“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

Never Stop Dreaming

Where would I go next? 

I am heading west…. I feel a major urge to discover California.

 

To me, California resembles the true (American) dream. Home to San Francisco, epicenter of the hippie revolution and summer of love. Residence of many magnificent creators, like Hedi Slimane (for Saint Laurent) and inspiring independent clothing brands. Heaven of many unforgettable musicians.

Reading On the road * it became clear that for the dreamers, California has always been a final destination. Once for the American pioneers and their journey full of hope to find freedom. Utopia. Arriving desolated in LA, gave it its hopeful yet sad image. Fun and entertainment became a way of letting that American Dream come alive.

California’s most famous resident, Mickey Mouse, once thought us ‘Never Stop Dreaming’. After decades of creating a wonderful make believe world LA found back it’s pure magic. It’s a clash of urbanity vs wilderness. A melting pot of the hopeful, the dreamers, the adventurists, the rebels, the wild & free at heart.

Los Angeles is the end and beginning on the road trough america. Free from influences, pressures and commodities of being in the traditional (fashion) world. Dreams are turned into reality.

* On The Road by Jack Kerouac. A novel described by the writer as ‘a novel whose background is the recurrence of the pioneering instinct in American life and it’s expression in the migration of the present generation’. Published in 1957, covers late ‘40s early ‘50s.

 

A Travellers Mind // The World As Our Moodboard

The unknown became our world when Columbus couldn’t resist his hunger to discover. The world became ours when we started traveling. Today, the world is (treated as) common good, we know it all, we can see it all.

So here’s a question to the wanderlust, where will you go next? & why?

In a world, as small as ours, we can take inspiration from any kind of culture. We are free in so many ways. Yet, we often copy pretty images we see on blogs & magazines instead of creating a style based on what we truly like. So here’s an idea for those with wanderlust, take inspiration from your trips around the world and create a personal style.

Bringing it back to fashion… Other cultures influenced fashion ever since people started traveling around. It wasn’t until 1903 when it found it’s way to the mass trough fashion designer Paul Poiret, a young member of the early 20th century Avant-Garde who freed women from their binding corsets. Maybe he wasn’t the first to show ethnic influences in his expensive designs, but his instinct for marketing and branding was unmatched by any previous designer. He designed flamboyant window displays and threw legendary ‘Great Gatsby Like’ parties to draw attention to his work. Using themes like “The Thousand and Second Night” (based on The Arabian Nights). He required his over 300 guests to dress in Oriental costuming. Improperly dressed guests were requested to either outfit themselves in some of Poiret’s ‘Persian’ outfits or to leave.* Paul Poiret awoke a desire for other cultures in a fashionable way.

Image of Paul Poiret “The Thousand and Second Night”

In the 70s, the world got a little smaller, since air travel became more affordable. Designers played with global references again, Kenzo with his native Japan and Yves Saint Laurent with Africa and China. Souvenirs from the hippie trains worked themselves into women’s wardrobes, like shaggy Afghan coats, Indian jewelry and South American ponchos. We were free to choose from a myriad styles.

 Image of Yves Saint Laurent Africa inspired collection

Today, with the world in reach and the fact that we are always ‘connected’, the world became a ‘real life never ending inspiration board’. We can buy everything. We learned how to create pretty looks by copying our favorite bloggers. It does makes me happier to live in a more visual attractive world. But I often wonder ‘why did it become so normal to just follow fashion’? Why do we often only get inspired through others? What happened to following our instincts and guts?

A lot of fashion designers already take inspiration from their trips around the world, fashion chains copy catwalk and you, who do you copy or what’s your inspiration?

* credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Poiret