Monday, September 20, 2010

Tavi Gevinson and Childhood Nostalgia

I will admit that I had absolute no idea who Tavi Gevinson was before the most recent New York Fashion Week. I'm sure that most of you know who she is but, for the uninitiated, Tavi is the 14 year old girl behind the fashion blog The Style Rookie. She was a mere 11 years old (!) when she first started posting photos of herself wearing remixed vintage and writing quite eloquently about everything from couture to pop culture. Since then, she has become quite influential in the fashion industry and is a muse for couture labels like Rodarte and Commes des Garcons. At the recent NY Fashion Week, she had a coveted front row seat at many of the most anticipated runway shows, and her presence in the fashion world has been met with mixed feelings from many. I, for one, think she's pretty darn cool and here's a simple visual equation I made that I think sums up her current personal style:



If anything, Tavi and her obsession with fashion makes me kind of nostalgic for the time when I was 12 years old. Back then, the things I liked to do most was read Sassy magazine (a big inspiration for Tavi now), watch Brady Bunch re-runs and read Betty and Veronica double digest comic books. Why, you ask? I didn't realize it then, but it was for the clothing.



I know that the early 1970s wardrobe of the Brady family is universally reviled, but I was absolutely obsessed with it. The Betty and Veronica double digest comics I used to read in the 1990s were actually just compilations of Archie comics from the 1960s and 1970s and, well, Betty and Veronica have always "worn" the most fashionable clothing. I remember spending hours in my bedroom drawing pictures of women wearing 1960s and 1970s style clothing, much of it copied directly from what Betty and Veronica were wearing. How I wish I had kept those drawings! There must have been hundreds of them. And why my interest in fashion and sewing lay dormant until I reached my early twenties....I guess I'll never know!

And back to Tavi....if this video of her dancing to Abba's song "S.O.S." doesn't make you nostalgic for when you were 12 years old, then nothing will!


xoxo


2 comments:

  1. I remember reading the Archie comics first time around ;) and asking my Mother to buy me Betty's clothes! I'm really unsure about Tavi... JMO but I don't see a style rather clothes that seem to have been picked up off the floor and thrown on because her Mum told her to clean her room. :/

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  2. Hi there - I discovered your blog while googling images of early 1970's fashions. I'm so glad I did because there's lots of great stuff from my favourite fashion era (late 60's - early 70's).

    Anyways, as a fellow Betty & Veronica fashion fan, I thought you'd be interested in this very similar post I wrote a few months ago:

    http://elegantlybasted.blogspot.com/2010/08/silver-age-betty-veronica-reader.html

    And a kind reader also pointed me out to Dan Decarlo's website, where more B&V fashions could be found. Enjoy!

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