Cute Little Places around the Block

Lately I’ve been trying to spot all those cute little clothing stores, which import clothes from all over the world, scattered around my city. Sometimes found hidden inside big malls or others in peaceful streets - each of them being unique and different, they adorn the places they are found at. Built with extra attention paid to detail, they clearly show that they belong to artistic people with refined taste that have minded keeping everything stylish – from the label to the doormat and up to their last hanger. What is the best part? Why the clothes of course!

You are sure not to come across trash. It’s those places that give you the feeling that you actually like everything! Every piece is tasteful; making profound it was chosen separately and with much attention paid. Each of them is different and has a personality of its own like only handmade clothes do – let alone in many cases they actually are handmade!

To make it clearer, imagine big-chain clothing stores (like H&M, Zara etc); well it’s the exact opposite! There the clothes are massively produced and distributed all over the world. There is no room for personal touch, as the clothes need to be produced in big numbers and in plain designs in order to satisfy the majority’s taste and need. I am not implying I do not have lots and lots of such clothing or that I do not buy from those huge clothing stores. One of the main reasons I do is that their prices are actually quite low – far lower than those of the small shops. Also, they make good basic parts for the wardrobe, once again due to their low price and casual lines.

However, have you ever considered that maybe buying from big-chain stores actually makes you spend more than buying from more expensive stores? How many times have you ended up with a bucket of clothes just because “they were in such a good price!” and in fact hardly ever worn them? I won’t even try to touch the subject of how hurtful over-consuming is to the whole environment, world, society, human and what so ever, as it would require pages and pages and we would be carried totally out of subject. However, it is a very serious matter to consider at this point. I guess what I am trying to say is that buying from a more expensive store makes you more thoughtful economically and less consuming. Your buys are more conscious, selective and successful since you put extra thought into them. Let alone the clothes are of a far better quality and design. In addition, you also get to support small businessmen that do their job out of personal desire and not huge impersonal companies that give no guarantee of the way they treat their employees.

So go get that a-bit-more-pinched-at-price dress you’ve been drooling for. Most probably it will repay you both by making you feel great while wearing and by preventing you from buying those others that you weren’t actually dying for but… “Oh well they were so much cheaper!”

So What Do you think about Fashion?

It always comes as a big surprise to me seeing how much difference there is between mine and other people’s opinion on fashion. The two main points I usually come across are the following. In one case they have acquired a slavish attitude towards fashion, worshiping unreasonably high-priced designer’s clothing and trying to fill in psychological gaps with them. Over at the other hand, they are more of fashion rejecters – totally looking down on everyone who would pay even the least attention to what he wraps his body around with. Either point is just a misinterpretation of fashion – if you ask me – since fashion is something quite more simple and quite more important.

Fashion, as seen through my eyes, is a way of expression and the different ways of expression consist of Art. How is it different from creating a painting the way you are getting dressed? Making an outfit has to do with aesthetics, mixing the colors in a way that looks good to you, choosing the different parts in a way that represents you. Represents your special touch, your current mood, or even the way you think. Now, can you find too much difference in all that from creating that painting? In both cases, there is that need to say something by using different ways, other than that of words. There is a wordless dialogue taking place. And what is more? In the case of this particular painting - the one of how you are getting dressed I mean, you are dealing with having to carry it on you all day!

David Bowie, when asked about fashion once, said that the way you dress shows the way you want others to perceive you. I think the whole meaning of fashion is summed up in that phrase. Because if you come to think about it… Managing to bring into balance your inner and outer self is another step towards self-awareness and finding your style is a way to achieve that, isn’t it?