Do you care if something is "current season"?

Anonymous

If you read my post yesterday about finding a denim jacket at the Coldwater Creek outlet that they featured back in 2008, you'll know I don't particularly care if something was from last year or five years ago.

13 years ago

Ingunn

(website)

Veteran

I think it is more about finding what works for me, and how I can create a personal style but at the same time appear fresh, not dated. It really doesn't matter if an item is from an earlier season or not, but not all garments from earlier seasons will appeal to me, of course.

13 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Well. I have an 11 year old dress that I still LOVE to wear (see photo below). So clearly my answer is no. It's vintage so it works in that forever romantic and retrograde way.

That said, I do not like to wear items that look dated to my eye. And sometimes, items that are 5 years old or older can look terribly dated. This dated look comes up a lot when people thrift - in my experience with clients that is. People think they have scored big time with a $5 jacket, but it looks dated to me.

I have a Diesel denim jacket that is 12 years old and I still wear it with pride. The quality is exceptional. But that doesn't count because I had the whole thing altered to look current.

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13 years ago

Diana

Veteran

No, not at all. I might buy a few trendy pieces each season, but most of my wardrobe (including previously "trendy" pieces) sticks around for at least 5 years. I also wear fall items in spring, and things like that.

13 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Nope, as long as it doesn't look dated to my eye, I will gladly buy something I love from a past season.

13 years ago

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

No - I'm with you. If something speaks to me and it will work with my wardrobe and lifestyle, I don't give a thought about when it came out. After all, I don't pitch my clothes out after 2, 3, or 5 years have passed if they are still being worn and are in good condition, so it's kind of the same thing, right? That being said, I don't really get into trends very often and I think (hope) that most of my closet workhorses are of classic styling so that I can get several years' wear out of them without looking dated.

13 years ago

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I'm concerned if it's current in general (as in not dated) rather than current season. Like you, I buy off eBay, sites like Yoox and Bluefly and other discount ways, so I often get merchandise from a previous season. As long as it's still relevant and I love it, I have no need for it to be hot off the presses. I'm not a trend leader anyway.

13 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

I think there's a lot of difference between "dated" and "current season." I also don't mind one thing looking dated, to be honest, so long as the rest is fresh. I think there's a fine line between dated and vintage, too.

13 years ago

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

This is something I always worry about as a vintage buyer. If I'm wearing one vintage piece, I definitely need to keep the rest of the outfit current to keep from looking like I'm just lost in some sort of time warp.

13 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

HECK no! If I love it, I want to wear it for many seasons, even if I buy it hot off the press. Since I *want* to wear new purchases after they become "last season," then a last season purchase doesn't matter to me, either.

13 years ago

K. Period.

Veteran

Nope. I rely on the fact that certain items are going to last multiple seasons without looking dated when I bought them. That "without looking dated" caveat is the key one there. If I think it is a one season thing, then I buy it on the cheap. Sometimes that leads to heartbreak when it wears out all to soon, but most of the time it works out well.

IK, I'm not surprised at all that you wouldn't feel tied to "the current season" because your style seems so distinct and creative to me. Unique pieces last a long time. To me, that's at the core of the difference between something that is art and something that is a gimmick. I think it applies to fashion too.

13 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

I have three answers to this:

1. I don't like to wear things that look obviously dated -- e.g. 90s jackets with shoulder pads. (Note that this is different from rocking a vintage piece on purpose.)

2. I get a kick out of wearing things that ARE up-to-the-minute (at least mass-market up-to-the-minute) -- e.g. I can't wait to bust out my leather peplum top for fall.

3. But generally I live in the very broad area between those two extremes, and I am very happy to wear items that are several years old as long as they still fit and flatter and make me happy!

13 years ago

Vildy

Veteran

Love Angie's dress!

Years and years ago, I had a subscription to Women's Wear Daily or something. I was that interested. Pretty soon, I began to notice that the stuff that fashion magazines were predicting to hit for the next season, I was already long tired of. And I feel like that now.

What I tend to do is keep an awareness of current silhouette/fit but I'm more interested in my own intuitive predictions of what the next logical direction is and that's the look that I want to play with. Seems to me like the pattern is that a style begins to be reviled and suitable only for People of Walmart and slowly, slowly everyone starts to give them up and pretty soon you can't find it anymore in any store and then lo! what a fresh new silhouette! [snort] And yes, I know that "nothing ever comes back in the same way" but I don't believe it for a minute. It's close enough that for the average onlooker it makes no nevermind.

Also, there's the *way* things are worn. I've come to the point where things juxtaposed ironically set my teeth on edge. All I can see is what they're *trying* to achieve. So I can easily put together all kinds of examples of that look from my closet but I refuse.
I want clothing that's pleasing/pretty in some aspect: shows off figure, flattering or refreshing color... And I want it recognizable to any old oaf. Able to be described in one word: jacket, shirt, pants. And I don't want any head-scratcher items. What the heck IS that she's got on? I want the clothes to showcase me and not for me to showcase the clothes.

13 years ago

catgirl

Veteran

Nope. If I love it and it loves me, I'm good with it, unless it's so painfully dated there's no getting around it. Fortunately, most dated styles didn't suit me (high waisted pleats, big puffy shoulders, weirdly narrow skirts)...

13 years ago

Anonymous

Mary K could not have said it better. I merely second her opinion.

13 years ago

Kate

Veteran

Nope. As long as an item doesn't look dated, I don't care how old it is.

