Grandma Gets Grungy. Well PLAID, Ladies!

What the…? PLAID & trendy in the same sentence? For the love of God! Never has one trend, ever, got me so confused on where I stand, as this tartan thing. Not even those 90s I’m still hung up about, solved it for me. The 80s, when my mom had tones of plaid skirts and jackets, still left me tartan insensitive. My schoolgirl days, when we used to wear a plaid skirt uniform? Seriously? So you see, without a plaid-loving history behind, and a present grandma association with the trend, no wonder I’m a bit skeptical on this one.

Truth is, before this post I hated the tartan look, as for me it just screamed granny style, or blanket skirts & jackets on the loose (read mental hospital inmates trying to look posh over scrabble). Buuut, the more I put my tartan demons to sleep and chose to approach this trend with an open mind… the more I can see its appeal. Basically tartan is the most complex fabric and pattern that can have you looking like an obedient English boarding school girl turned rebel punk in the weekends. Or it can have you looking like a polished professional woman, who loves a traditional fabric and knows good style. Or… all the above, hence its eclectic versatile trait. Apparently PLAID or tartan  is a massive trend in 2013 – 2014 Autumn & Winter. OK, how do we know that? If the writing on the wall streets, or the shops throwing checkered prints at us (here, why don’t y’all look like clowns stuck in the 70s?) are not enough of a signal, well that only means 2 things: 1. we’re either living on the moon oblivious of Earth’s evolving fashions, or 2. We just couldn’t care less about what fashion has to offer. Bitch please! Since the latter is NEVER a case, let’s assume we just landed from the moon. On our quest to look the sharpest and trendiest we take a few hints from the 2 aforementioned places, and designers collections for the cold season. But always with our own spin on it, cause baby, fashion is nothing without style. ;) 

From Moschino to Vivienne Westwood most designers are giving us a hall pass at wearing PLAID. And to my relief and surprise it’s less grandma and more grungy. What they basically did was make massive usage of tartan’s traditional values/symbols and associate them with opposite looks. So we have a 30 year old sophisticated woman channeling a bit of schoolgirl, a bit of granny, and a bit of her mom’s 80s style. With that 2013’s edge to it all. And when you mix this plaid thing with a bit of black, leather and some opulent luxurious jewelry, what you get is a beautiful fashion chaos. On how to wear this trend a lot can be said and done. Preppy, grungy, punk, sophisticated, simple, vintage – you can channel whoever you like. Not to mention, you can take on the Mismatched Plaid challenge as well. Drape yourselves in tartan ladies and let’s see who’s gonna pull it off? Drumrolls please. Fuck jackets and skirts, just give me a blanket to wear to work today! So, plaid wise, what can we wear? Besides blankets.

• skirts (pencil, A-line, pleated, long, short)
• jackets (long, short, fitted, oversized, cropped, coats)
• sweaters/blouses/shirts (very 70s & 80s style)
• trousers (large, bell-shaped, skinny. Think 90s grunge – Gwen Stefani, or punk looks)
• shoes, socks, scarves, hats

Street styles to get us in the plaid mood… While I’m still not sold on this look, I can see what the hype is about: infinite style possibilities. It’s a trend made for those of us who can’t stick to one style if it kills them (gulp), so tartan should cure us of this eclectic unable-to-make-up-our-mind thing. OK, it’s classic with a grunge & punk twist. It’s traditional reinvented. It’s my grandma on the cover of Vogue, that’s what it is.

Or maybe the crappy weather’s to blame for my crappy un-plaid mood, cause nobody looked granny up there.