not just for faire

Not Just For Faire

~ Erica ~ 1 Comment

Welcome back to the Mane Street Chronicles, and welcome to our last installment in our Slow Fashion series. We hope you’ve enjoyed it! I’ve certainly enjoyed writing it and I’m excited to launch into some new topics next week!

So. How to wrap up Slow Fashion? I think it is time to talk about a topic that is near and dear to us, and has been for several years. It isn’t the first time we’ve touched on it, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. 

What is the topic?

We call it “Not Just for Faire.” 

That sounds fun, but what do we mean?

We mean taking our favorite pieces of garb and breaking the “costume barrier” by incorporating them into our every day wardrobes.  This concept is particularly meaningful in the context of capsule collections and Slow Fashion, which is why we are touching on it today. We love our fluffy skirts, our lightweight cotton blouses, our cozy fleece wraps, and more. All of that can easily be worked into your daily wardrobe, with a few key accessories. And viola! Your sultry pirate queen has suddenly become a stylish boho chic socialite. I’ll go over some ideas here, but definitely check out the video on our YouTube Channel too, for some great examples on how to incorporate your garb into your every day style. 

1) Peasant Blouses

Our ladies blouses are always an easy go to for your ‘not just for faire’ looks.  Soft cotton, off the shoulder, loose fitting blouses were a staple of the 60’s hippie era.  They had a resurgence in the early 2000’s when the styles from the 60’s and 70’s circled back around.  And now again they’re gaining traction in mainstream fashion under the vintage and bohemian aesthetics.

Pair your Unicorn Clothing blouses with a chunky leather belt and your favorite jeans or leggings for an easy, breezy, comfortable look.  Or, if you want something a little more fitted, without the belt, our Carmelita blouse with elastic at the waist is just the thing. 

It’s easy to picture the beachy relaxed look of a peasant blouse in the summer. But they make a great cozy layer in the fall too, especially when paired with a chunky scarf. 

2) Rani Dress

Our Rani Dress is so cute it deserves its own category.  This dress can go so many different directions with the right accessories. Pair it with a leather belt and cowboy boots for a Southwest look.  Cavalier boots, some chunky jewelry, and a cardigan make it more urban chic. A skinny patent leather belt, lacy tights, and heels and you’ll give off some excellent witchy gothic vibes.  I could go on, but you get the idea.

3) Belts and Bodices

Our Artemis Belts and Princess or Courtier Bodices work great with your modern collection too.  These pieces are definitely a little more avant garde, but I know every one of you has the edge to pull it off. I believe in you! Pair these structured pieces with an oversized men’s button up shirt or t-shirt for an urban artistic look.  The belts especially are a great way to add structure to any loose fitting modern dress. 

4) Fleece Outerwear

Cozy is always in style.  This winter, consider a stylish cape instead of a cumbersome coat. Fall 2020 Fashion Week showed many top designers showcasing an elegant cape on the runway. Add some oversized sunglasses and you’re ready for the day. 

5) Gauze Coat

Our gauze coat is a loose fitting robe that was designed as a part of our Moroccan Dreams collection. But as a casual oversized jacket it fits right in with edgy urban trends.  Pair it with a camisole and skinny jeans for a blaise boho look. Pair a black one with some flannel and combat boots to tap into the 90’s grunge chic that’s been having a resurgence in recent years. Yep, ‘grunge chic’. I said it. Street style is weird these days. But all I know is these maxi layers are hitting the runway hard right now with floor length, oversized trench coats showing up alongside capes and chunky jackets. This season is a great time to add a gauze coat to your collection of favorites. 

6) Three Tiered Skirts

This is an easy one. Who doesn’t love a flowy cotton skirt on those perfect spring days? Tap into your inner earth child with these tiered skirts. 

7) Harem Pants

Similar to the full length Tiered Skirts, our Harem Pants make an easy relaxed layer for that hippie girl look. Pair with sandals and a camisole in the warmer weather, or a fitted long sleeved shirt with an oversized sweater in the fall. 

8) Avalon Overskirts 

As you can see, almost any of your favorite Unicorn Clothing pieces can be turned into a regular part of your every day wardrobe with the right accessories. It’s all about attitude and creativity! I could go on forever, but not to worry I’ll stop here. I’m sure before too long I’ll find some reason to create even more “Not Just For Faire” outfit ideas. For now though, we’ll wrap up with the Avalon Overskirt.  This asymmetrical handkerchief style skirt is great with leggings, sure, but did you know it can be worn as a top too? Wear the waist over one shoulder and belt the rest to your body for shape and suddenly this simple skirt is a stunning blouse. 

