Remember the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland? Of course you do. However did you actually know Cheshire was a real place in England? It’s a county in fact, however even most Englishmen have not heard of this location either. It’s an area occupied with farmers, grammar school students and middle class families.
Recently however, I flew the nest and moved from rural Cheshire to the big city, the fashion capitol and the infamous London city. In Cheshire fashion was deemed as who owned the most items of ,British fashion label, Jack Wills. The identity in which every teen purposed to create was rich and pristine. However the first thing I noticed when moving to my new flat in London was a scrawling of “F*** off Middle Class scum” on a nearby wall. Unlike my fellow Cheshirians I was not able to afford to dress myself head to toe in British designer garments; therefore I chose to present myself in cheap vintage, charity shop, and home made garments. Do not get me wrong, I would have loved to own designer clothing,and did indulge in the occasional purchase, but it was not always an option.
Shortly after my arrival I decided to take a walk around my new home town. Each passer-by was not dressed head to toe in expensive labels; in fact I failed to notice even one designer garment. I could not pick up on a singular trend that threaded it’s way into the London fashion sense. Acid print, tweed, paisley print, tie dye, chords, jeans, velvet- London has it all. For decades society has lead us to believe that fashion revolves around the most expensive garments available- however I believe there is a new trend. That trend is individualism.
In order to get yourself noticed in the fashion capital of London it seems that you do not need to simply wear designer top to tail. Not at all. Each resident on London town appears to use their identity to influence their threads- and not even one resident intends to be caught in identical high street or designer clothing. Vintage and charity shop clothing are the way forward for the cockney fashionistas. It is no longer a crime to clash and spare cash- it is law to be a daring as possible and spend as little as possible in the process.
