THE INFLUENTIAL MAN

YOU ARE ENOUGH. STYLE OR FASHION

BY NICOLE HEROUX WILLIAMS I PHOTOS BY NSP STUDIO BY VINCENT DIGIORGIO I PHOTO BY JULIA RABKIN

If you asked most people the difference between style and fashion, I think you would get many similar answers. When in actuality, style and fashion could not be more different.

Fashion is a business. It changes seasonally to feed the massive amounts of wants in our lives. We want to look good, be validated and to be on trend.

This multi billion dollar industry has designers churning out new and innovative ideas that shape what we are supposed to look like this season and every season, every year, infinitum.

The fashion industry is all about switching people’s minds at the point of saturation.

An example would be shoulder pads in ladies jackets and dresses in the 1980’s. The bigger the better, to the point where everyone looked like football players.

Then, once everyone was wearing them, the designers turned around and made shoulderpads a thing of the past. They fell out of favor with designers so you had to either throw all those garments out or get them removed or reduced in size. Every tailor shop from coast to coast was busy removing shoulder pads for the customers that could not afford to just throw everything out and start anew.

So fashion, while innovative and on trend, is an expensive alternative to what we call style. made with the finest and long lasting workmanship and materials.

Case in point would be the little Black dress or the Navy Blue blazer. Perfectly tailored and fitted to the individual, can be worn for decades and typically change very little in form. Both of these items are simply a perfect background that bring out the colors and the stylings of the accessories you might own.

When you think of fashion, names like Versace, Armani and Dolce Gabbana come to mind. With everyone waiting for the next re-invention this upcoming season.

When you think of style, names like Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Ferregamo are the brands that come to mind. Each name has a product that is high quality and immediately recognized as the best. The Hermes scarf, Louis Vuitton handbag and Ferragamo shoes. These brands have created a very high quality product that looks very similar year to year without having to reinvent themselves every season.

So both fashion and style can be very expensive, but which one is better for you?

Believe it or not, it has a lot to do with age. Since both can be expensive, why do younger people gravitate towards fashion and not style? It’s because it is easier to change the mind of a younger person to suggest relevance than it is to convince a more seasoned buyer. find items that are from style icons like Hermes and Louis Vuitton rather than Armani and Dolce Gabbana.

So, why do you think that is?

Even the companies that knock off major brands know that fashions are here today and gone tomorrow. Why would they put all their resources into products that are going to be out of vogue by the next season.

They choose to recreate knockoffs of brands that are known for their iconic scarves, handbags or shoes. They know that these classic items change very little from year to year and are a good investment that will carry over into the next year with little risk of changing the way fashion items do.

Branded, stylized items also have another benefit that fashion items do not. The ability to resell their high quality items in a secondary market. Because they are of higher quality, they are also worth refurbishing when they no longer look as good as they used to. Not to mention, that some items actually gain value over time. An example are Rolex watches. In most cases they are worth more than you paid for them five to ten years ago. This is something that can not be said for most fashion brands.

So the next time you consider whether to buy the expensive fashion brands or the equally expensive style brands there is one thing to keep in mind. While fashion is fun, it is fleeting, but good taste never goes out of style.