About this site
As Nigel Kipling so gracefully put it in The Devil Wears Prada: “[Fashion] is greater than art, because you live your life in it.” Beyond just living in them, clothes are how we tell the stories of our lives to other people in the most socially efficient way possible. They are the language with which we communicate our sense of self to others. To a stranger on the street, my multi-coloured crochet cardigan might mean I’m the sort of person who likes to make a bold, vibrant statement; to a friend, though, it might remind them of something different—and to me, there’s always an added layer of personal meaning that couldn’t possibly be interpreted without knowing who I am. And while fashion is one of the most limitless outlets for self-expression, I sometimes feel like I’m merely negotiating between what I want to show the world and what I want to subtly hide. Let’s face it, we’re all caught up in not only the aesthetic value of our material possessions, but also the cultural relevance of whatever it is we wish to project with them. How we dress, how we walk, where we go, what accessories we have, what we do with them, what we post about it all online; these things are how we establish our own individual identities within a collective. They are how we tell the world what we wish to be defined by, in a world full of things that have already been categorized for us. But even personal efforts to resist cultural norms are evaluated on some level (by ourselves and others), because currently, subversiveness is vogue. It’s a psychological trap.
What’s becoming increasingly apparent to me is how much mental energy I allocate towards this kind of self-awareness. I use my belongings to narrativize my days. I look for profound meaning in the state of “things,” whether it be my dirty laundry or thrifted ballgown, the contents of my purse or the cleanliness of my shoes. Most importantly, I assess the quality of the story I want my entire appearance to sell. Why? Because when I walk out the door and into the world, I want to feel like I know who I am.
I want this site to, quite simply, be a blog. My interests lie in fashion and culture (hence “vogue imitates life”), so expect that common theme; but the blog itself will be a space for discussion and observation, where I unpack whatever topic sits on my shoulders that day. I’d also like to explore things without restraining myself to specific subject matter. If you’re interested in more formal cultural commentary, I have a substack dedicated to informed opinion pieces.
I reserve the right to experiment. Life is multimodal.
Vogue Imitates Life 