Old Rules vs. New Trends: Disregarding Irrelevant Rules And Critiquing Trashy Trends

As craze connoisseurs with fresh insight into clothing’s newest wrinkle, Summer 2011 has called us to re-evaluate what’s fashionably in vogue. Society’s standards of style have evolved over the decades and under the scrutiny of the summer sun, we’re here to declare what age-old rules have lost their longevity, and what recently accepted trends we need to trash. While we no longer need Labor Day as our license to stop wearing white, we’ve replaced that fashion formula with unsophisticated sins like bearing our bottoms in shorts or bedazzling our jeans with gems. Now’s a great a time as any to examine what irrelevant fashion no-no’s we’ve nixed, and what recently added, yet appalling pages we must immediately tear out of of modish handbooks.

Age-old rules we’ve brushed aside

1. Don’t mix jewelry metals

While pairing gold and silver was formerly a punishable offense under fashion law, mixing metals is now a-okay in the newly flexible jewelry game. Pair a gold watch with silver rings if you’re so daring, or ease into the new practice by picking up a single piece that incorporates both silver and gold, like a mixed metal necklace.

2. Don’t mix clothing patterns

While combining different prints was perceived as a hot mess in the past, we now see the couture creativity in it. Feel free to put a large graphic stripe with a small floral print, or some leopard-spotted shoes. In 2011, what used to be a major indiscretion will make you look artsy, not disheveled.

3. Don’t mix dark colors (black/navy or black/brown)

This contemporary color clash is widely accepted and no longer condemned; throw on your sharp black boots with an espresso chocolate legging in lieu of a matching black leg, and enjoy a chic winter look.

4. Don’t pair items appropriate for different seasons

When it comes to falling into seasonal mismatch or climate clash, we’re giving you the thumbs up. Rocking a feminine floral dress with colder-weather combat boots, some cute cropped shorts with stockings in the winter, or open toe shoes with socks are the bold statements that’ll make you look like you’ve come right off the runway.

5. No red lipstick or black eyeliner during the day

Years ago, certain facial colors were only appropriate after sun down. With divas like Katy Perry and Dita Von Teese on the map however, line your eyes in charcoal colors and stain your lips in red, regardless of the time of day to perfect pin-up chic.

6. Always match bag, belt, and shoes

While wearing pumps that matched neither your belt nor your purse would have been a consistent miss decades ago, it’s now possible to make it a hit. Take the safe route and accessorize with multi-colored pieces that have striking similarities (like shoes, a purse, and a belt within the brown color family), or conjure up your inner glam Gaga and go for periwinkle pumps with a kelly green bag and electric blue belt.

7. Don’t wear white after Labor Day

The patriotic interval of time which would normally permit us to wear white is now part of our fashion past. We can honor Memorial and Labor Day while wearing crisp white as part of cute and nautical yachting get-ups, both outside and inside of this holiday time gap.

8. Don’t wear denim on denim

While mixing fabric used to be wrong, wearing uniform fibers is all the rage these days. Pair your biker jacket with jeans, denim vest with ripped jeans shorts, or lightweight jean shirt with a pair or low-rise pants. Dig deep to your core and pull out your double denim.

9. Don’t defy gender norms

Dainty watches and close-fitting pants are no longer the only acceptable assets in a woman’s wardrobe. The new “boyfriend’ genre of women’s wear blurs the lines that divided fashion according to gender. Throw on a clunky boyfriend watch to make a bold statement on your wrist, or slip into some baggier boyfriend jeans for a relaxed yet fashion-forward appeal. Large and loosely hanging sweaters are a comfy and grungy addition to your winter wardrobe as well.

10. No suede or leather during summer

Animal-inspired accessories have shed their seasonal limitations. Wear a creamy, light-brown leather bag or a pair of soft suede sandals on the sidewalk and look totally seasonally appropriate.

Trends we need to trash

1. Sunglasses inside/at night

If you’re not wearing them to shield delicate corneas from unbearable rays, ditch the shades. While sunglasses are a fashion tool in addition to their functional purpose, wearing them is silly when there’s no sun to dodge in a restaurant, during nightlife, or even in school hallways.

2.Exposing secrets that lie below the waist and above the thigh

The urban ‘sagging’ trend is far from faddish for baggy pantsed boys and similarly, excessively low-waisted jeans hardly flatter aspiring fashionistas. You’re the only one who should see what’s below the belt; it’s not your clothing’s job to convey these images to others. Excessively short hemlines (skirts or shorts) are also feminine faux paus, as it is best to keep your backside blanketed in tasteful bottoms.

3. Exposed underwear/undergarments

Whether your bra strap has escaped the side of your pretty lace tank top, your shape-forming spanx have transcended the hem of your dress, or your satin shirt is simply transparent, granting the public visual access to your undergarments is gross. As their title emphasizes, undergarments should remain underneath your ensemble.

4. Jazzed up jeans and shirts

Leave the bedazzled garb to Snooki. The Ed Hardy era brought patterned-pocketed jeans, rhinestone-smothered shirts and sweatshirts covered in neon splatter paint to mainstream America when it should have remained at the Jersey Shore.

5. Holes in clothes (that weren’t purposed by the designer)

While tattered jeans and trendily torn leggings rock the runways, the hole in the armpit of your favorite t-shirt was not artfully intended by its creator. Ditch the shredded shirt that’s lost its longevity and explore a neater, more refined expression.

6. Never-ending ear buds

If you dare step foot on a college campus and see the thousands of earbud-clad kids, it will become quickly apparent that America’s youth is either ultra-musically inclined, or addicted to accessorizing their ears. Worsened by the various popular brands of gigantic retro-looking headphones, some youngsters will wear the head-encompassing personal speaker systems without even connecting them to their iPods; rather…they’ll color coordinate the devices with their outfits and wear them around their necks. And we can’t forget blue-tooth obsessed business execs who remain attatched to their earpiece long after the conference call has ended. Please, undress your ears before we come an antisocial and absurdly dressed America.

7. Leggings as pants

The minute you slip into a piece of stretch fabric and strut as if you’re sporting a polished pair of pants, you’re hardly dressed to kill. While not every woman wants to wear tapered dress pants on a daily basis, and while there is room for extreme elasticity in fashion according to taste, there is a fine line between thin threads meant to simply cover the leg, and pants.

8. Lady Gaga leotards

Slapping on a cut of spandex isn’t the best fashion feat unless you’re an avante-garde icon who thrives off defying the directions. Unless you’re a gymnast, a ballerina, or you frequent the Red Carpet in costume like Gaga and RiRi, normal people like us should avoid unitards and single slabs of spandex in favor of multi-part attire.

9. Comfortable but Uggly shoes

With their self-explanatory title, Uggs speak for themselves and Crocs in pinpointing their deplorable ugliness. Sometimes in fashion, ‘cute’ trumps ‘comfortable’, and often it’s our call to bear the blisters in order to have fashionable feet.

10. Clumpy mascara

The lumpy look that comes from wearing masses of mascara is no longer excusable. It might be time to replace the year-old tube with some fresh cosmetics, or maybe it means leaning in a little closer to the mirror and ditching your heavy-handedness as you set out to define your luscious lashes.

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