Fashion versus style

by Vildana Kurtovic

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."

-Coco Chanel

I cannot recall how many times I've gone to bed, only to lie there conjuring up my outfit the next morning. Will it be the black pumps or silk ballet flats? The fur-trimmed coat or my Chanel-replica sweater? And then it hits me: I will be going to class in the morning, trotting through the snow to get to my 8 a.m. English course on the civil rights movement.

I get to class and as were watching documentaries from the ‘60s, fashion is yet again on my impressionable mind. They dressed classy back in the ‘60s. I wish that was more the case nowadays.

Throughout the day, my mind wanders a couple of more times, this time while I sit on the bus, critiquing my fellow peers fashion faux pas that afternoon. I cringe at the sight of what is a trend now entirely overdone—Ugg boots.

I get back to the place I call home at college—a dorm room not even the size of my closet back in Detroit. I sit down and check my email, my exam scores and the fashion bible–“Vogue”—to help me make sense of the day.

Now, you seem to get an idea about me.

Maybe the wrong one, so let me clarify.

I don't plan my day around critiques of Midwestern college students—I've already come to the realization I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. I long for the day I move to the Big Apple.

I also don't plan to stay awake deliberating my outfit choices for the following day—that also merely just happens.

I concentrate in class, write down every single word spoken by the documentary narrator’s mouth, but when an idea presents itself right in front of my dreary half-asleep eyes, I can't help but become inspired.

My life has been far from glamorous, unless you consider being a refugee in Germany and immigrant in the United States because of the war in Bosnia an enchanting life. I have made it through hard times. I am still realizing who I am through this whole college deal, while my parents, to this day, work hard for me to be able to sit here and come to that realization.

I have never been known for dressing in the latest designer threads, but I was still Miss Vogue of my senior class in high school.  I don’t particularly follow mainstream trends found in all corners of the mall. I've found my refuge in high fashion designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Dior. The drive and the creativity impelled by the beauty of this multi-billion dollar industry proves to me that you don’t have to be a heiress to dress fabulously. 

As cliché as it may sound, I truly believe that style is something that can last an eternity, while fashion fades.  So, while I am sitting here, given this opportunity to advance my education, surrounded by intellectuals and driven people of all sorts, I have come to one clear realization. 

The multi-billion industry is made up all sorts of people, but what sets Karl Lagerfeld and so many other wonderful designers apart is the passion for this form of art.  A passion so inspirational that I am not only inspired to wear the designs, but to immerse myself into this industry. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”   The fashion industry is all about taking new directions and doing something new.  I cannot help but relate this quote to my life’s direction.  You may find me among a minority of Bosnians in the fashion industry, but isn’t that what this industry is all about?   

I think so, and I can’t wait to follow my self-guided path.