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Young women seem most susceptible to this form of identity theft, to judge by the number who participate in reality shows that involve a scalpel and the promise of Britney Spears's chin. But the reluctance to create an original and distinctive look, one that gives a face to personality, isn't limited to young women. Fashion designers are also losing their identities, that thread of continuity that runs through their collections. To ask who Marc Jacobs is this season is to ask which famous designer or artist recently captured his attention.
Against this background of constant change, heightened by magazine covers that seem to have adopted the biblical practice of stoning readers (Lucky, "663 Great Finds"; Teen Vogue, a paltry "85 Killer Fashion Finds"), women with a constant style hold an almost secret advantage—morally, aesthetically, politically.
To look at Laura Bush, with her neat, unvarying hairstyle and penchant for tailored clothes, is to wonder if she subscribes to Lady Astor's line: "What a boring thing it is to try to look pretty." But unlike her predecessor in the White House, who bobbed from style to style, Mrs. Bush found a look that suited her (now mostly from Oscar de la Renta) and stuck to it. She has managed to silence the conversation about her clothes, which is the boring thing ...
[amy fine] Collins suggests that the test of an identifiable look—one that is, in effect, a stamp—is whether it can be easily drawn, even as a caricature. "These girls today—imagine an artist having to draw them," she said, drawing a circle in the air with her finger, presumably the head of a stick figure.
- CATHY HORYN, "It's My Style and I'm Sticking to It," new york times July 27, 2004
posted July 27, 2004 in crap, performance, print. 2002