Let’s talk Statements - YouLookFab Forum

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Let’s talk Statements

rachylou

Veteran

What the heck is a statement? How do you know one, when you see one? Can you make something a statement by virtue of the other things you wear? Can you take the statement out of a statement?

I don’t know what in my closet that I’d call a statement. A few pairs of shoes maybe. A special occasion outfit or two.

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Staysfit

Veteran

I think many your clothes that I have seen are statements. A wardrobe can be made up primarily of statement pieces. Many of my dresses are statements, and in the summer, my style is statement heavy. In the winter, my wardrobe becomes more reliant on essentials.

If I understand the difference between statements and essentials, statements are items that stand out and get noticed in a way that people will remember. They are also items that may be unique, full of personality. I think an essential is an item that makes up the base/background of a wardrobe. It may also be noticed because of it's shape or silhouette, but not necessarily because it is so unique in color, or pattern. It is something that is in the background and can serve as a backdrop for something else. If the essentials are the plain bricks of a building, than the statements are the embellishing shutters, the columns, the roof tiles and stonework, etc.

Aurore

Veteran

The definition of "statements" Staysfit gave.

Also, I think the "statement" status changes from person to person and, for a given person, evolves over time.
One month ago I would have considered my white blazer a statement because I had never worn white toppers for anything else than a special occasion. Now I consider it as an essential since I've become used to it (and I love it!).

I'm also wondering if an item with special significance (such as inherited jewelry, or gift from a loved one) may be considered as a statement even if it's not particularly noticeable...

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Your green hair was a statement.

ophelia

Veteran

Imogen of Insideout Style divides outfits into hero pieces and supporting acts. Right now I'm wearing a gray-green printed skirt that while softly colored is still "out there" for me, so it's the statement or hero piece of my outfit and everything else will be subtle and fairly plain. And yes, it's a flowy lightweight skirt. It's hot in Florida!

rachylou

Veteran

It’s interesting. I don’t think many of my clothes are really statements. I think if y’all saw me every day, it would all wash out as mostly ignorable. Especially if you saw me in my normal environment, which is not an office. Except possibly the hair.

rachylou

Veteran

Hmm. What is the relationship between hero and statement? I may currently see a hero as the same as an essential.

delurked

Veteran

Also interesting that ones persons essential can be another persons statement. For me, a statement is a standout piece that is more likely to draw attention.

rachylou

Veteran

That’s part of what makes me feel confused ... a statement *depends*.

I also wonder about jewelry, esp fine jewelry. Is that always a statement?

rachylou

Veteran

Also: In a maximalist era, how do you find the statement? For example, is there a statement piece in this outfit?

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Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

An essential cannot be a statement!

Windchime

Veteran

Rachylou--I'm glad you asked this. In the outfit you posted, I'd say the boots are definitely a statement and possibly also the white shirt with blue and red floral on it. The entire outfit is a statement, for sure!

It can get confusing. Today I'm wearing:

black pants (essential)
black ankle boots (essential)
floral tee (essential? statement?)
cranberry velvet blazer (statement)

If my tee were a solid color, I'd call it an essential, but because of the floral print, I'm not sure. Can one outfit have two statements?

Nothing like asking more questions than I answered.

rachylou

Veteran

Well see. This is what I mean. So maybe the tee is a completer piece. But is it? Maybe it’s distinctive enough to be a statement. Or maybe it would be the statement in a different outfit.

I have a dark teal velvet suit... I’m not sure if that would be a statement for me. It’s subdued enough in my mind not to be the focal point. Or put it another way, I’d wear it with my white booties and then those would definitely be the statement...

Anonymous

The outfit you showed is all statements. That’s why the lady looks bat-crazy.

If you want to dress in a maximal style, then you don’t need essentials, it’s true. The dichotomy of statements/essentials doesn’t make sense anymore in the maximal world.

If you want to dress in a standard way, then you will likely wear some boring essentials alongside your statements.

rachylou

Veteran

Hmm. Does that mean essentials are almost always plain, smittie? I mean, single solid subdued colour?

