Ann’s Fashion Fortunes

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

From the Gold Lion Collection by Dr. Zwack, a Minneapolis-based brand known for “design imbued with music, mystery, and mojo” and for its ongoing philanthropy toward ending homelessness. Photo courtesy simpsonhousing.org.

Closet, know thyself

DEAR ANN: Fashion Week MN blew my mind. However, I have no funds to buy any of it, and nowhere to wear that kind of thing in the first place. How can I feed my couture passions?

DEAR READER: First of all, hooray for Fashion Week MN deciding to be mostly free and online this spring! It allowed many of us who’d never buy a ticket or make the drive to see what’s new on local runways. See how I didn’t say, “What’s new on actual people walking the streets wearing clothes?”

Runway fashion isn’t necessarily daily-life wearable; it’s not even special-occasion wearable. It’s art for art’s sake. So if what you saw awakened your muse, don’t ruin it by trying to translate couture to your closet. Feed it by digging into the mission and work of the nonprofit that is Fashion Week (fashionweekmn. com), and find your place in Minnesota’s vibrant fashion design community.

DEAR ANN: Why crop tops? Why are they everywhere I used to be able to buy regular-length shirts? It’s not like I’m shopping in the “juniors” section. Is this a joke? DEAR READER: I noticed this myself on a recent citywide search for black V-neck T-shirts, which I’m seeking as my summer uniform if I can find enough of them. And it sounds like you already know this, but let me tell you, the pickings were slim.

I went to every place I usually go to satisfy a style craving — AGAIN Thrift and More, Neighborhood Thrift, Salvation Army, St. Peter Thrift and the nowclosed MRCI (vive la MRCI with your delightful practice of having us pick a plastic token out of a bag to determine our discount!).

Most of my discoveries of black short-sleeved V-necks went from triumph to sorrow when I lifted the hanger off the rack and found the shirt was cropped to hit at about the sternum. Irritated and bewildered, I quit the hunt. But then a few days later, I came up with a plan, and you can use it, too. My plan is to go back and buy all the black tops that were perfect except for their cropped-ness and trick them into a different silhouette by layering them with baggy black and charcoal racer-back tanks.

I don’t think we need to understand why the fashion industry is shoving crop tops at us right now. I think we just need to steel ourselves for the fact they’re

out there — and then shop with the you-are-not-the-boss-of-me confidence that comes from knowing how to layer.

DEAR ANN: Last year, I fell hard into #outfitoftheday because it kept me busy and distracted and I wasn’t going anywhere so my daily outfit didn’t have to meet any real standards. Now I’m hooked and I can’t keep up. Help.

DEAR READER: There’s no shame in getting lost in playing dress-up, especially if it kept you sane during #StayHomeMN. But there’s for-sure shame in falling for the idea that style is synonymous with constant acquisition of new things.

The #outfitoftheday concept isn’t organic, like, it didn’t spring from regular people enjoying regular use of social media. It’s an invention intended to hook innocent clothes-wearing people like yourself on fast-fashion consumption at a pace that makes no sense relative to seasons, or occasions, or anything else that would make a person actually truly need a new thing to wear.

The best antidote to hardcore #outfitoftheday addiction is an abrupt turnaround in the form of a daily uniform. It might even allow you to taper off your shopping rather than quit cold turkey, as you’ll need to acquire a few similar pieces (see above, re: my own pursuit of an all-black-V-neck summer).

Give #dailyuniform a look. And for the sake of helping the planet not spontaneously combust due to cheap toxic fibers and dyes from all the stuff you’d otherwise buy and toss, don’t look back. Got a question? Submit it at annrosenquistfee.com (click on Ann’s Fashion Fortunes). Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and host of Live from the Arts Center, a music and interview show Thursdays 1-2 p.m. on KMSU 89.7FM.

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