Is Fashion Fickle Or The Fabric Of Life?

A quote from www.chinadaily.com for an article entitled Meet The Worlds Top Fashion Cities, no doubt prompted by Hong Kong Fashion Week which ran from 8th to 11th July:

The world of fashion remains dominated by five cities -- New York, Rome, Paris, Milan and London -- but B-list players like Sydney and Dubai are coming on strong, according to an annual survey of top fashion cities.

The list was compiled by the Global Language Monitor, a non-profit group that tracks the frequency of words and phrases in the media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere.

New York led the list in 2008 for the fifth consecutive year with Rome retaining the second slot, Paris third again but Milan overtaking London for the fourth position. London came fifth.

What is my point you may well ask... well there are several! First its the blogosghere part... we who blog are having a considerable amount of say on a much favoured topic! I have only just started to scratch the surface of a cyber world full of very talented fashion bloggers and am amazed at what I see. We may not work for top notch magazines or be stylists to the uber rich and famous but, from those who are actually making a living out of it, to those who chat for fun about a subject very dear to their heart, it would seem our opinions may have some influence!  (I set up a Google alert for fashion blogs and the first one that came up was the one quoted above.)

I used to think that worshipping at the alter of fashion might be considered by some to be a bit fickle but anyone who ever watched the scene from the Devil Wears Prada, where Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestley completely floors Anne Hathaway's Andy with an explanation of just how she "came to be wearing that shade of cerulean blue" will know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, I'm not going to explain - it's one of those things that you have to see to appreciate! 

And finally.... we all wear clothes (thank goodness!), some wear them with more style, individuality or panache than others and some wear them so badly it makes you want to hold up a mirror, wave a Trinny and Susannah book under their nose and shout "What were you thinking?!?" I myself have looked back over past (and some far too recent) photos and wondered why I appear to have got dressed in the dark! Perhaps it's all down to fashion Yin and Yang - you have to balance those "I look pretty good moments" with the "Oh my god I'm gonna be on Go Fug yourself.com " times! (If you haven't seen it please click the link!!)   If you can hang art on the walls, why not be practical too and wear it? 

p.s.  For those who care; other fashion rated cities were:  Tokyo at number 10 (Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. label, we salute you!). Santiago in Chile is number 17 with Mumbai and New Delhi at 22 and 24 respectively.  I feel very lucky to have so far visited New York, London and Paris... if I can add Milan and Rome before I die then I will have achieved my all time top five!