Gigi

Veteran

I like Staysfit's definition of statement: something that draws attention.

I agree with smittie that in the pic you posted, the gal is wearing all statements, which is why she looks unconventional. I'd call her t-shirt a statement tee since it has such an eye-catching design on it. It definitely draws attention.

From what I have seen of your dressing, I would consider most of your wardrobe to be made up of statement pieces.

If an essential cannot be a statement, per Angie, then I think it would follow that an essential would have to be pretty plain. The cut might be a little bit out of the ordinary (maybe an asymmetric hem?) but not overly so. And I may need to be corrected on that...

Rachylou, I dub you the Fashion Philosopher of YLF!

Gigi

Veteran

Windchime, I would say that an outfit can have two statements. But you would have to be careful that the two statements did not compete and make the outfit look too busy.

rachylou

Veteran

Lol, anybody ever watch The Good Place? I’m reminding myself of the Chidi character, the moral philosopher. He is sent to hell because it takes him 80 minutes to decide between the brown hat and the white hat. The Judge yells at him, ‘They were just hats! No ethics involved!’ Haha!

Anyways, so I gather puffers are essentials to my style... but only the dark blue, black and brown plain ones are Essentials. The plaid one with matching bag doesn’t count. What would a non-essential puffy look like then? A solid Burgundy?

...And did I just buy a ticket on the ‘hot’ trolley?

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I watched the Good Place. My take - "we can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven" (apologies for mangling the quote). I can talk about essentials with delight for quite some time.
Oh I think there is a difference between a statement piece and a statement outfit. Probably unexpected, noticeable, eye catching, boundary pushing outfits like you posted should be given their own term. Heh.

Joy

Veteran

Interesting question and replies. For me some pieces that others may consider statements because they have a pattern, are essentials. Patterns that are small or so ordinary they serve more as a texture can be essentials for me: snake, stripes in neutrals, polkadots, sometimes leopard. Or maybe they are completers.

rachylou

Veteran

I’m inclined to agree, Joy. And I think leopard is the perfect example. It can totally be ‘glue.’

Shevia... ah, yes! I think you are right about whole outfit statements, that they are their own ball of wax. Like a pink suit as opposed to the jacket and trousers worn separately. And then things that go beyond... some of Annagybe’s hats come to mind; they’re fashion as Art.

tulle

Veteran

It's possible that one person's statement could be another's essential, I suppose, depending on personality, coloring, profession, and other factors. For me, essentials are things I put together and wear without thinking too much; statements require thought, and some living-up-to. Most days (especially these bleak, cold Winter days) I dress head to toe in essentials for comfort, with an unusual scarf or some wild striped woolen socks the only statement I can manage. The more comfortable I'm feeling in my own skin, the more prominent the statement piece will be--an unusual jacket, vintage coat, a tangle of necklaces, a super-textured sweater, etc. And that piece literally will express something specific: "I'm into vintage fabrics," "This shade of blue was made for me," "I found these cool European shoes," while pulling together and raising the tone of the rest of the outfit. Maybe that's why the statement piece is so often the one that gathers compliments.

rachylou

Veteran

Hmm, tulle... a ‘cool’ v ‘nice’ test... v ‘no comment’ .... statement v completer v essential ... ??!

!!

Staysfit

Veteran

As I understand Statements, they are not only something that stand out, but something that are often unique to the person. The picture is a great example, and I have to agree that it’s a statement heavy pic. I think the glasses might be a statement also.

cindysmith

Veteran

For me, the statement piece is the one that screams "LOOK AT ME"

My phone case often falls into statement territory, since I'm not much of a pink glitter kind of girl. It totally stands out against my really RATE looks (which is exactly why i chose it LOL)

My h&m trashed sweater winds up being more statement than I ever expected it to be (i mean, really, its just a ribbed burgundy sweater). I get comments on it every single time I wear it in public; apparently, it screams at passers-by
My grey Benenato sweater definitely qualifies as statement, since it looks like it survived battle with a lion in the Roman colosseum.
The navy blue do.ri tank looks like a normal tank top from the front, but it's rather like a mullet haircut (all business in the front party in the back LOL). So I classify it as a statement piece.

