Author: Ben Tuthill
Fashion is all about rules. There are two types of people who can break those rules: celebrities and young people (sorry artists; no one likes you). Last I checked, most students aren’t bound for fame and are quickly running out of youth, so if anyone is intent on shattering fashion norms, they’d better get it done quick. Luckily, we’re living in a golden age of insane celebrity style right now, so those looking for inspiration would do well to turn to any one of the dozens of famous people out there who have mastered the art of breaking the rules. I’ve assembled a list of the six coolest people in the world here and provided advice on how to steal their look. Read on and gain the necessary tools to fight off style-malaise in seconds:
6. Lana Del Rey – Lana Del Rey may be the most offensively anti-progressive female singer out there, but she completely reinvented the floral crown and forever changed the way an entire generation looks at ironic thrift-shop clothing. Is that Ferrari jacket a joke or a genuine appreciation of car culture? Are those high-waisted jean shorts a silly nod to retro fashion absurdity or a problematic yearning for 1970s sexual objectification? Paired with her signature pout and her worrisomely serious lyrics, no one can say for sure.
GET THE LOOK – Wear the same ironic outfit you always wear, but take it seriously and make everyone else feel uncomfortable because of it. Also, have naturally giant lips.
5. Iceage – These Danish teenagers took the punk world by storm with their abrasive sound and fondness for fascist imagery, but what really defines them is their onstage look. Singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt looks like a Scandinavian schoolboy with pretty hair, trim button ups and grey slacks, but he cancels it out by beating up his fans, screaming his lungs out about nihilist philosophy and never once cracking a smile.
GET THE LOOK – Borrow your rich friend’s private high school uniform. Tie a sweater around your shoulders. Kill four puppies.
4. Ulyana Sergeenko – Part of the so-called “Russian mafia,” Sergeenko is one of the most promising young couture designers out there, and her collections are bested only by her own personal style. While most of the world is turning against traditional luxury and ostentation, Sergeenko isn’t afraid to go out in floor-length ball gowns accessorized with horn-rimmed glasses and gold-plated headbands. She’s 100 percent anachronistic, 100 percent wealthier than you and 100 percent proud of it.
GET THE LOOK – Marry into an old-money European family. Inherit their clothes.
3. This old guy I saw at Huaraches Azteca once – I guess this isn’t a celebrity, but whatever. I guess I’ll have to amend my initial statement, too: old people can break fashion rules, too. I recently saw an elderly man at my favorite Mexican place on York Blvd. wearing a striped short-sleeve button-up with a floral-patterned Supreme snap-back. It was like he stole Odd Future’s entire look with no intent of ever giving it back, and he wasn’t even trying.
GET THE LOOK – Buy an of-the-moment piece of highly coveted streetwear. Forget about it. Wait 60 years. Find it in the back of your closet one day and put it on because you have nothing better to wear.
2. Claire Boucher – How many electro-pop singers are out there in mismatched thrift store outfits, over-sized headphones and badly dyed hair? Maybe not enough, because Claire Boucher (better known by her recording name Grimes) makes it work so incredibly well. Boucher’s talent, both musically and stylistically, is in her ability to keep things grounded and under control. She starts with a flattering silhouette and builds from there: you may notice the skull gloves, or the over-sized gold-sequined hoodie, or the grubby purple braids, but underneath it all is a genuinely well-cut scoop-neck dress that keeps everything in graceful perspective.
GET THE LOOK – Start with your favorite respectable outfit (a flattering LBD; a nice button-down with khakis). Do something ridiculous with your hair, add face paint and accessorize into oblivion.
1. A$AP Rocky – “That pretty [young man]” has gotten plenty of appreciation from this column in the past few months, and for good reason: he’s out-dressing 90 percent of the Paris fashion week crowd right now. Rocky may not be the first rapper to brag about designers, but I’m pretty sure he’s the first to name-drop Raf Simons and Rick Owens in the same couplet. He’s also not the first man to successfully pull off a skirt, but where most skirt-wearing men look like high-fashion plates, Rocky looks like a street-ready natural. He keeps himself from going overboard by rooting his look in the Harlem-based styles he grew up with: gold teeth, snap backs, printed hoodies, French braids. He once claimed in an interview that he used to get in fights for the way he dressed; that makes him a soldier for fashion. Is that a nobler cause than that of your average blatantly materialistic rapper? Absolutely not, but he looks so much cooler than everybody else on the planet right now that you’ve got to just give it to him.
GET THE LOOK – Actually, don’t bother. I’ve been trying to grow over-the-ear French braids like his all semester and all I’ve gotten is little curls that make people think I’m converting to Orthodox Judaism. Anyone cool enough to pull off the A$AP Mob look has no reason to be reading this column anyway.
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