style inspiration: Vanessa Friedman

via nymag

"To me, clothes are about identity — sociopolitical identity — 

and fashion gives you a chance every six months to rethink what that means."

i think Vanessa Friedman is one of the most erudite fashion journalists in the industry. her incisive FT blog that covers luxury, fashion, and culture is a weekly must-read for me, and i love her confident, sophisticated personal style.

New York Magazine just did a q+a with Ms. Friedman, and i found some of her responses particularly thought-provoking:

How do you approach fashion, from the position of the Financial Times?

"I mean, everybody has to wear clothes. Everyone gets up in the morning and they make a decision about what they’re going to put on their bodies. Therefore, it is something that we should look at and think about. Increasingly as information gets conveyed visually, whether it’s by a picture on a phone or online, the choices you make about what you put on are more important. So our attitude is, 'Let’s look at this, let’s think about why we’re making these choices, and what they mean, and what they can say to everybody else, and talk about it.'"

How do you feel about street-style photographers?

"I don’t like them. It’s a strange, parallel reality that’s grown up around the shows, which is really a time when most people are there just to work, and not because they’re out there having a great time. It’s quite strange when you get up after four hours of sleep, and you have bags under your eyes, and to get out of a car and to have all these people be like, Aaah! trying to take your picture. I dress the way I dress every day, and I feel bad because with the Japanese photographers, once they know you, they take your picture all the time. And I had the same black, Alexander McQueen handbag the entire fashion season — it didn't change — but everyday they took a picture of the same handbag and they would say, 'What is it?' And I’m like, 'You know what it is. You saw it yesterday. You saw it two weeks ago.' I feel like I’m disappointing them all the time."

i love that she unapologetically wears the same favorite pieces over and over again, and dresses for herself. i also think her remark about clothes and sociopolitical identity is right on.

what do you think?

read the rest of the interview here.