As for whether or not you can take the statement out of a statement piece, I think my spider brooch might be a prime example. I'm still waiting on it to arrive, but it seems to have statement potential if worn with something less RATE. It would probably lose all of its impact if I wore it with an all black emo or goth sort of outfit or with any outfit around Halloween.

I get really confused about "statements" sometimes, and a Google search for "statement necklace" just added to the confusion. I cannot for the life of me understand why the first 3 pics are coming up under a search for "statement necklace" because they just look very ladylike to me. The fourth one, well, I guess I can see why it's coming up (big and sparkly) but I feel like big and sparkly isn't enough to qualify as "statement" anymore because we see it in some variation or another so very often. The last pic feels very statement to me, maybe because it's so different from all the rest? And don't get me started on statement shoes, because an image search just brings up a ton of shoes that look overwrought or overdesigned (or child's craft project gone wrong in some cases).

Maybe statement pieces can be oversimplified by defining them as "that's a lot of look"? (No judgement implied with that quote, because my "lot of look" might be your essential and thats perfectly cool)

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rachylou

Veteran

I have always thought of a statement as something really really special. But for example, Angie’s brown and green specs are special while my leopard frames are not - they’re just wacky and I only use them at home, as backup to my contacts. They also don’t stand out much, with my hair and all.

I have to agree with you, Cindy, about the necklaces. #5 to me is bold and stands out. The others, I feel are supremely normal. Haven’t we all got something like those? Pretty, a little shiny, but ultimately not unique?

rachylou

Veteran

All right, how about this for the anatomy of an outfit?

- You have your basic categories of top, bottom, shoes, topper
- In each category you have your essentials, regular pieces, statements
- Essentials, regulars and statements represent level of outfit interest.
- All essentials can look like an unfinished canvas, but they provide the backdrop, which is important. Or they're like the wall your painting goes on.
- Regulars are ‘subject material.’ More interesting but not that distinctive. ‘Statement lite.’ They get nice compliments, but no one is gonna call out to you in Walgreens. Combined with statements, they’re like the frame. And you don’t really need a painting inside to use them to add interest to your room. They have something in and of themselves.
- Statements are subject material too, but they are distinctive, full stop. They’re the painting. At Walgreens, you’ll get the ghetto call out ‘Ooh girl!’ from down the makeup aisle...

Gigi

Veteran

Rachylou, I like your assessment! I think Angie calls essentials the glue that holds an outfit together, which would be similar to your analogy to a painting canvas. They're there but are not at all the center of attention. But without them, the outfit would be choppy and not very coherent.

rachylou

Veteran

You know Gigi - What I haven’t got in my scheme here is something I think that’s very important that Angie brings to the definition of Essentials.

Angie always asks us to really narrow it down. Angie’s Essentials are heavy hitters when it comes to defining your style. They rather ARE the definition of your style - tailored jeans, black jeans, blue jeans. Your preferred silhouette comes across clearly through them. When other people talk about Essentials they are very generic about it. ‘Everyone needs a plain white shirt.’ Like any white shirt would do. But for example, I look terrible in those white button downs. I also tend to look unfinished in a plain white shirt; it’s not very me.

Statements are unique to you, can signify you, but I don’t know that they encompass one’s style as much. It’s like the logo v the actual company.

And to continue with my analogy... when people hang a show, they do pay quite a lot of attention to the walls. If they have a gallery and the opportunity, they will put in walls, take out walls, paint the walls.

You know, I’ll look at photos from the runway and think ‘meh.’ But then I’ll see the same clothes in a magazine shoot and think, ‘Oh! That has a lot more possibility than I thought.’

Barbara Diane

Veteran

About the term statement necklaces. When the trend started the now ubiquitous statement necklaces were definitely statements, and quite bolder than what was being worn previously. When I first saw them I really noticed them. Now it takes something significantly bolder for me to notice. However, perhaps the ubiquitous necklace standing out against a column of color is a statement in that outfit.

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