A Fashionist Manqué (part one)

Let's clarify it once and for good. I am NOT a brand obsessed or a fashion victim AT ALL, but I certainly AM a style aficionado and a street fashion adorer. I have always loved dressing my Barbie up and making clothes for her with everything I could find at my disposal. At the age of 13 I used to create fashion collections by designing them on paper and adding accurate commentaries for each style. Browsing fashion magazines and people watching are still my most relaxing and passive hobbies. In this sense, I feel a bit, if not a fashion designer manqué, a fashionist manqué. I grew up within an Italian society where IMAGE (good clothes, nicely combed hair) is important and la BELLA FIGURA (good manners, well presence) is vital, but I also grew up in a very simple and cautious family who couldn't, and can't, comprehend consumerism, exhibitionism and frivolousness. So, I have always felt a bit guilty of talking about something which is perceived as not *serious* enough. But since it is part of what I am and it shouldn't be a shame cultivating a style which is our most direct form of communication and expression, I have decided to start talking a bit more about my fashion tastes. My tastes are a bit exhibitionist (I mean, if a pair of glasses have to sit on your nose, they have to be visible) but never excessive; I spend money for my basic items of my wardrobe, but without overspending. I mean, I have never spent £400 for a pair of Louboutin shoes or for a Balenciaga bag, and I am honestly not interested in it, simply because I perceive them as targeted to another market which is not mine. As simple as that. Furthermore, my style is also very individual: I don't like many things: I don't like frou frou frocks, the majority of trousers' cuts and I am ueber-fussy when down to shoes. So what do I like? In order to budget my expenses (because unfortunately my creativity is limited by my financial restraints), every season I think of a liaison style I want for my self, suiting my mood, figure and, above all, my personality (there is no way I could wear a pair of heels if I can't feel confident in them. I'd rather change the outfit), then I list some basic *more expensive* items I wish and match them with *cheaper* pieces (usually tops and accessories). In my next post I will be more visual and concrete about what it is/would like to be in my wardrobe.