Can I be maximal and minimal at the same time?

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Can I be maximal and minimal at the same time?

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

So I pretty happy yesterday in this minimal outfit.

http://noscrubs.lookfab.com/po.....uzzy-wuzzy

But I'm also equally happy in today's much more maximal outfit.

http://noscrubs.lookfab.com/po.....aximal-mix

Does it boil down to my emotion/visceral reaction to fashion? I just go with what I feel like that day, I suppose.
I thought I was getting more consistent, but I guess I'm not.

12 years ago

Dressing

21 replies

Latest reply was from AnnieMouse

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I don't see why not.

"I am large; I contain contradictions."

As long as you are having fun with fashion it's all good.

12 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I think the first outfit is more simple than minimal. The distressing and stripes keep the outfit from being minimal. Anyway that's at least the way I define it, and I actually think very few people truly have a minimal style. Or maybe I don't know what minimal is!!

But I relate to this because I feel my style runs the gamut from Boho to Modern Classic to Avant Garde to Rocker to Western(ish). Sometimes I wonder if I should stick more to consistent, signature style though. It's like, should I be a fashion peacock (Miroslava Duma) or have a uniform (Tonne Goodman).

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12 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

I have a range of style personas, so it doesn't bother me that I do one thing one day and another thing the next. I guess I view it kind of like food--a person might enjoy a bland ham sandwich and chips one day but want some serious Mexican food the next. :^)

12 years ago

gryffin

Veteran

Anna - I agree with Suz. You are a fully realized person with many intricate facets. Why do you feel that should not express these different elements in your style? You experiment, you have eclectic tastes, you have fun and shake it up. I for one, not only think it's great, I really enjoy the variety, complexity and diversity of your outfits!!

12 years ago

April

Veteran

Perhaps not at the same time, Anna, but on different days, or different parts of the same day -- why not? Love Suz's reference to Walt Whitman -- he was definitely the poet of the many selves.

12 years ago

Ariadne

Veteran

I love the way gryffin put it, and I agree. I love seeing the different type sof outfits you create. They all feel like "you" because they all feel very intentional, trendy, and confident.

12 years ago

Peri

Veteran

Before I even started reading I was going to say "I don't see why not". So, ditto Suz. And wow, I love that quote! Suz, what is the source?

Anna, you are so creative I think even more than most you can vary your style. You strike me as not fond of rules anyway, so why not? And I am always thinking I am both, but in a different way...minimal in number of items, but not in style persona cause no one is taking away my jewelry and scarves and even more jewelry...

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Well, it's interesting. I think your minimal and maximal outfits are consistent with each other in other ways.

ETA for further analysis: The grey and black tones, the lack of preciousness, the touch of ruggedness.

12 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Yes, to everything above and particularly in favor of not trying to reduce your outfits to either minimal or maximal but rather seeing what is Anna about them all.

12 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

ETA: I think this should have been "I contain multitudes."

But no matter -- it's the same.

Peri, it's Whitman. "Song of Myself."

12 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

Anna, I kind of relate. I am strongly drawn to modern classic AND an edgy darker aesthetic. It does my head in. But I think it reminds me we are not one dimensional and neither are our wardrobes. My personal goal this year is to develop my own blend of both. I like you in both these outfits and both look equally like "you"

12 years ago

Irene

Veteran

Maybe you are just a happy person dressed in pretty clothes?

12 years ago

ManidipaM

Veteran

Eh yes. I hope so. Some days I want simple dark denims and a loose white shirt. Other days I am incomplete without textures and pattern. We are different persons some days. Even those in uniform.

12 years ago

Anonymous

I LOVED the minimal outfit. It spoke to me. The maximal outfit had so much going on it was hard for me to find one focal point.

That said, I love your posts because I learn so much from them.

12 years ago

EveningMood

Active Member

I normally have a poison eye for pattern mixing and ALGO, and I adore your maximal outfit. I couldn't do it, but you are clearly doing it right. Consistency is overrated in my book and variety is fun, especially in something we do everyday like wearing clothes! Suz, I love that poem, I discovered it in my late teens and it taught me to, well, celebrate myself.

12 years ago

annaj

Veteran

I think it very much depends on your mood. The simpler outfit was on a day when you felt unwell, so it would make sense that you just didn't feel like wearing lots of detail. The other outfit is just layer upon layer of gorgeousness and I love it!

I think even in your simple choices, you still have such a love of quirky detail that it will always come through and reflect "you".

12 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

Yes.

12 years ago

El Cee

Veteran

I see your style as rather edgy and eclectic… so going minimal one day and maximal the next would be in keeping with your style persona. Either way, I think you always look fab.

12 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Of course. The same way we can marry sour brights, pastels and graphic black and & white and fashionable ink blue into one cohesive style.

Anna, I would not describe your style as Minimal, although it is a sliding scale that you slide up and down on depending on your mood. Some of your outfits are definitely more minimal than others. To my eye - most of your wardrobe items are heavily detailed and quite intricate. That is one of the signs of a Maximal style before the outfit is put together to create a maximal look. I hope that makes sense.

12 years ago

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Angie, that makes sense. I do like detail in my items.

12 years ago

AnnieMouse

Veteran

I think I am, so I salute you!

12 years ago

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