Winning Entry: Lucinda from Thrift & Thread
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| Lucinda's Lui Hon S/S '11 leather wrap skirt |
Thank you so very much to everyone who entered for the blog's sixth birthday giveaway. I was genuinely surprised and pleased at the number of entries, and reading through them all was a really enjoyable experience for me. I find it absolutely fascinating learning about which garments in their wardrobes people love most. Whenever I am asked who I think the most "stylish" people are, I always reply the same - the people who are happiest in their clothing. Fashion feeds on anxiety, and I think the only reasonable response to that reality is to embrace what you love, wherever you may happen to find that. It sounds like such a simple pleasure, but I think it is actually one of the most elusive these days - to find a garment you feel like yourself in. I suppose it is the natural result of becoming disconnected with the design process, much as we have become disconnected with how the majority of things in our lives are made, or indeed, in many cases, how they actually work. But taking in an interest in that process is perhaps one of the ways we can reclaim that feeling.
I liked Lucinda's entry the most because her response to the garment was so personal and evocative of exactly the type of feeling I look for when discovering new garments. The line that cinched it for me was "...something clicked and I understood *why*...". That "why" is what drives me and makes me want to learn more about why I dress the way I dress, why I like the clothes I like, and by extension, perhaps come to understand in some manner why other people dress they way they dress and like the clothes they like. And I really do think that much of the time coming to an understanding of these things is quite simply a process of it clicking at the right time. Sometimes things just feel right. Plus it doesn't hurt that the skirt looks pretty darn awesome.
My Lui Hon leather wrap skirt from the Estherian collection SS 11/12.
It was my first fashion week and my first showroom appointment. I was late, I was nervous. I'd run out of the shower my hair still dripping wet. Then I met Lui and his clothes. While we were talking, something clicked and I understood *why* I was interested in fashion as a design discipline despite not being a practitioner. I also knew I would buy this skirt. It's a simple rectangle of lambskin leather with a strap lash but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The secret lies in the darting, the cotton lining and internal ties which the wearer controls but the world doesn't see.
The images below are from Lucinda's blog Thrift & Thread and feature the skirt she loves.
