I want to live this girl's life particularly. You think maybe there's a chance she's got close to what she thinks she has? Or this elder woman, the things she must have seen and survived... with class.

I've never even been allowed to own a dog. :(

I had to give up reading The Sartorialist, it just made me feel bad about myself (I actually went and met the Sartorialist at one point; he is very nice and very cool). Now I read Advanced Style and Fashion Under $100, and that feels much more my speed.

Most of the dudes on Satorialist dress hella goofy. Every once in a while they have an old guy who looks sharp though.

I always find myself going through those sites page after page when they're linked. I won't even let myself click on them anymore- it just depresses me. I wish someone would start one that was similar but with a much higher BMI. Then I could get inspiration instead of "wow, one of my thighs is bigger than both of hers at once!"

It's hard to imagine trying to wear anything that men wear on that site in any situation that I find myself in. I work in an industry where you wear jeans and a t-shirt to job interviews. I have a suit that I bought for and wore to a wedding two years ago and haven't touched since. Unless someone I know dies or gets married before I lose more weight, I'll probably never wear it again.

OTOH, I could learn a lot on how to dress by reading the Sartorialist because the industry I'm in is all about perception, first impressions, etc. Damn shame I don't have enough money to have an actual, proper wardrobe.

The fashion industry exists to create a social pecking order, based on material possessions and unrealistic expectations. Insecurity is their revenue source. It's a sick little game they're playing.

eatdonuts: you *have* a beautiful life like this; you're just not looking at it like a person on the street would be looking at it. Someone (Miko, probably) could say this much better than I am about to but here goes:

the Sartorialist picks people out of the crowd who look posh, who look confident, who are rocking what they picked out of their closet today. EVERYone has days like this. Women who have one expensive dress in their closet, as well as women who have dozens. Everyone. What's in her head on that day, what on her calendar on that day is fleeting. How magical her life is is only as constant as her ability to see it that way.

Today, my life is a beautiful grey sweater and a lousy pair of black pants from the Gap. At least that's how it appeared to the people on the bus. Friday, I was wearing a carefully tailored, beautifully fitting, simple classic black dress and some expensive jewelry I inherited from an aunt. On either day, I don't know who saw me and thought I looked chic; I don't know who wondered what I was thinking; I don't know who thought they'd like to have a friend like me. You don't either. But you have to believe someone did because someone always does.

Anyway. I wish my wardrobe were extensive and organized enough that I looked like a person in a movie every single day. But I ran out of that kind of energy years ago. Now, I try to keep my life extensive and organized enough that I feel as lucky as a person in a movie (you know, an upbeat, cheerful, quirky happy ending movie) every day, whether anyone notices me or not.

of course, I often think if I could just be her, everything would always be wonderful, both the highs and the lows and the frustrations and the successes and I'd never have to give up smoking.

Unless even the people on the street are models, they are all probably maxed on their credit cards, to look that way.

(Once, the partner of one of my friends was complaining to him that she wished that he dressed like me. Go figure.)

What BP said--fashion, like most conspicuous consumption, is aspirational. Famous people get clothes for free--it's a form of advertising. Models get clothes for free, and then they just wear old jeans and stuff anyway. Upper-class rich people wear the same clothes they wore last year. It's people who wish to become a famous rich model, or anyway emulate one or be mistaken for one or whatnot, that buy the designer clothes. It's probably the most extreme examples that pay full price for them. I can understand some of the reasons that other people might be into fashion, but it's not really my thing.

But what crushy said too. Conspicuous consumption doesn't do much for me, but part of fashion/style is art appreciation and aesthetic statement and stuff like that. Frida Kahlo, to pick a well-known example, wore some funny-looking stuff. She wanted her clothes to support deeper readings, and she wanted for her whole life to be a work of art (I'm no Kahlo expert--please forgive me if I'm mischaracterizing her intent). There are a lot of ways that one's clothes can express one's ethics, aesthetics, politics, values, etc. And I think all of that is pretty great.

This comment kinda turned into one of those things that distinguishes between fashion and style, and I didn't really mean for that to happen. So, to shift gears a little, maybe this could also be a what-are-you-wearing thread. I haven't seen one of those lately.

I am wearing a dark gray t-shirt, Patagonia boxers, a R.E.Load belt and Carhartt work pants (plus the usual glasses and piercing jewelry). Longtime Mechazens will probably not be surprised by any of this.

She is clearly an art student in the city crush-onastick, originating from Grenoble, not Germany, with a very wealthy but evocative past. She constantly finds herself in the thrall of existential angst that her youth affords her. She started dabbling in the fine sexual arts at a young age to anger an overbearing mother and eventually seduced some of her mother's own lovers in her later fey-like teens.

Now at the tender age of 20, she feels the intellectual superior of her contemporary peers as they sling out paintings of big bug-eyed Takashi Murakami derivative works and the emotional seducers of her professors. Despite the depth she prides herself of having, she is somewhat cognizant of her own lack of originality and hypocrisy and wonders when she'll eventually tire of pursuit of 'other.' Eventually she thinks she'd like to have a child, certainly not before her 30th year, and perhaps a partner she can laugh with but will never submit herself to that misogynistic institution of marriage.

I'm not crazy about Ole Sarty. As a "weirder the better" kind of fashion cat who'd rather have a million cardigans from the thrift store than one Burberry trench coat, I've found Fashion.ist more my speed on the street style photographer tip than even the hipper than thou Style Scout or Hel Looks. It's based in San Franciso, not NY, so most of the people are kind of laid back and artsy and wearing shoes they can climb hills in. There's punk rock teenagers, lovely girls in vintage dresses, steampunk couples, little kids, scrappy hippies walking their dogs, shopowners and little old ladies.

I like reading personal style blogs a lot better than street fashion photographer blogs, as well. When you make a connection with someone's style you admire and learn a bit more about their life, they're no longer some shining angelic celebrity; they're a normal person. Keiko Lynn is gorgeous and has a hot husband but has little personal crises every other week, Rhiannon is a pitch perfect little vintage lady but she doesn't like her legs, etc etc. Being cute and into fashion doesn't mean you're not human like everyone else.

That being said, if someone wants to give me Gala Darling's life, I'll take it.

ah, see, eatdonuts, that's not how I read her at all. which is the fun!

Fashion.ist is more about real people. Half? Most? of the Sartorialist are actresses, models and other such.

EVERYone has days like this.

I think I am actually constitutionally incapable of having days like this. I'm basically constantly dressed down, and not in a fashionable "he's rocking that look-like-you-don't-care" way but just a plain "he doesn't care, huh" way.

But getting dressed doesn't take very long, and I can do it in the dark!

Fashion begins on the inside. Like CoaS said, it's all about mindset (excellent comment, btw).

In fact, that comment is its own illustration. She wants to be like Miko but doesn't realize that she already IS like Miko. There's a little Miko in all of us.

Fashion is about aspiration, and desiring something you've decided you don't have. HINT: There's a shorter route to it than by spending a lot of money on a wardrobe.

I'm attuned to something the people on the Sartorialisrt aren't. I know what it's like not to be a trendy dork.