My fantastical journey
Illustration by Victoria Moore
While vintage clothes will always hold a special place in my heart, modern styles can be just as special when worn the right way. Anyone who's ever taken a trip to the mall, or ridden the bus or subway, has seen examples of contemporary modes worn without regard for personal elan or decorum-leggings worn as pants and not layering items, pajamas and house shoes leaving the house without permission on unsuspecting owners, and short shorts replacing panties then paired with midriff tops to reveal flesh better well covered. To witness this type of "fashion" parade, on a daily basis, might make one become disheartened and push their own appearance to the back burner.
In my job as a fashion/feature writer I've often been confronted with the dilemma of how to wear today's trends with the class and elegance of yesteryear, but still remain comfortable. Due to the difficulty in finding reliable style icons who consistently wear things as beautifully as Audrey Hepburn or Cary Grant, the lack of sales help unless you go to the higher end stores, and the sky rocketing cost of clothing, I'm finding it harder to locate the styles I need to stay au courant without ending up in debt.
My most recent clothing journey involved finding a pair of reasonably priced "luxe track pants with stripes down each side in contrasting colors". I first fell in love with them when I saw them in a fashion layout in Vogue last year, then I saw them again on German fashion editor Veronika Heilbrunner in the Winter Escape 2016 issue of Porter magazine. Louche, subtle and edgy they spoke to me, and I knew I had to have them, but not at the prices featured in Porter.
Luxe track pants and red, white and blue boho dress
I went online and looked them up on amazon.com, zara.com, target.com, and other stores like H&M, T.J. Maxx, Macy's and Forever 21.The closest I came to finding them was a pair of Mossimo's for around $20 at the Southgate Target store. Unfazed I knew I was going to be at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza the next day when I took my mother to see Rogue One for her birthday at the Rave movie theater. They have a Forever 21 in the mall, so after making two trips, one before the movie started and one after it ended, I found a pair in the p.j./lounge wear section for $15.90!
Jubilant, and vindicated once again despite our challenging fashion scene, I put them with my other Christmas gifts, and relaxed with a cup of tea and the current book I'm reading, Michael Connelly's The Crossing. With 2017 coming up, and a whole new year of things to do, after my success with finding these pants I can add more adventures to my calendar knowing they'll yield good finds.