Inspiration in Fashion - "In Vita" - Literal Inspiration, Part 1
Being Inspired by the Past and Present
“IN VITA”
One category of inspiration is what I’ll refer to as “in vita,” which translates to, “in life,” or “alive.” This category of inspiration includes clothing and outfits that have already been created and established. When searching for what you might like to wear, why not start with the past and the present? Let’s take an objective look at what’s real, tried, and true. I’ll focus for now on gathering inspiration and getting in touch with resources that are readily available, but in the future, I’ll talk more specifically about how to implement all the inspiration you see.
THE PAST
Taking inspiration from the past has been huge in recent years. It’s common to see people re-creating outfits from before our time, either with decade-inspired fashion, or styling actual vintage clothes that still live on from those eras. To get specific ideas, you can comb through the past chronologically and seek out resources that will show you what people wore in the past. You can start with some classic decades like the 20s, 50s, 70s, or 90s, but there is no need to limit yourself to the 1900s. I have found fantastic inspiration from 31 BCE and prior, in Ancient Greece, with their draped linen cloths and leather sandals. I’ve been loving the 1850s period with its full skirts and lace on sleeve edges. Remember that there’s no need to limit your inspiration to the Western world. Though actually implementing certain aspects of dress from other cultures can be tricky (which I may talk about more in future articles), simply gathering visual inspiration from around the world can help us expand our “eye” and become accustomed to noticing the beauty in a variety of looks. Art from each period can illuminate what people wore, but you can also look at real-life antiques, photos on the internet and in books, and even historical records and literature.
Here are some links where you can find inspiration:
This site features period costume from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. They have paintings, magazines, and even sewing patterns from many different periods.
The Fashion History Timeline is a pilot project started by FIT art history faculty and students that features fashion articles from across time. The “Ancient History” section leaves a bit to be desired, as some pages have been “Coming Soon” since 2018. But for many of the other periods, there are essays that give great overviews of the fashions at the time, with picture examples. They also have an Instagram account @fitfashionhistory
The MET museum has a collection of over 33,000 works. Dive right in! You can sort by object type/material, era, and/or geographic location.
Though this may not be very useful if you don’t sew, this vintage sewing pattern website illuminates different garment construction possibilities, and shows what everyday people may have been wearing in the past.
THE PRESENT
Taking inspiration from the present without involving curated social media content can be challenging, especially if you live somewhere where style is not a main focus. One reason I moved to New York City was to increase this inspiration category’s presence in my life. It’s so easy to walk outside and be inspired, even without purposefully looking. Wherever you live, though, you can still set aside specific “fashion observation time.” The best places to go for this are very populated areas of your city, so you can observe as many people as possible. It also helps to be in places where you know people are probably putting effort into their outfits, like restaurants, bars, clubs, or special events. Malls can be a great place, too, since people who are browsing clothes are more likely to put care into their outfits. You can also integrate this into your life seamlessly by observing in settings you’re already in, like work, school, at family events, or out with friends. Another fun option is observation on vacation, especially if you’re vacationing in a place that is completely opposite (trend-wise, weather-wise, and/or culturally) to where you currently live.
Take an objective look at what people have decided to put on. There’s no need to judge harshly in your head or even decide whether you like something or not. You can make mental or physical notes, like “I’m seeing more light wash jeans, as opposed to darker ones,” or “People seem to be layering and stacking on lots of simple gold jewelry.” This will give you a mental bank of the average looks people are wearing, so you can decide whether or not you’d like to incorporate them into your own style. Maybe you live in a place where down jackets and Doc Martens are the norm, then you see a woman that stands out in a fur coat and stiletto heels (maybe you compliment her, befriend her, inspire each other, and live happily ever after…). Or you see person after person with the “small crop top, wide-leg pants” combination on, and immediately feel the wish to do the same.
If you do this enough throughout the year, you’ll see variations based on weather, current events, trends, demographics, and more. Beyond just aesthetic inspiration, you can gain practical inspiration from this, as well. Since my recent move from mild-weathered, car-based California to New York City where everyone is walking around and experiencing the elements, I have spent time observing what kinds of outerwear people are wearing (LOTS of black leather jackets), or what shoes they’re walking around in (a surprising amount of high heels). This sounds a bit silly, but I never noticed just how many people wore sunglasses until I set aside this purposeful observation time. Could excessive sun exposure be worsening my eyesight? Hmmm.
If you’d like to expand beyond what’s available locally, you can branch out to places like social media, where people often post their “Outfit of the Day.” But when we start talking about social media, we’re starting to get into more curated media, which is not as naturalistic as the organic inspiration we find in our day to day lives. I’ll talk more about semi-curated and fully curated media, including sources like Pinterest, Instagram, and fashion blogs in a future article.