So Los Angeles. L.A. The city of angels, right? West coast, best coast? As a fellow East-coaster, California has been an enigma to me. I went once last summer, but they don't care what you do in San Francisco. Everything's different in L.A., I thought. And it was. Everything was so spread out and I've now decided that L.A. traffic should go on the top ten list of the worst things ever. Apart from having to sit in your Uber for 45 minutes just go get downtown, L.A. felt, well, strange. So I guess it can still fall in the enigma category for me, even after visiting it for five days.
People cared. About looks, personal appearance, the clothes you put on your body. It was never direct, but whenever I walked past people who were probably models or L.A. fashion bloggers or just elitists, I felt a sense of discomfort, like I didn't belong. And how did I manage to deal with this? With a big middle finger to those who cared too much about my own personal decisions. Or in non-metaphoric terms, I wore what I wanted to wear. And had a damn good time.
Here's how I did it:
Top by Zara. Shorts by Gap (similar here). Scarf by Urban Outfitters. Sunglasses by Madewell. Shoes from a boutique in San Francisco (or try these).
The style in L.A. is supposedly "effortlessly cool" with a ton of simple and a touch of trendy. The hypocrisy in all of this is it is not effortless. Only true L.A. girls can pull this off, which I immediately shook my head at and decided to do my own thing. In this scenario I wanted to go for a casual summer look with denim shorts but then I made those shorts très cool by pairing them with a going out top (did I do it right?) from Zara. Off the shoulder tops are kind of dead but this one doesn't necessarily fall into that category. This top immediately eliminates the simple factor in the L.A. style, so I continued to add more: a neck scarf and a pair of sunglasses. Now that's how you do L.A. fashion.
Dress by Urban Outfitters (or try another midi like this). Shoes by Adidas. Sunglasses by Madewell.
Here I went a completely different route: simple but in the wildest way possible. The dress I'm wearing is from Urban Outfitters ten years ago (older sister hand-me-downs are the best!). I completed the look with my Adidas because the dress said it all -- an eccentric pattern and not one, but two leg slits is enough to make my point. What is my point, exactly? To dress like me (and that's why personal style is so important right now!)
Dress by Lou & Grey (or try this by Asos). Jacket by Topshop. Sunglasses by Madewell. Shoes by Adidas.
On my final day I accidentally was a little too L.A. -- a white dress with a bandana choker fit in a little too well with the looks of people strolling down Melrose Avenue (and posing in front of this pink wall). I added the jacket to make it my own, but then I realized the whole point of this fashion challenge was not to stray away from L.A. styles but to not change my own style to fit in with California standards. And maybe overlapping will occur (like it did here!). So I slid my sunglasses off, looked around at the well-dressed people, and recognized that maybe I was one of them. Or maybe I'm not meant for the West at all -- the East coast is better, anyway.
First two photos taken by my sister, Kendall, and last two photos taken by my friend, Lauren.
No comments:
Post a Comment