Or how watching Fashion TV changed me
I’ve always been concerned about the image, the look of things, the vibe they made me feel and anything they made me think about, which is only getting stronger with time.
I grew up looking at magazines at my grandma’s living room full of red carpet dresses and the newest gossip about local socialites, and spent many afternoons of my eight years old days looking at runway shows in Fashion TV. Those Fashion TV binge watching afternoons made me who I am today in so, so many levels…
Left foot first, right foot then
I was (and I still am) obsessed with the power walk some models had. The way they looked like the kind of person that was instantly noticed anytime she entered a room not just because she was pretty, but because of the power walk. I was marveled by the way some girls feet moves were so mesmerizing, enchanting and magical.
I analyzed the way they walked and tried to mimic it for so, so many years. I used to walk crossing my feet one in front of the other when I was home alone, I designed my own power walk. Years later I realized they don’t actually cross their feet like that, they just put one in front of the other, better if it’s the left one according to goddess Gigi.
Cam’s Confession: Honestly I still try to do the power walk from time to time and maybe that’s why some of my friends say I walk in a weird way. I don’t walk weird, I’m still trying to design THE power walk, you mean beings! Also do you want to know what an actual power walk is? Try to remember the way Giselle Bündchen KILLED it at the Olympic Games.
Chill out encounters of the first type
I fell in love with I believed runway music was like. I’m still not sure if it was because of the way it sounded, the careless vibe it had, the fact that no one else knew about it (made me feel pretty special) or because I was so obsessed with that fashion channel that loving it made sense.
Runway shows always had the best music ever, even if it had no lyrics and sounded strange to my little person’s ear. Fashion TV even made CDs with the music they showcased in runway shows! I always wanted to have one, I mean I would still love to own one of this little guys.
I have this blurry, very blurry memory of listening one of this CDs at a record store one day I went out with my parents. We liked to go a lot to record stores, listen to the test CDs and try to find something interesting to take home. I think it was FTVBeachHouse, according to my memory and what I just googled. The soft beat was such a refreshing thing to hear in a world saturated by Paulina Rubio (I loved her), Britney Spears (I love her, present time) and Usher (he’s ok).
I believe my former Fashion TV’s music extreme fanaticism helped me define my music taste of today. I like many different genres, but I spend an important amount of time listening to chill out, dubstep, and more electronic-like genres I can’t properly name (I still have a hard time telling apart one genre from another, don’t be mad at me music experts). Beaty things make me feel at home, brighten my boring days at work and cheer me up from time to time.
Let’s bankrupt mom with expensive magazine subscriptions
I’m going to teach you a really simple equation before I keep going:
(Grandma Magazines – Tacky local socialites) + Fashion TV = Craving expensive Fashion Magazines
I had subscriptions to any local fashion related magazine I knew of. I knew about three, so that was it.
I started reading Seventeen when I was 12 and switched to Infashion at 15, and as internet gradually became the magical place it is now, I started reading the online version of some famous fashion magazines, like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Three or two years ago, when my addiction to blogging got stronger I started following fashion blogs/bloggers too, like SincerelyJules, Man Repeller, Blank Itinerary and many more I Instagram check on a daily basis.
Cam’s Historical Note: I still have many of the physical magazines and there’s one I completely adore. It’s a Special Edition of Infashion’s 50 Anniversary and there’s a part where they talk about 50 different fashion design iconic pieces, like Cartier’s Santos Watch, Dior’s New Look and Mary Phelps Jacob’s first brassiere approach.
Awkward but fabulous
And at last, as a Fashion TV girl it’s obvious that I was pretty much into fashion. I was the most fashionable ever 11 years old girl in 2007, and by fashionable I mean experimental and funky. I was a neon 1.4 meters tall mutant no one else understood.
This was my favorite outfit at the time: Wide leg capri pants (I had a pale denim pair and a white one too) with neon turquoise or neon pink cropped fishnet leggings underneath, light blue Skechers’ slip ons with little colorful skulls and a tank top that matched the fishnet leggings.
Luckily that stage didn’t last much and I switched to less bright outfits, but I’ve always been an experimenter. My biggest fashion inspirations besides the magazines were Disney Channel, teenage movies and Eslamoda.com (if you’re from this side of the globe I bet my soft shiny hair you know the website).
School was my personal runway.
Each first friday of the month we were allowed to go to class without uniforms (it’s called jean day, a pretty popular thing in colombian schools as far as I know) and each friday I dressed different, we all dressed different.
I actually spent all the previous weeks planning my jean day’s outfit. I think many of the girls did, since that day school felt like a tiny showcase of who had the newest things from Zara, or something like that. I can proudly say I dressed different each day of my school life (I’m making it bold because I’m really proud).
The day Pinterest and Netflix showed me the light
Designers love Pinterest. Ask anyone, they’ll confirm it.
I use it a lot to look for ideas for assignments or just for fun, and when I started college and realized it was economically and logically impossible to keep dressing different each day of my life I had to meet with someone wearing something that was not an uniform, I started pinteresting about it.
Actually each time I purchase something I start pinteresting about it! This week’s topic: Adidas EQT ADV Support + outfit (no good results so far).
I’m a Pinterest fashion obsessed person as many of my Pinterest friends are. Don’t try to deny it, I follow you all! I even use it as a way to measure how likeable can a girl be. If I don’t like your fashion related Pinterest boards, there’s a 50% chance I don’t like you in general.
Cam’s I’mNotABitch Reminder: If you’re my friend you have an awesome Pinterest boards collection. Please don’t think I’m evil.
So let’s have something clear before we continue: Pinterest helps a lot deciding outfits. Pinterest is love.
Everyone loves Netflix. Do I really have to say more?
And I love watching the most random shows I can find.
My sister started watching korean shows a few months ago and I decided to give them a try, specially because it made sense with the project I was working on at college. Last semester I worked on a Seoul-inspired footwear collection that turned out being awesome, you can know more about it here.
I’m now addicted to korean shows and it’s affecting a lot my fashion taste, south koreans really know what they’re doing! I Pinterest about them and get inspired.
The moment south korean aesthetics took over
I started adding south korean bits in many aspects of my life.
They flooded my Tumblr blog and monopolized my YouTube playlists, and the gorgeous color palettes, urban landscapes and almost normcore fashion seen so often in shows and music videos is everywhere now.
I’m starting to decompose the aesthetic to see if I can understand it and make it my own, and in the process I’m falling in love with colors, sounds and shapes. Maybe one day I’ll get it, maybe I’ll never do.
I find it so magical… I’m like “What are this humans doing?” “Will I ever travel across the sea and see everything with my own eyes?”