13 years ago

nicoleb

(website)

Veteran

Nope! I mean, I don't want to look like I pulled some butt ugly from my grandma's closet and wore it (sorry grandma!) but if I find a vintage or thrifted piece I love I usually pair it with things currently in style to try to make it more modern.

I do consider myself a trendy dresser but I can't afford a whole new wardrobe every year.

13 years ago

unfrumped

Veteran

I don't care how old it is but I do care, maybe more now, if I look dated and frumpy, and possibly also care if I look like I'm trying to be trendy and the trend is completely gone. In theory I care only what I think, but I've kinda learned I may not be as attuned to dated as I'd like!

I may have to test my sense of independence regarding a shoe purchase this spring. I bought some Don Ed Hardy slip-on sneakers --the ones with a blue carp design on off-white. I didn't buy them because I support tattoos or because I'm weird or thought I was being super-trendy. I bought them because I was trying to move from wearing running shoes everywhere to a what I thought was a more modern, less bulky sneaker style, and the shape and vamp looked much better on my foot and fit better than Converse or others, and because they had a kind of slightly faded look so that to my eye they looked "neutral" and not too pristine, and went with varied range of colors from khaki to blue denim--so they worked with my casual shorts and pants.

Once I googled them up a bit I learned that the patterns are quite year-specific (I think these were 2011) and I also assume, but don't know, that somebody somewhere will think they're very uncool. I don't need to keep them forever, but I'd like to get 2-3 summers' wear out of them. It's not the $$' 'cause they weren't expensive--it's, they filled a wardrobe hole very nicely and I want to say, got that covered for now and move on. And silly me, I think they look fine!

13 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

Absolutely not ! Sometimes just the color is last season's. But that means nothing. In fact, I tend to think it is more original .

13 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Yes and no. I definitely have some old clothes. I wear my grandmother's coat from the '50s. I'm still wearing my marc jacobs from the past 10 years. I honestly don't think fashion has changed significantly since the '70s, altho there are certain details that really scream out the decade: shoulder pads, gunne sax florals, etc. On the other hand, so long as you don't do the shoulder pads AND the plastic earrings AND the stirrup pants all together, I think the clothes can be made to work.

That said, my flared jeans are "resting" right now, since skinnies are so in and I really like skinnies.

13 years ago

Irene

Veteran

Not at all.

13 years ago

Jyoti

(website)

Veteran

I agree with a lot of other posters in that I don't really care if its current season, but I care that what I wear doesn't look dated. Things in stores can look dated, and stuff from ages ago can look very current. I am a fan of the fresh. xD

13 years ago

Jonesy

Veteran

I really like a mix of stuff. I feel like a total follower if I just want, want, want whatever is being peddled by the powers that be at that MOMENT. To be totally wedded to that particular season means making a 3-4 month commitment to stuff, then dumping it and moving on to the next batch of stuff, which seems absolutely insane to me. I like new stuff, older stuff, and old stuff in the mix!

13 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

I guess it depends. I tend to prefer more classic styling, so that does not seem to come in and out of fashion as often. Or it does, but at a slower pace.

I may be the only one who is also not terribly keen on the 80s renaissance, so much of what is currently trendy does not appeal to me.

13 years ago

Beth

Veteran

Not a bit. I love to mix new finds with old friends:)

13 years ago

Anonymous

Not at all for me either. I don't consider myself trendy at all anyway!

13 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Current season does not really matter to me but looking dated in a whole other thing. As mentioned above there is a tricky line between vintage, retro, and dated. On the other hand, I have started wearing drop waisted, tapered trousers from several seasons ago and I think they are very current.

13 years ago

Sylvie

Veteran

I don't care if something is current season and I would like to be able to wear my clothes for multiple years. However, I do find that the change in fashion or change in my tastes over a 2-3 period means that clothes don't last as long as I thought.

For example, skinnies are trending right now. I used to love bootcut jeans but now I feel frumpy in them without a heel. I've been wearing my straight leg pairs almost exclusively.

I used to wear a lot of plum, dark blue, wine, deep red and forest green clothes. Now I'm loving cobalt blue, bright green, clear yellow, tomato red and all the other bright colors. I'm not as thrilled about wearing my plum/dark blue "capsule" from last fall even though maroon/wine/similar colors are trending. In another six months, I may want to wear dark colors again. It's frustrating because it isn't reasonable to keep my wardrobe stocked with every color of the rainbow, but my tastes do change!

13 years ago

shiny

Veteran

For a long time now, it seems anything goes. You can find on-trend pieces from pretty much any decade--40s round toes, midi lengths; 50s full skirts and chunky pearls; 60s shift dresses and peter pan colors; 70s flairs; 80s batwings, skinnies and neon, and red; 90s return of beige. I am leaving things out but you get the idea. The trend is more about how you style and combine them together.

For example, 90s beige is being combined not with black but with neon. That makes it look fresh. I have been thinking a lot about pieces I let go and now wish I hadn't as I expect I could get them to work. I am resurrecting items I thought to save and I'm planning on seeing if I can make them work.

Midis look dated to me. But I'm slowly being brainwashed into seeing midis as fresh... Go figure! I have long adored 40s glam. But I think instead of round toe pumps making the midi current requires booties.

Flipping through fashion mags at my hair salon, I noticed that red, burgundy and cobalt are being made fresh and not dated by being combined together. Or with a dose of neon.

And the 10 year old booties gathering dust in my closet look dated to me and I was going to toss them, until I realized the exact shape is being offered everywhere. (I still may toss because they are snore worthy to me now...too simple and plain).

Rambling thought typed on my iPad from the hammock.

Oh, and loafers! Tossed all mine and now they are back. Cries....

13 years ago

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