What is considered a fashion faux pas today can become stylishly acceptable sooner than you think. There are so many examples of this phenomenon that it’s almost comical how fashion moves from one extreme to the other. 

Many decades ago it was considered poor style for a woman to be suntanned, to wear black, or to sport trousers. My word, how fashion has changed. More recently, faux pas like wearing denim on denim, mixing patterns, combining navy with black or brown with black, pairing high vamped footwear with skirts and dresses, leaving off the pantyhose with skirts and dresses, and sporting more than one animal print item per ensemble have become fashionably acceptable. And just when you thought that wearing a very matchy-matchy look was frumpy, it becomes on trend.

It’s a tricky business when faux pas become fashion because this means readjusting our style perceptions. Sometimes we adjust no problem, but it can also be hard. And sometimes we don’t adjust at all.

For example, I never thought that combining black and brown was a faux pas, so that adjustment was a non-issue. I have always liked the look of subtle pattern mixing, so I quickly began to appreciate more advanced pattern mixing. I was initially a little resistant of the denim on denim trend, but soon began to love the possibilities with my denim shirt.

There were adjustments that were harder for me. It took longer for me to appreciate the effect of wearing two similar animal print items like a belt and shoes in one outfit. And although it is hard to imagine now, when skinny jeans became fashionable about seven years ago, I initially battled to readjust my style perceptions. Presently I am still adjusting to the whole phenomenon of stylishly messy hair when it’s long and straight.

Over to you. Have you found it hard to readjust when a faux pas becomes fashion?