The ✨ transformative power ✨ of clothing: Part 1.
Entering our fashion encyclopedia era.
QUICK NOTE: If you came to this piece via TiKTok looking for the fashion group chat: hi! Feel free to read the full piece, or dive to the bottom for steps on how to join.
Changing aspects of our person often requires a significant time investment. I can’t change my body, mind, or ability overnight. That is why fashion and the transformative power of clothing is such a novel idea. You can become a new version of yourself —or at least appear to be new—by way of clothing, following a credit card swipe or express shipping from SSENSE.
That person could be more confident if you want them to be; more composed, respected, admired, lusted-after, interesting, or whatever else serves you and the life you crave. The earliest (or perhaps strongest) depiction of this phenomenon I’ve seen in the media is The Devil Wears Prada. A woman discovers fashion. She changes the way she dresses. Her demeanor changes. Then her world changes. That’s power. And while Andy is a fictional character, she models a transformation that happens routinely in New York, as casually as the train coming; as regularly as the train being delayed.
New York has a way of helping you discover who you’re meant to, I said in a recent TikTok. As one of the fashion capitals of the world, personal fashion often aids that discovery or is a manifestation of it. In my personal case, I started to explore fashion incrementally after accepting I was gay (months after moving to New York), coming out as gay, and then, finally, feeling comfortable as a gay man. “Good” fashion to me historically involved looking put together—I was raised on blazers, button downs and ties. And I looked for ways to evolve that formula in a way that made sense for the person I was becoming; introducing more feminine styles, fabrics and pieces to balance the more traditionally masculine aesthetic I knew. I continued to refine my style until I found go-to looks that worked for me, felt like me and helped me feel like the person I see when I’m envisioning my life—and the Cole who’s living it—in five years.
All that said, I recently realized that while I do have a personal style and deep respect for fashion, I am not one of the New York fashion #gworls—people who not only have style, but Encyclopedia-rivaling knowledge on fashion: the collections, artistic directors, eras, trends, business and DRAMA. These are the people who watched the Prada FW 2022 show and quickly made the connection to the Fall 2012 collection. I can’t possibly call myself one of the gworls when my knowledge is limited to J.Crew catalogs circa 2011-2016. However comma, I am interested in joining the gworls—hello, Amanda Murray; hello, Jose—one day soon. So, as advised by a TikTok mutual Darius, I’ve been scouring and studying the Vogue Runway app. I’ve been reading more. I’ve been reflecting more. The behavior to know fashion is not unlike the behavior to know art, I’m realizing. And obviously so, fashion is art.
After this video went baby-viral, I realized I’m not the only person with this internal (unsettling, but not gravely upsetting…) tension; wanting the knowledge, but not having the knowledge. Fashion can feel so inaccessible at times it can and should be one of the more accessible art forms out there.
Another mutual Danya Issawi recently wrote “I’m a believer that fashion should be for everyone. The fashion industry can be intimidating, but it doesn’t take much to just look at something and decide if it makes you feel something.” As someone who spends too much time talking about his feelings, I find it odd that I don’t have a dedicated place to talk about my fashion feels. So when a follower commented we should start a group chat, I ran to it. I’m a big fan of study groups and this little project will be exactly that—the cutest lil’ study group you ever did see. Details are down below, but first: my quick thoughts on some recent seasons; the kinds of comments you can expect in our Encyclopedias in Training group chat.
BIG X BIG O—
Cashmere
SPRING 2022 COUTURE
Schiaparelli / Daniel Roseberry
Reignited my interest in the divine.
Zuhair Murad / Zuhair Murad
Reminded me of my good friends Don’t Let Disco, so—immediately yes.
FALL 2022 READY-TO-WEAR
The Row / Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen
Hold.
FALL 2022 MENSWEAR
Dunhill / Mark Weston
I saw this one and suddenly felt I was done working from home. Give me Mad Men reboot 2022.
Hed Mayner / Hed Mayner
So many good, oversized coats—see Prada, see Jil Sander, see GMBH, see pretty much everyone else. This Glen Plaid bb is so sweet.
Fendi / Silvia Fendi
I made noise when I saw the sheer socks. When I saw the sheer socks on the Miu Miu girls last year I had a spiritual reaction. So glad we’re seeing the same on men. It’s so hot.
Prada / Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons
Lol the perfect jacket. Y’all know I love a boxy blazer moment and this one feels like such a natural evolution for me. I’ve already made peace with the amount I’m going to have spend later this year.
Kenzo / Nigo
Give me Gossip Girl (2022) fantasy. I can’t stand Aki or Max, but maybe I’d like them a little more in this.
Loewe / J.W. Anderson
Me leaving Equinox, too sore to put on any clothes. Yep, yep.
Jil Sander / Lucie Meier and Luke Meier
I was seeing so much commotion from the Instagram fashion gwolrs on Jil and for good reason. This was my favorite menswear collection, I think. Everything felt so rich and the coats had me rethinking my impending move to Los Angeles.
Y/Project / Glenn Martens
This newsletter is a safe space so I will say I’d never heard of Y/Project or Glenn until this year, but wow. I had such an emotional response to all of this. Imagine looking this cool / interesting / sexy on a bagel run Sunday morning? Sure thing.
THE GROUP CHAT:
Ok, so. I’ll be the first to admit this is an experiment that I’m hopeful will be fun + informational + possibly life changing for those of us with Fashion Gworl aspirations. The group chat is hosted on Geneva, a free online group messaging platform. You will need to download the app, which you can do here (for iPhone; Android is available somewhere!).
Once you download the app, you’ll need to request to join my chatroom (Cashmere Encyclopedias in Training) here. I’ll grant access as requests come in. Once we have a good group I’ll close access so it’s not too overwhelming.
I don’t have too many expectations on how we’ll use the chat, but do request that we respect the following guidelines to keep things fun + safe for everyone.
Guidelines:
Be kind. This is a safe space for people who love fashion. All levels of knowledge are welcome. Egos (and condescending talk that comes with them) are not welcome.
Be appropriate. Racist, sexist, homophobic comments are not tolerated and will result in your being removed from the chat.
Be curious. We’re all learning. Feel free to ask questions and don’t feel bad if you don’t already know something.
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