ownership, same basic vibe.

To those allergic to the Girls-are-Pretty-and-Sweet-as-a-Rule Rule, the renovations — painting the handsome steel blue walls a flat pink, naming the place FLIRT! and incorporating hearts into exclamation points — are going to provoke nervous ticks and twitches.

Fashion serves many purposes. Employing it for the sake of “flirting” may be be one, but how reductive is it to assert that the sole function of a woman spending time, energy and money in dressing herself and developing a personal style is to flirt? (The answer: a billion. A billion reductive.) And what is flirting, aside from a dated ’90s verb most relevant to some bullshit game like Girl Talk?

And while we’re on the subject, “blonde” as a name for a boutique (Five Points) isn’t thrilling either. For fun times, please read their “Why the name ‘blonde.’” mantra. Here’s a quick excerpt:

“Blondes (and anyone who has ever had a hint of blonde highlight) are notoriously confident and sparkling; they have an edge and are enchanting; they can be fun and flirty or sophisticated and sexy”

Adorable! And, obviously, so true, in every instance, like blanket generalizations always are.

But all of this isn’t to say either business isn’t good at what it does, or that it doesn’t stock hot-ass, quality clothing. They do. In fact, I’m the proud owner of an adorable, bow-having white blouse from F♥F♥. But come on. Come on! (Come on.)