Some Rules Are Made To Be Broken

Jackie Brown looked absolutely striking in her iconic black suit in the climax of Quentin Tarantino's movie Jackie Brown. She wasn't afraid to break the rules to get what she wanted. As writers and as fashionistas, I think we should attack what we write and wear in the same attitude.

One of the strongest fashion rules is not to wear brown and black together. Some people even stretch it to say that it's not acceptable even if the two colors are in the same pattern. Others make exceptions for outerwear, or if the brown is light enough, or whatever crazy way they manage to rationalize it. But I disagree. Sometimes, the brown/black rule needs to be broken. We need to charge boldly ahead and make statements that need to be seen. Much like this outfit worn by Matt Singer, the associate Men's Fashion Director for Bloomingdale's.

Like Mr. Singer's strong edgy statement (oh, how I want that jacket.), we as writers can kick some serious tail by breaking conventional grammar rules. More than rules like "Don't start a sentence with 'And,' 'Because,' or 'But." or "Start a paragraph every time you have a person speak." One of the most influential stories I've ever read was Heart of Darkness which follows almost none of the traditional grammar rules because of its complicated story telling aspect. Stories like A Million Little Pieces and Heart of Darkness break the rules and gives us writers a chance to do the same. We should look for moments and pieces that allow us to do such things as ignore traditional patterns of organization. Write a passionate rant without using paragraphs. write from a childs point of view using only lowercase letters or extensive punctuation.

Break Rules. Wear black and brown. Wear herringbone and pinstripe together. Break up infinitives with adverbs. Deconstruct sentence structure to make it your own. Do what you want as long as you keep your voice intact and your audience captivated.

Photo Credits: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,338838,00.html; http://www.gq.com/fashion-shows/F2010/backyard-bill/backyard-bill-fashion-week-street-style-photo-portfolio?slide=1#slide=12

My Personal Style

I'm not afraid to admit that I follow the trends. Most of them anyway. I don't want to simply wear whatever "I'm feeling inside" or whatever "best expresses me". Although that is part of it I also want to portray someone who is fashionable, someone who is in tune with what is going down the runway each season.

I love feminine, floral printed mini skirts as much as I like high tops and loose fitting tank tops. My personal style is a pretty even mix between a tom-boy skater girl and a pretty in pink girly girl. Both of these looks express who I am. Some days I love to ride my bike and be comfortable in cut-offs and converse high tops and other days I love to dress up in tights, high heels, and an awesome headband.

I'd say the most important thing to me when I'm deciding on an outfit is that I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard. I want my clothing to be straight forward and laid back. I don't want to make a person say "that doesn't seem like Dana" when they look at me. I want my clothes to be believable and honest. I strive to wear the things I do with confidence and edge while showing appreciation for the most delicate, beautiful details. Even though no one designer beholds all the desires I listed above check out freepeople.com for a line that comes pretty close.

So, the question is, how does my personal style parallel with my writing style? Well, it's pretty simple. As with my personal style, I am a fairly straight shooter when I write. I don't want to beat around the bush and I'm not going to try and convince you of anything. I want to make sense, communicate well and leave the rest to the reader for interpretation, inspiration, emotion, whatever. When someone reads my work or checks out my outfit I want them to leave with something. Maybe they want to attempt to write on a similar subject better than I have or run back to their own work and revise to make it more creative. The same is with my clothing choices. I want to inspire people, not to copy exactly what I wear but to take a risk and search for the exact article of clothing that fits them best. It may sound cliche but for me whether it's with personal style or writing style confidence is key.

P.S. I posted two pictures in attempt to portray both sides of
my personal style.

Style a la Moi

Classic with a hint of vintage flair. If I could describe my sense of style and fashion I would give you one word, no wait...maybe two words? There really isn't any single word that can easily describe my sense of style because though I wouldn't pin it as complex I would prefer to leave the boundaries wide open. After many years of feeding my fascination with fashion through the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and InStyle, I came to my understanding of what fashion means to me and how it has translated into every aspect of my life.