Ok. Ok. I’ll stop. Really. Now it’s your turn! What cute, clever, creative ways have you incorporated your Unicorn Clothing garb into your wardrobe?

Send us photos, videos, and suggestions! We can’t wait to hear from you.

-Erica 

Prefer to listen rather than read? Find our Podcast Mane Street Chronicles on Spotify and enjoy our articles audibly instead!

Style Versus Fashion, Trends, and Capsule Collections

~ Erica ~ 1 Comment

Welcome back to the Mane Street Chronicles! Today we’re going to look at Slow Fashion in context of style, fashion, and trends. As a quick reminder, Slow Fashion is a way to approach clothing choices that is more sustainable for the environment, local economies, and communities. If you’re just tuning in, check out our first article “What is Slow Fashion?” and the follow up “Slow Fashion and Unicorn Clothing” to learn more. 

Slow Fashion is a way to build on your own independent personality and style. It has longevity and is filled with intentional choices. This is compared to fast fashion and the chasing of every latest trend, whether you even like it or not. Trends are shapes and cuts of clothing and accessories that become popular very quickly and fade into outdated obscurity just as quickly. Think cut out shoulders, wide belts, espadrilles, gaucho pants and skinny jeans. Fashion is an unbroken train of trends stacked one on the next backwards in time. It is also very culturally specific. Western fashion is very different from Southeast Asian fashion, for example, and though there is some overlap now with modern global connectivity, their histories and futures are still very different. 

So trends make up fashion. But what about style? What do we mean when we say style and fashion? Aren’t those the same thing? Not even close!

Style is personal and timeless. It is your way of presenting your personality and individuality through the art of dressing yourself.  Style is forever. It prioritizes the things that are important to you. It can be comfortable or well tailored, modesty or edgy, reflect a culture or era you find significant, or even just be about a particular color palette. Some style examples might be “classy” or “witchy” or “hippie” or “street.” You pick and choose the trends that work for you, your personal mission statement, and your body type; and you stick with them for as long as they make you happy. 

Fashion, on the other hand, is all about the present time. It looks at the most popular way of dressing in a certain era, and it is constantly on the move.  Fashion used to move more slowly.  The same trends stuck around for years with minor variations from one season to the next. Think, “Edwardian Era”, “Victorian Era”, “Mod” from the 60’s, or “Flapper” from the ‘20s. As the industrial age and mass production picked up speed, so did the world of fashion. Now, modern fashion is ravenously fast. Trends come and go in a matter of weeks.  If you’d like to explore the speed of fashion through history, tune in soon when we look at Slow Fashion Through the Ages in a future article. 

The speed of modern fast fashion is designed to be overwhelming.  The fashion industry wants the consumer to chase after every new trend, and feel a sense of inadequacy if they can’t keep up. Yuck!

That’s not to say as a slow fashion advocate you can’t ever enjoy a new trend or keep up with current fashions. The trick is to establish a versatile Capsule Collection as a base, and incorporate thoughtfully chosen current fashion pieces in from there. Capsule Collection is not a concept we created. It is a pretty popular term in the world of Slow Fashion used to mean a small, dense collection of your favorite pieces, chosen for their versatility and longevity. It is a few pieces that can be mixed-and-matched interchangeably to create completely different looks, maybe with the addition of a key accessory or two. 

At Unicorn Clothing it is easy to build a Capsule Collection. Many of our pieces are designed to be versatile. Our bodices and belts, for example, are all reversible so you have two fabric options in one garment.  They’re also so adjustable they can remain a useful part of your wardrobe even if your weight or body shape fluctuates frequently.  A couple of blouses, a bodice or two, a coat, and a handful of skirts and you can have an endless variety of outfits.  Check out our Youtube Channel where we have tons of useful videos, including one where we make a Capsule Collection and use the same seven pieces to create nine different outfits, with more possibilities not even explored!

Because all our pieces are separates that work best when layered, our pieces have the added benefit of being a useful part of your modern wardrobe as well, and “Not Just for Faire” as we like to say.  Stay tuned for a future article as we explore just a few of the ways you can incorporate our pieces into your everyday wear. Besides, if you love a thing and have a beautiful story behind why you bought it, there’s no reason it should be packed away and worn only once or twice a year! 

Thanks for reading. See you next time when we explore Slow Fashion in the Renaissance!

Bye-bye now. 

Erica

Prefer to listen rather than read? Find our Podcast Mane Street Chronicles on Spotify and enjoy our articles audibly instead!