Cool Shit Monday: Fashion - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

You may be wondering how fashion can be cool shit if it's 'bad' or 'ugly' but it can, believe me, it can.  I shall first lure you in with beautiful things, then entertain you with some astute fashion observations (not my cleverness unfortunately), and then amuse you with some of the Ugly.  Or actually my friend Georgia will.  She's a very amusing person as you'll soon discover.

Because I'm all about making this a positive place, I shall be responsible for the Good in today's Cool Shit Monday.  I've been storing up a few wee gems that have me drooling into my keyboard.  It's amazing it hasn't shorted out yet.  Let me share my excess saliva with you.  "HOORAY", I hear you all shout.

Modcloth.  I've made reference to it a few times around the blog but it's time I come clean and divulge the full level of my obsession with this site.  Modcloth began while its founder was in College.  She needed to offload some of the huge collection of vintage goodies she had accumulated over the past years trawling thrift shops so she established an online shop.  She had such a great response that she extended to vintage-inspired clothing and the rest, as they say, is history.  The business now has 275 employees but maintains a friendly feel and stocks a wide array of products that are simply things that take the fancy of it's creative team.  The best (and most dangerous) news is they do ship to the Shaky Isles and pretty much anywhere else in the world.  Go nuts people...

Bait Footwear are relatively new to the fashion world having only been established in the (Northern Hemisphere) Summer of 2011 but are fast making a name for themselves making cute retro-inspired shoes at a reasonable price.  Their shoes come in the coolest range of colours and look like just the ticket to wear with that summer dress you've had your eye on.  Splash out and make me feel better about my finger hovering over the checkout button.

And when you want to see what your new cute dress and shoes look like together, and some other accessories you might like to try with them, you can go to Polyvore.  I can't decide if this website is useful or just fun, but if it is just fun, it's good clean fun that will help you procrastinate from the productive things you should be doing.  Basically you can assemble outfits so you can... well... make outfits.  You could then share them with people so they buy you the cool shit you find.  You could get ideas for the perfect accessories for your frock.  You could create pretty fashion collages just to make you happy.  The only downside to Polyvore is that you can't put any item in there - you're limited to their selection of (what I assume are paying) fashion lines.  But they have a lot.  And they have Modcloth so I'm happy.

My first attempt at a Polyvore -  throw a few items together, and voila! an outfit.  The bag's not quite the right shade, but like I say, a quick first go.

First Floral by charlottecarman featuring yellow leather handbags

And now for The Bad.  I follow a blog called Not So Lonely Londoners.  It's a fashion blog so not unusual at all.  What is unusual about it though is that it's written by a straight male.  I enjoy his passion and perspective on fashion and I love that he fights the stereotype.  I hate stereotypes even though I probably make them and am one all the time.  He wrote this post a few weeks ago about fashion blog posing.  I know this may not be a subject all of you are partial to, that's fine, but I think you will be able to appreciate his observations anyway.  You don't have to follow people's blogs to have witnessed self-photography.  It's a bit like the duck face phenomenon that people are backlashing against (you know, girls who pull that bizarre pouty face in photos): people strike the strangest poses thinking it's hot/flattering/modelesque.  But if they actually looked at those photos objectively, they'd see they look pretty bloody ridiculous.  I'm almost certain that I'm guilty of some of the blog fashion poses he writes about, so I'm not throwing any small, hard objects inside easily breakable buildings, but it is bloody funny.  And it never hurts to have a good laugh at yourself from time to time.  So The Bad of today's fashion themed blog: ridiculous 'fashion' posing.  Have a gander.

The Agony.  Just one of Stu's fashion blogger poses.

And The Ugly.  More specifically, It's Still Ugly, an ever-growing collection of high-priced fashion that might be fashion, but... well the title speaks for itself.  My friend Georgia is an avid fashion follower but is also a lass who calls a spade a spade.  And boy does she dig up some ugly shit.  Georgia brings a bit of reality to the high-flying world of couture and reminds us that just because they tell us the Emperor is wearing clothes designed by someone with a fancy name and a large paycheck, we still may need to be reminded that he's actually naked.  Ok that was a confusing metaphor but I just mean some fashion is crap and Georgia points out why.  She also manages to show that sometimes even the ugly has it's own alluring siren call.  But mostly it's a good healthy kick of realism and I love it.  The Ugly is cool shit.

One of Georgia's short but accurate observations.