Throughout the years my sense of fashion has evolved from a childish throwback to the 80s, and let's thank god for that (bye bye scrunchies and overalls), to a more sophisticated and chic look (hello stiletos and fitted blazers). My style represents my character and how I want to be perceived because, let's face it, perception is reality. From throwbacks to the 80s with chic fitted blazers and strong shoulder pads, to the whimsical trends of the 70s. Fashion is an ever-changing form of creativity that I enjoy understanding and practicing, and much like my fashion depicts my personality, my writing also unveils a piece of my creative personality.

Its not the words I put down, but more so the way they are strung together. In fashion it's not just about the white t-shirt and jeans. It's about how you can take that white t-shirt and loosely tuck it into a fitted pencil skirt with nose-bleed inducing pumps. A contradiction? Perhaps, but who cares because it's me. My writing and style are both combinations of class with laid back flair and much like the white t-shirt and pencil skirt make a lovely contradiction, my writing too makes a contradiction. It's personal, elegant, and as laid back as a bowl of mac-and-cheese. Most importantly it's me.

Tyler's Style

As an aspiring sartorialist and blogger, I see it fit to combine the two. My style fits usually into one of two categories, nicer or casual, but most of the time, the basic concepts are the same. Solid colors or basic patterns (Stripes, herringbone, plaid) in generally form fitting or close cut clothes. Jeans or black slacks depending on the occasion. My accessories are varied. Shoes of all types in various colors (including a pair of high top converse with tennis ball fuzz on them), two rings that I always wear, a rosary ring on my left middle finger, and a claddagh on my right ring finger, and my 8 body piercings (eyebrow, navel, 2 microdermals on my chest, 4 microdermals on my hips). Occasionally, I also wear my glasses which are square black frames with white line details.

As a whole, my fashion sense is straight forward, comfortable, with a dash of a hard edge. I like it. It's comfortable, fun, easy to mix and match, and the best thing is that I can look good without even trying when I'm running late. It works with my personality and my writing style.

When I write, it's simple, but not plain. I think those two often get used as synonyms, but I think that simple and plain are very different. I don't have much adornment on the outside, I don't use fancy language or ten dollar words. But my work has meaning, depth, and a sense of personality. My clothes allow my personality to come out by not messing with my own image through words or brand names. But I'm not without edge. Filtered is one word I would never use to describe my writing. Vulgarity, language, it's all in there. It's my voice coming through. And how many guys do you know with 8 body piercings? Underneath my shirt are 7 of them, with the eyebrow as just a tease to what lies beneath. Like my metal is the hard edge to my style, my language is the hard edge to my writing.

But it's my style. I find it so interesting the twisting and the intermixing of all the aspects of our individual "self"s. Our writing, our sense of fashion, everything we do and see reflects who we are. We just have to hold them up as the mirrors to figure out how exactly that happens.

Welcome

Sartorialism – n. an interest in matters of or relating to the tailoring of clothing

This term quickly became a part of the blogosphere with the start of The Sartorialist Blog (thesartorialist.blogspot.com) in 2005 by Scott Schuman. Quickly picked up by the rest of the “plugged-in” world, he became one of the most influential people in the high fashion scene. His blog still goes on today as well as writing and photographing for many publications including Vogue (and its many foreign forms) and Gentlemen’s Quarterly (better known as GQ) and remains one of the strongest voices in fashion today.

The Sartorialists of Writing plan to explore the written word in many forms and the style of that. And what is more stylish than fashion itself? Words and fabrics intermingle in many ways. We read fashion magazines and we read T-shirts. We are almost always visibly assaulted by T-shirts as propaganda for political campaigns, a declaration of a personal view, or a silent shout of support for a band, sports team, or some other product.

Writing is a personal process and oftentimes our fashion style is the most outward expression of our personalities. We will explore these interactions between the realms of text and clothing and how an individual manages to manipulate both and create a persona of their own that is both effective and tasteful.