Fashion is fleeting. The moment you think you’ve got it, it flashes by. Therefore from today on we follow flashy passersby at their heels for five minutes to find out where they shopped, how much their clothes cost and ask them five quick questions about styling. And then we feed them to the lions (you). Hit or miss?
We pick by guess and by gosh. No particular scheme. No particular price range. No particular beauty standards. Just a style that for any reason caught our eye.
Cynthia, 20, studies International Politics
Why her? The way she combined plain, wholesome clothes to an outfit that makes you believe that she is exactly the person her clothes claim her to be.
Blouse: $15 Petite Sophisticate
Socks: $3 Target
Shoes: Ecco, $60
Jute Bag: $10 bought at a convention of international NGOs
Pouch: from market in Taiwan, the home country of Cynthia’s parents
Skirt: $15 Dillard’s
Jewelery: flea market
BYT: How would you describe your style?
Corky - cute and dorky. Just very me.
How much money do you spend on clothes per month?
Seldom more than 20 bucks. I shop cheap: thrift stores, Old Navy, Target.
What was the last item you’ve bought?
These brown socks.
What is fashion for you?
Rags that make you look good and stand out.
Is there something you would never wear?
A tube top combined with Nike shorts and a face full of make-up. Being mistaken for a sorority girl is the worst thing imaginable.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Uh, so BYT is now Cale's personal porn site?
niu hai zi zou xue yuan.
Corky says:
Michael, just cause I don't like white girls doesn't mean I have an asian fetish. Plus I already bagged the hottest one.
this section supposed to be interesting except it almost never is.
sorry guys, you know i love you, but seriously this column IS FUCKING HORRIBLE.
1) every day this has run there have been ridiculous comments from people wondering if this should actually be taken seriously
2) the girl writing these cannot write. she has not yet shown us that she has a discerning eye, and furthermore, obviously doesn't understand anything she is writing about (i.e. "fashion" or "style") based upon the stupid, horrible, AWFUL introduction that people have been peeing on since day 1 of this column. i've said it once and i'll say it again, GOOD DESIGN IS NEVER EVER FLEETING. NEVER. aspects of the fashion INDUSTRY may be fleeting, but fashion in itself - particularly good design, well thought out fashion - always has the ability to be timeless.
3) i have no problem with the people featured in this column...i think they are really cute.
4) but writing a fashion column without understanding the premise of fashion in the first place is just plain dumb. and the horribly unthoughtful introduction to this column every day proves that the author has no idea what she is talking about. seriously, understand what you are looking at, REALLY think about what you are writing before you write it and then determine whether it is a good idea.
somebody had to say it.
Corky is not a word, but quirky is.
Alyssa, offer some constructive criticism and maybe Wlada will take your advice.
there are things you put in e-mails, and things you put in comments.
Wait, I take that back. Corky is a word, but I'm pretty sure that she meant quirky as she does not resemble cork, though maybe she has an unpleasant odor or taste.
She prolly meant to combine the words "cute" and "dorky".
not that i can understand her better. ppl from taiwan aren't even chinese. they're "taiwanese".
i thought that was somewhat constructive criticism. i said that i think she should make sure she understands and then fully processes what she is looking at, really thinks about what she is writing before she writes it, and then posts it.
i know i sounded like a bitch, but i'm just trying to be honest and help this be a better column. i think it's a great idea, but i don't need to tiptoe around the fact.
Dear Alyssa,
Thank you for the critique. You are right - I really don't have a background in fashion whatsoever and I don't want to claim that. I probably should be more careful when using this words . The idea of the column also was never about style but about interesting looking people on the street. I'm thinking about changing the introduction to make sure that the readers understand that I pick people not because I believe that they are examples / recommendations on how to dress, but because they are, as you pointed out, cute. And because they look like they've been actually thinking about what they wear. If anyone has any ideas on a new teaser, you are more than welcome to share them.
I enjoy this column. New blogger and a new topic that could really go somewhere. it takes a while to get your into your groove. I'm going to keep reading these and if you dont enjoy it dont read it.
that sounds perfect. i think you should just be really clear that the column intends to be about the people of DC, and personal style. exactly what you just said. you probably want to steer clear of using the word "fashion" in your intro if this is not what you want the column to be about.
And I apologize about "corky" - it is hard to transcribe slang if you are not a native speaker. And this time urban dictionary played a trick on me.
Yep, Alyssa, you pretty much sounded like a raging bitch. Like the actual definitions of 'raging' and 'bitch' combined to form a more perfect term.
Raging: Very active and unpredicatable; volatile: a raging debate; a raging fire.
Bitch: A woman who would say things that if she were a man, she would be confronted or assaulted. (using her position as a woman as a shield)
that last definition of 'bitch' was taken from urban dictionary. just to quote source.
And while we are at group-think: would that be any better?
"This is not a style-guide. This is not about fashion. This is not even judgmental. This column is about people on DC’s streets. People, who look as if they put a thought or two into their outfits before leaving the house. "
i don't understand why it would make me a raging bitch to give someone honest criticism. the second you put something into the world, for other people, you are essentially agreeing to the possibility that people are going to disagree with it.
and when people give you criticism, it should be looked at as something valuable and helpful. you can chose to do with it what you wish.
i don't know wlada, i've never met her and i have nothing against her or no personal qualms with any of this. so i wasn't being a raging bitch, i was offering a suggestion.
I'm pretty sure this sentence is not constructive criticism: "but seriously this column IS FUCKING HORRIBLE." following it up with a litany of complaints doesn't make it better.
the internet makes it easy to criticize, but there is a way to respectfully comment. you chose not to.
you're right, i was too casual and not respectful and i apologize for that.
The fact that this is a daily column makes it difficult to continuously find quality passer-bys worth shooting and interviewing, particularly in a city like DC, who isn't known for being particularly stylish or trendsetting, outside of busting open Brooks Brothers and Anne Taylor seasonal wardrobes.
Beyond that, a lot of negative attention comes this column's way because people love discriminating against tastes -- particularly when sizing up what someone is wearing. It's easy to be negatively critical rather than trying to sympathize with someone's "sartorial statement."
Lastly, I had never even noticed the intro write-up because the redmeat of this piece is in the photos and Q&A session where, like any good documentation, you let the interviewee tell his/her story, and I think that portion is done successfully.
Alyssa just seems like she's perioding everywhere or something. Or maybe she wants to posture herself as some sort of authority ("i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again..") or objective source? To focus on two small introductory grafs as basis for an entire column sucking is simply shtoopid.
Yes, but let's skibble the accusations.
This Cynthia is a kind of girl one goes to Macaroni Grill with but her outfit... it's like ‘young-commie-meets- evangelical-meets-Hitler-jugend'. I mean, the brown socks... Unsure about ‘cute’. This is like totally totalitarian outfit that screams obedience.
welcome to the fucking internet, pussies, now stop being such sensitive little fggts!
i like the column. people always bitch about dc being unfashionable, so i like to see the interesting outfits people come up with here.
i really like this segment, it's very "fun".
Have all you girls made out yet?
This column is about as fun as this girls outfit. Yikes.
that outfit makes me want to kill myself. Depressing and dowdy and ill-fitting and urrrrggghhhhhhh! That poor girl. What a disaster.
I bet she's a beast in bed though. look at little chin down, eyes up smile, you know she's wearing skimpy undies under her librarian outfit.
Wlada - you transcribed it fine, I was just being silly, not pointing out a mistake. Changed it back to corky.
CORKY 4 EVER