Last night I received an offer from Nathan Hurst, the founder of Cincinnati Fashion Week to be a writer for the “blogitorial” style lookbook that he’s putting together, and I must say I’m pretty excited. I’ll keep you in the loop as I hear more!
This post is really going to be me complaining about the quality and selection of clothing that is available at a reasonable price, so I hope you don’t find that too off-putting. Recently I was reading a post of Orchid Grey‘s in which she talked about how dissatisfied she’s been lately with high street chains, namely Forever 21 and H&M. Now we all know how much Forever 21 pieces I have and I must admit that I love H&M, however I have to say that I agree with her. As time has gone on there have been fewer and fewer things on the F21 site that I like, and forget about going to the actual store. Every time I ever go into the shop I am instantly swarmed in high schools kids and I can never find anything that I’m looking for, both complaints that I have heard from many people. In her next entry Julie said something really interesting that may explain part of our dissatisfaction:
“Maybe it’s due to the backlash F21 has been receiving in regards to copyright infringement, I know I would be livid if I was a designer and saw my work cheaply copied by a mass-retailer. Perhaps they’re reacting to that and cutting back on how blatantly they copy designers and popular fashion.”
I hadn’t really heard about this, but it totally makes sense to me. Many a time I have been scanning the F21 website only to see something that I know is a total Modcloth ripoff. (See this post)
As for H&M, I always find stuff that I like when I go there, but again that requires a trip to the mall which I absolutely DREAD. I wish H&M had a selection of things that you could at least view on their website without going to the Scandinavian page.
Morally I have a problem with things like H&M destroying unsold merchandise instead of donating it to someone who could use it. Also cheap clothing often comes at the cost of sweatshops, however the only way to really ensure that you’re not buying the products of sweatshops is to only buy things made in the US. And let me tell you unless you have some serious expendable income for clothing, it’s pretty fucking hard.
A lot of the responses the Orchid Grey’s original post were about how much people love stores like Banana Republic and Anthropologie, which I can definitely understand. I haven’t actually bought anything from either or these stores, but every time I find some of their stuff at thrift stores I’m always really happy with the quality. I just can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on a single item of clothing. The general feel of Banana Republic especially is more classic and clean than my personal style so I always feel the need to intensely funk up anything I get from them.
I suppose for me this leaves stores like Gabriel Brothers and outlet malls. And of course, more thrifting!
I did actually find something on the F21 website today that I want realllllllly bad.
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I had been scoping a similar pair from Aldo, but they mysteriously disappeared from their website. **EDIT** I found the Aldo version! Although they are obviously much nicer, they’re also almost $60 more. The F21 pair will be mine very soon….
I have to agree with both you and Orchid Grey regarding Forever 21. When I was in school it was great, but one day I bought a sweater and 15 minutes later all of the buttons fell off. I wrote a post on me and Forever 21 right when I began blogging. I was just telling my boyfriend that I think I’m the only blogger who isn’t a fan of Forever 21. H&M I stand by for both quality and price. Ocassionally the jewelry at Forever 21 isn’t too bad, yet it still falls apart. I would say that 95% of the items in my closet were bought on sale. I look at blogs and I see the list of labels and I just want to barf. Style is not defined by a label but the look and how you present it. For once I would like to see a blog that doesn’t make a reference to Topshop, Beacon’s closet, or some over priced designer. I feel as if I’m looking at the same things over and over again. In the beginning it wasn’t like that, but now popular bloggers work with the big brands and they lose that spark which made them so appealing in the begining. I applaud you for taking on the topic of affordable fashion and I know you will do a good job. Much better than those magazine folks could ever do.
I would have to agree with you about H&M, I’ve always been really impressed with the quality of clothing there. I think I’ve only been dissatisfied there lately because I’ve been so spoiled with finding things I love there that I put them up on a pedestal. I’m sure the next time I got in I’ll fall in love with something again.
As for labels and such, I am such a hard core sale rack girl I can’t understand why someone’s name means that I should want it more. I mean, most of the time the person who’s name is on the clothing isn’t even the actual designer they have a staff of designers. I understand if you have the extra money to spend on a higher quality of product and you want to do that. Unfortunately I think people forget that price and brand don’t necessarily equal quality. I also just know how hard I am on my clothes and how pissed I’d be if my dog got a big rip in a $200 dress or I spilled red wine on a $40 shirt (both things that happen all the time).
I just need to have a hardcore return to thrift and vintage shopping. Thanks for the props!
I really like the tone and style of your writing here. Nice title also. And thanks for using the words ‘morally’ and ‘fashion’ in the same piece. And for being a stylish yet cheap-ass bitch. Just goes to show that all these seemingly mutually exclusive things can all hang out and get along sometimes. Even if they just knock back a few beers at the bowling alley once in a while.
Congrats on the CFW invite!
I’d rather stick needles in my eyes that go into a forever 21 store irl. Last time I went some thirteen year old snatched this top I had right out of my hand. I thought that only happened over like xboxes on black friday, I was wrong.
http://www.midwestdarling.com/journal/2010/7/2/time-to-thrift.html