In the last newsletter, I opened a subject of genuine style, so today, I want to expand on that. Not by giving you a definition since I don’t think there is a clear one. But by telling you four short stories about people and their clothes. Here they are.
Mom’s denim boots
My mom was a teenager in the 80s. She lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Zagreb’s Gajnice neighborhood where she and her sister slept in the living room. She was into David Bowie, blowouts, and denim - especially denim boots. And the fact she couldn’t afford them didn’t stop her from getting a pair. Kids still learned how to sew in school back then, so she simply took a pair of scissors, cut up some old jeans, and sewn them to her shoes. “You should’ve seen me at school the other day”, she tells me. “I was showing off so hard, it was embarrassing. But I was proud of myself AND I had the coolest outfit in class.”
Deni, the delivery guy
Some years ago I went to a sale event by a Croatian designer Silvio Vujičić. As I entered the shop, a guy named Deni greeted me. Vetements’ DHL collection had just come out, and he was dressed head to toe in DHL merch which confused me big time. He couldn’t have gotten the whole look that fast. So I actually thought he was the delivery guy. “No, no, this is my outfit”, he reassured me. I cringed inside. How could I have asked him if he was the delivery guy when he was obviously a fashion enthusiast who found a way to wear this look without actually going to Paris and buying Vetements? So the other day I asked him to tell me the real story behind that look and the truth is I was right. Well, not about him being the delivery guy, but about it not being an actual Vetements look. “That’s such a funny story”, he laughs. “I worked with Silvio back then, yes. We worked with DHL a lot so we got a bunch of merch from them. And that was enough to create the whole look.”
Iva and her grandpa’s trench
Iva Marušić is a model and journalist who writes a blog on very classic pieces that last a lifetime. She also wears them really well herself. One such piece is her grandpa’s trench coat. Almost 50 years old, the trench still looks like it’s brand new, and Iva wears it daily. And not just that, she managed to write a thousand words about it on her blog. A thousand words about family heritage squeezed into one trench coat. If that isn’t stylish I don’t know what is.
How Emilia made The Row her own
In early 2021 The Cut’s fashion writer Emilia Petrarca fell in love with The Row. She was mesmerised by their winter collection. Such simple clothes made so well and styled in such chic ways. Instead of falling into despair because The Row is one of the most expensive brands out there and she simply cannot afford it, Emilia went home and opened her closet. She managed to put together a couple of looks that looked exactly like the ones she saw at The Row without spending a single penny. Isn’t that what genuine style is all about?