Fashionable Eyes

Sometimes, as a student, it seems there simply isn’t enough good taste to go around. Snail backpacks, sneakers, even the odd hiker sandal seems to creep into the lecture theatre, much to grimace of the surrounding onlookers.

Glassons Cardigan: Saving almost every NZ woman from bare-armed shame

But on the converse, we also seem quite bereft of anything nice that isn’t Karen Walker or something similarly priced. Why, oh why, do whiny English people get to have beauties like TopShop and other “High Street” brands that are fashionable, reasonably-priced and sometimes quite lovely, when our streets would appreciate just a bit of their lovin’ that mych more? We’re stuck with bad-quality Lippy, every-girl-has-their-cardigan Glassons, and some plain bad disasters that have their origin in surf shops.

Op-shops seemed the only salvation for some of us. However, the other day I was pleasantly surprised. Alerted to a find on Facebook (studied closely while the time for studying gently whittles away), I found a website blog that, I felt, inspired my fashion to something better. Named Four Eyes, this not quite-so-geeky fashion statement gave me a glimpse of a future where a bit of fabulosity just didn’t seem that far away.

Four-Eyes is a fashion blog that has four co-founders: Alex, Mino, Danny and Chin. They hail from all walks of life; some are involved in fashion, some are not. What is immediately apparent is that none of them need fashion-blinkers: the photos posted are of fashionable youngsters that, to be honest, you had lost hope of seeing in our tack-bitten streets. The concept: photographing people on the street with an impeccable sense of style. The result: the sense that, as Joan Rivers would say, we don’t have to be an impoverished fash-ho any longer: the salvation is in the imitation.

 

The thing I love the most about this blog is the way it heralds that ‘Kiwi can-do’, innovative attitude. Yes, the pieces they photograph (and the photography skills – not too bad boys, I must say) are divine, but mostly, it is the way the underground fashionistas that they photograph style themselves. It reminds me of a rule that sometimes we forget as brand-slaves: that it is not so much what you wear, as how you wear it. The fashion critics’ eyes light up at a particular teal-green pant combo that, because New Zealand is not always that fashionable, is not brand-tailored: the owner has tailored them themselves, with a little pin on the side. Just that little bit of the inspirational in what, thinking of the usual non-eye-candy on the street, you would expect to be mundane.

As a last nostalgic note, the blog reminds me of the Kiwi version of “Nylon Street”, the fashion photo album which so many carry around as a bible (although sadly, mine has carried the burden of bookshelf dust for a little too long). I’m so glad that somebody has made a local, free version of it, just like we did of America’s Next Top Model OMG, OMG (high-pitched whiny voice included). But seriously. I am. Your next inspiration lies within reach, and I don’t mean the reach of those purse strings. Enjoy.