Street Style Fashion and You
Crossdressers often look to outside sources like magazines, fashion blogs, and social media to find the latest fashions for our dressing inspiration on what is generally thought of as “street style fashion.” This is a change from previous activity where watching ladies in the mall was thought helpful but American women are now so badly dressed that what you see in the mall is no longer an indication of good fashion sense.
Street fashion is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the grassroots streetwear. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Perhaps that’s the reason that all too many of us try to dress like our daughters, leading to endless discussions on age appropriate dress.
So, let’s look at these sources of inspiration. The quarterly runway shows in the major fashion centers have traditionally been the be-all source for the yearly fashion trends, but if you seriously look at runway fashions, well they suck and rarely reflect what the girl in the street actually wears. Now saying that, these runway fashions do make it from the runways to your closet and this Washington Post article tells you how. Here’s a comparable article from the New York Post.
When I was younger, I loved to browse the fashion magazines and often clipped articles on beauty and fashion for my secret archives on crossdressing. You name them, Vogue, Style, Elle, Allure (a favorite), were the elite of the fashion world and fashion editors and journalists were our go-to experts. But not anymore. With the internet allowing anyone with a website to become an expert, the fashion bloggers now play a significant role in determining what is thought of as street fashion.
Vogue’s attack on style bloggers shows how much the newcomers have the fashion mags rattled. Fashion bloggers force journalists to up their game. The best fashion blogs are effectively part of the established fashion media, no more a threat to established magazines than the swathe of niche independent magazines launched every year. Indeed, respected fashion bloggers are now rolled out as experts to comment on fashion stories across the media. These fashion enthusiasts have effectively democratized the catwalks. This has become known as the fashion blogger effect.
The fashion blogger no longer represents just the “ÿouth effect” but are there for women of all ages. There are millions of fashion blogs out there and invariably the fashion mags will now highlight their favorites. I have my favorites too and they are broken down into the general blogger for the 20-40 year olds, the over 40 gals, and the plus-size or curvy gals. Here are a few of my favorites:
General Fashion
Over 40 Bloggers
Plus-size bloggers
Lastly, there are the fashion influencers. This article from Harpers Bazaar helps explain the difference between a fashion blogger and a fashion influencer. Bottom line answer is social media and how many followers you have with Instagram being the single most important social media platform.
While many old-school bloggers started out with just a simple website, the trend now stretches further out onto Instagram, and there are now more fashion “influencers” rather than “bloggers” than ever before. And they’re having an incredible impact on how we dress. You need only look at the rise of street style stars to spot that those off the catwalk have as much influence on our wardrobes as those on the catwalk — and brands, from high fashion to the high street.
Here’s just one example of this influence effect Plus Size Blogger/Influencers Show Off In Summer’s Hottest Prints
Now Sister House was created to talk about fashion specifically for the trans girl. Our Library abounds with innumerable articles about the clothing we wear and the Dressing Room tells us how to put it all together. And then we have our trans style stars called The Stylish Crossdresser. These girls are our style icons.
Interestingly our current poll on Sister House asks what is your favorite style of dress and while the results are still early, I suspect the trend will hold. Here are the top 3 looks and our ladies that represent that look.
Everyday Look (37%)
L-Donnakelli and R- Carollyn Olson
Business Look (27%)
L-Nora Simone and R-Lady Claire Stafford
Mature Look (15%)
L-Steffie Michaels and R-Rita Doyle
I am greatly surprised that the Glam Look, typified by Vikki La Fontaine, has no response and as expected, there are a few that like the Young Girl and Fetish looks.
What none of my sources mentioned was Pinterest which is actually the single largest search engine behind Google. My Pinterest site has over 100 boards with fashion interests for everyone. Here are a few of my current pins:
Not surprising is the number of women that search Pinterest before buying and using links from Pinterest. I’ve been able to replicate some of my favorite looks from Pinterest as in my LBD and this everyday dress. It is a great source of inspiration
Our favorite looks/pins which are repined by more than 500 women each month can be seen in Looks Women Love.
Hope we have been a new source of inspiration for you. Please visit us at Sister House. New fashion articles every week.
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Category: Style, Transgender Fashion
About the Author (Author Profile)
Tasi was a transgender, married, lifelong crossdresser. She passed away in late 2018. She’s the founder of the Ladies of the Blue Ridge transgender group in Roanoke VA, a prolific writer, commentator and blogger including fashion articles for Tri-Ess, TG Reporter, Repartee, and Pretty T-Girls magazine. Tasi currently resides in Merida, (Yucatan) Mexico. Her new website, Sister House and her blog, the Fashionable TG Woman are dedicated to fashion and style for the transgendered woman. Tasi’s book, "Top Ten Fashion Mistakes By Crossdressers and How To Fix Them" is available on Amazon or on her site free to subscribers.Subscribe
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