High fashion or highly ridiculous?

THERE’S a fine line between fashionable and frightening - one so thin it can usually only be walked by size zero, 6 ft 2 models. But crazy trends are seeping into daily wear, it would appear.

The question that plagues me is just how us lowly civilians are supposed to adapt these looks for day-to-day wear?

Glossy fashion magazines have always proudly informed us of the latest bizarre fads, but we knew fashion madness was reserved strictly for the catwalk or Vogue editorials. That was until one girl and a dress made of meat changed everything. I give you Gaga.

Lady Gaga took the outlandish fashion of the catwalk and brought it to the red carpet. In fact, she brought it to a trip to the corner shop to buy a pint of milk. This is a woman who is never seen slouching around in jeans and a baggy sweatshirt and is rumoured not to own a pair of flat shoes.

According to the queen of kooky herself, she presents herself as living art; her style involves more than picking nice clothes, it’s a personal statement. Lobster hat? She’s worn it. Bubble frock? Old news. Dress made from Kermit the Frog toys? Been there, done that, got the very strange t-shirt.

Not only that, but she’s inspired a whole army of fans to follow in her footsteps, with celebs like Jessie J, Paloma Faith and Roisin Murphy now all stepping out in their wackiest clothes at every available opportunity.

Fashion loves the avant-garde. No surprises there - just look at Viktor & Rolf and their unforgettable ‘bed-head’ look from fall 2005. But the question that plagues me is just how us lowly civilians are supposed to adapt these looks for day-to-day wear?

Even some of the more tame current trends such as midi skirts, androgynous suits and neon eye make-up have ‘normal’ folk like me baffled – yes, they look fabulous in magazine spreads, but could I really wear any of these things down the local without feeling like a total idiot?

Braving ridicule and mockery, I decided to test two of this season’s biggest looks out around Liverpool. And let’s just say the reactions were mixed….

Trend one: Colour blocking at the bus stop

Mixing and matching bright colours is the newest hot look in fashion, with designers from Prada to Christopher Kane proudly displaying headache-inducing colour clashes. However, catching the 86 bus didn’t appear to be the best place to work the trend, as you can probably tell from the strange looks I attracted.

General opinion? ‘Definitely best left to the models, love’…

Trend two: Tuxedos in ASDA

Female androgyny couldn’t be bigger – ever since Diane Keaton stepped out in her infamous man’s suit in ‘Annie Hall’, gender-confused style has been influencing fashionistas like Fearne Cotton and Rihanna. Oddly enough, even though I could not have felt more ridiculous, the people of ASDA seemed to love the look, with many of them telling me I looked ‘fantastic’. Even the manliest of men appeared to dig my crazy style, saying the only thing stopping him from chatting me up was that I looked as if I’d come fresh from work. Hmmm.

Summary

It seems that the key to pulling off these looks lies in confidence – it’s hard to find a star who oozes self-assurance more than our Gaga. Trends such as these attract attention, both positive and negative, and I must admit, there’s a guilty pleasure in being so noticeable.

Nevertheless, call me boring, but I think I’ll be sticking to my shopping trip uniform of jeans and converse until further notice.