FashBlog.com

By Christina VanGinkel

Fashion inspiration comes from all different places. Thumbing through a teen magazine just this morning that my daughter left lying around though, I noticed that much of the fashion inside of it was directly inspired by musicians, mainly rock artists.

Part of the draw I think is because the clothing is comfortable and fun to wear. Even some of the more glam looks still had definite appeal to the younger crowd through their easy to wear appearance. Surprisingly, each page was unique from the page before it though. While one page might show a girl in a loose, flowing skirt with a tiny, brassier like top, the next page might show a group of girls each in a different style of jeans, with tops varying from long sleeved, full coverage, to a barely there swag of fabric.

My biggest surprise of all as I looked through the magazine was that most of the looks held a timeless appeal. If you happen to be a teen reading this, you might not want to read on, as it could irrevocably change the outlook you have on fashion, as you know it. There was nary an outfit that I would have thought out of place when I was a teenager myself, and let us just say that I am over the forty-year-old mark.

I had the same exact feeling as I paged through a catalog of clothing and accessories that arrived in the mail for my fourteen-year-old son this past week. Hoodies and t-shirts, funky accessories, comfortable looking jeans and shorts, and shoes that I found outrageously fun looking. The clothing catalog was marketed towards skaters, snowboarders, and motocross riders, which my son participates in two of the three. The clothing was again made to be worn by an active teen, someone wanting to be both stylish and comfortable at the same time.

It seems that this might be in part due tot eh fact that it is my generation that is often the brain behind the company marketing these styles of clothing. Take for example the pro skateboarder Tony Alva. He is a few years older than I am, yet he has a style about him that speaks to kids as much today as it did in the seventies. The old adage that everything old is new again, is once again coming true in the world of clothing fashions.

There is an advertisement on television that I have been seeing too, that shows a daughter admiring and wearing a pair of jeans that belonged to her mother. In the commercial, the mother loses a few pounds so she can reclaim them, showing how timeless this fashion staple is.

Quality was also very apparent in both the magazine and the catalog. Not to say that there are not some fashions that look like old, worn out clothing, as that style still seems to be in vogue, however, when most teens buy an outfit, they expect it to last. Not because they are worried about having to pay to replace it, as that is what parents are for, or why they have jobs to afford the more expensive items of clothing their parents will not foot the bill for. Nevertheless, because they become comfortable in a few select pieces of clothing, they want the assurance that they are going to be able to wear said outfit as long as they want to. If they buy a shirt for instance, wear it once or twice, and it falls apart in the wash or fades quickly, as consumers in training that they are, you can be sure that they will not be buying that brand again.

Fashion inspiration comes from many different venues, and currently, the world of rock music is a big influence on what is trendy and what is not, as is fashions that have been here before. In the end though, the best way to find a style that is right for you is to choose what you like. Do not worry what the other people are wearing; rather choose what you want too, as any individual style you can conjure up, will rock the world fashion scene quicker than any thing somebody has copied past or present.