There is a rebellious mood in fashion at the moment that has been absent for years. It’s not quite on the same level with 80s punk or the early bohemians, but something is going on. Celine has been replaced as the most desirable brand by Vetements, known for their oversize, asymmetric clothes and ugly-cool styling. Then there is Gosha Rubchinskiy with his utilitarian post-Soviet obsessions and the deconstructed garments of Sacai. Not to mention the old guard from Rick Owens to Comme des Garçons.

I’m not the most avant-garde of dressers, but god this is welcome. I have loved many a trend in the last decade and most of them suit me better than humongous culottes (although I do love this Vetements dress), but fashion cannot remain as stagnant as it has recently been. It cannot survive on It-bags alone.

What I do find somewhat ridiculous, however, is when people seem to believe that they are somehow super subversive when they wear a Gosha t-shirt. Sure, it often requires a measure of bravery to wear things out of one’s comfort zone. It used to be difficult for me to wear clothes that don’t flatter and I hesitated to go to work with pink hair. But buying Vetements jeans that cost over 1000 euros is not an act of rebellion, it’s an attempt to buy some cool. As the latter it can be totally successful and I have no problem with it – I’m just scared of people who are that far removed from reality.

Apologies for this outburst – I hope it’ll not prove counterproductive, as I do in fact encourage everyone to look at strange and experimental clothes, expensive or otherwise. It educates the eye. It has energy. It makes you question. I know that all the style advice in the world is about finding what suits you and sticking with it. And yes, that’s useful to know, but also the most boring part of dressing – everyone with two brain cells can figure this out. Finding pieces of you in unexpected places and realising that you can contain multitudes is where it gets really rewarding.*

This shoot wasn’t originally meant to illustrate this theme of (pseudo) rebels, but as I’m wearing my only Vetements item here, it seemed fitting. And while it’s certainly a very bourgeoise take, it’s still the most scrambled together of all my style posts. The Vetements t-shirt was too small for the effect I wanted (I bought men’s size S), there were no slip dresses to be had in shops in July when the pictures were taken, so I had to make do with a Mango dress worn backwards and cut shorter at the hem, and I could not find the right shoes anywhere. But you know, despite going all wrong, it actually looks pretty right.

Pictured:
H&M bomber
Mango dress
Converse sneakers
Expressions choker
Vetements top
H&M knickers
River Island shoes
Wolford tights
Wings borrowed from my daughter

Hair and makeup by Ellen Walge, pictures Krõõt Tarkmeel.

*Please feel free to have a completely different style philosophy.