Fashionably Late

We have all sat at home, biding our time, in order to arrive at an event fashionably late, instinctively knowing that timing is sometimes everything. But unfortunately for some, there are no invitations for a new fashion explaining exactly when you should pick up a trend. Waiting a while can ensure you are fashionably late, but waiting too long can lead to fashion tragedy.

Being fashionably late is a strange phenomenon. And it seems a universal quandary, given the number of results from a Google search on the topic, some even claiming that promptness is the new cool. However, if a party invite states 8, most of us will probably not arrive before 8.30, and at times even that half hour isn’t enough to make you part of the cool crew. Ultimately, unless there are speeches, a sit down dinner or an opera starting, an incredibly stylish posse of people will probably arrive somewhere around 10pm, and then the party will feel like it has started. And those of us who arrived “late” at 8.30 will realise we were actually two hours early.

Fashionably late in life obviously has its limitations. Flouncing into a business meeting forty minutes late in order to give your new Chanel suit the undivided attention it deserves probably wont be looked upon as favourably as rocking up to the opening of a funky new bar within the same kind of timeframe. And just as there are limitations in life with your timing, there are unspoken rules of fashion timing.

The trendsetters of fashion have a permanent finger on the pulse of what is the new cool, and their wardrobes reflect this. Think Kate Moss. How many times has this lady been named Best Dressed by the coolest of cool? Not even some very unfortunate choices in her personal life can knock this fashionista off her style pedestal, and she is always ahead of the pack in the fashion stakes. Unlike your social life, being early in fashion is unlikely to ever make you feel like you are socially inept.

Then there are the fashionably late, in fashion terms. The fashionably late wait for a style to show its staying power before forking out for the designer label skinny jeans. It could take a couple of weeks, or it could be a matter of months, but when the purchase is made, the look is still in style. The tiny shorts with high heels that made such a big splash last summer are already back in style, and back in stock. And the minute you pull a new pair of fabulous khaki mini shorts out of your cupboard and strut out for coffee in them, no one is going to realise that you waited a whole season to take up the trend.

And then, there are those unfortunate few who wait that little bit too long before they pick up a trend. These people are un-fashionably late. This group highlights the fact that timing in fashion is often most critical when it comes to the fleeting trends. You either have to be in there straight away, milking the look for the whole two weeks it lasts, or you need to stay far, far away. For example, I think most of us can remember the very short-lived Ugg boots and mini skirt look of our not so distant pasts. This trend did not come from the catwalks of Milan, nor was it spotted in the pages of Vogue. In fact, most of us hold Pamela Anderson personally responsible for this magnificent addition to fashion (please tell me you got the sarcasm), and for a short time earlier this year, many a young female sported the look. These ladies got in, and they got in fast. Hopefully most of them got out again, but it was all about the timing.  And if tomorrow, while you are waiting in line for your latte, you see a fellow female still getting about in her uggies and mini skirt, chances are you will not be open-mouthed with envy.

Those fashionably early amongst us are probably already getting about in high waisted jeans and brushing off old 80s wear which is set to make a massive comeback (minus the shoulder pads thankfully), after being showcased by Louis Vuitton way back in October of last year. This year, Vuitton launched an advertising campaign for the northern winter with a distinctive 80s style, and with the likes of Vera Wang and Australia’s own Charlie Brown also including bubble skirts, shiny fabrics and bandeau bikinis in their recent shows, even the un-fashionably late have a chance with this trend.