Tuesday 3 June 2008

Matchy Matchy

For some reason, matchy matchy dressing, be it a perfectly colour co-ordinated outfit or a girl look top to toe, has been relegated to the ranks of the unfashionable. 'Cool' peeps are constantly feeling the desire to de-prettify an outfit, or create some funky colour/pattern clashes. This school of thought is certainly more attainable than the finely tuned matchy matchy look, which requires an extremely extensive wardrobe. For that reason, I have often had no choice but to break the traditional fashion rules such as no 'brown with black', and it's naturally so much better to purposefully, stylishly break these rules.

However I am always much more awe-struck by perfectly styled outfits, as I previously featured in my post on the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg than the admittedly fabulous eclectic mix featured by characters such as Carrie Bradshaw, of Sex and the City. Perhaps it is the lack of attainability that I have already mentioned; yesterday when I wore my new top with a red flower print, red buttons and red belt it looked perfectly fine with jeans, but I was aching to add a red pencil skirt and cardigan, two items I have no need for apart from completing this one outfit.

Anyway, all this is of course simply a matter of individual taste. But it can be an issue for those with the same opinion as me, when most of the modern inspiration around in the form of magazines, films and other media does not conform to the matchy matchy standards which I crave. For this reason, I warmly welcomed the arrival of sometimes funny, sometimes not TV programme Pushing Daisies. Not only is it all filmed in a delightfully bright, slightly retro way, but the outfits of Chuck and the other female characters are hugely entertaining, and fabulously matchy matchy.

The love of the cinematography on Pushing Daisies is in fact so great, that there is a website devoted to thousands of screencaps per episode. There is such a huge amount of screencaps that it was impossible to find the shots of Chuck's best outfits, so I sort of cheated and picked my favourites off other sources, such as the fashion spot forum and pushing daisies blogs. Sorry!




And finally, some wallpaper matching action highly reminiscent of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg going on with my favourite character, the lovely Olive.


7 comments:

  1. I should try to match my outfit to the wallpaper more often.

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  2. hmmm does seem a little futile though, no?

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  3. i try not to ever be too matchy matchy since it now comes across as way too contrived. part of the appeal of good dressing now is the idea that it was thrown together last minute, but still looks fashionable.

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  4. I'm not a huge matchy-matchy person myself but these looks are wonderful. I do miss the days of perfectly turned out outfits, with every accessory so exact and pretty.

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  5. oh just madness. you should check out style bubble's recent matchiness experiment :-)

    love,

    danny

    http://dannydaily.typepad.com

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  6. I'm ancient: I still love matchy-matchy. I think it's all those Hepburn and Hitchcock movies I've watched and loved.

    Last night I was at a party where one of the trends was to wear shoes completely incongruous with one's outfit. Sometimes it worked, but mostly, it didn't. I like that they tried, though.

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  7. 'Umbrellas of Cherbourg' is one of my faves. How lovely is Deneuve?

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