Diary of a Fashion Fanatic: April 2012

Summer Essentials Series - Part 2

09:06

Summer Essentials Series - Part 1

04:48

After a recent weekend in Paris I began to wonder why, throughout the world, we have such varied attitudes when it comes to one crucial thing – queuing. Why is it that it in some countries it is considered appropriate to form an orderly queue, and yet in others it resembles more of a manic free-for-all? When you think about it, queuing really is quite bizarre.

It is, however, polite. This may be the reason we as British citizens are so fond of a queue – and can’t stand queue jumpers. Nothing is worse than a queue jumper, not even the process of queuing itself. Trying to upset an Englishman? Just push in front of him while he’s trying to buy his Sunday paper or his fish & chips. Trust me. The utter madness this causes; frantically looking around to ensure that someone else has witnessed the devastating act and gathering an army of back up before firmly nudging the person and informing them that you were, in fact, there first and that there is a queue. Although they did of course know this already.

High street launch day queues are becoming notorious worldwide, even as far back as the Lanvin at H&M line. This took queuing to a new level I had never seen before, involving many nights camping outside the store on a cold November night in London, and when I wandered innocently down Regent Street on the morning of the launch at 9am there were still people queuing around the block, leaving only a never ending trail of Starbucks cups as a clue of how long the line had actually been.

Slightly more acceptable when you’re thinking about paying £199 for a Lanvin coat instead of £6,000 I agree, but the fascination with shops like Abercrombie and Hollister, where people will queue on a regular basis to buy another polo top or rather plain crew neck that is only about £25 to begin with is quite beyond me. What is it about these stores that make innocent consumers act like crazed groupies? And why is it not the same at Topshop or All Saints? Personally, the combination of loud music, darkness and unnaturally attractive staff doesn’t always appeal me. Although it does smell ridiculously good.

With sell out high street and celeb collaborations becoming a regular occurrence, from Mary Katrantzou at Topshop to the more recent Marni at H&M, maybe we are just becoming more used to queuing. Don’t get me wrong, there are of course times when it is perfectly acceptable and necessary to form an orderly line. Theme parks fit in to this category, as does queuing at post offices, banks, airports and so on where queuing is a necessary evil. Even queuing at checkouts I understand is sometimes an annoying but acceptable hindrance. I’m just not sure I will ever get my head around queuing simply for entry to a store. Hollister, I’m talking to you. This obsession seems to be a worldwide epidemic, with my own experience of Abercrombie & Fitch stores in New York and Paris all sharing one simple thing in common - an army of beautiful people with roped off queues acting like bouncers at a top nightclub in a bid to regulate the hoards of rabid consumers. Really guys, what’s the attraction?

A recent column by Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine, seemed to share my loathing for queues, proving that those at the top of their game don’t appreciate being made to wait 3 hours for a table in a restaurant either. However, it seems that the global phenomenon of queuing has far from reached its peak. With the latest iPad release, we even reached the point where people were selling their place at the front of the line on the morning of the launch for up to £300, after queuing nearly a week to be there. This can mean only one thing, we had better get used to the unfortunate idea of forming an orderly line at every conceivable oppurtunity. Just remember, no pushing in.

Machine Mad

19:00

Mr.Jingles

11:36

got2b Schwarzkopf!

04:10

Out on Campus

08:06

Antisocial Network

08:01

The worldwide phenomenon that is social media has been weaving its way into our every day lives for years now, but the wave of online etiquette it has brought with it has taken us all by surprise.

Giving the World Wide Web and its users unmitigated access to every minuscule detail of our lives has become the norm, from religious and political views to a barrage of status updates and tweets detailing every waking moment of our day to day life. However, the drama that can be caused via this interactive world is shocking and unfortunately, very real.

As frivolous as this online addiction may sound to a social networking muggle, or those not ensnared in its ever tantalising claws, it is in fact a huge part of the world we now live in. From the giants of the industry such as Facebook and Twitter, to blog sites like Tumblr and even the newer photo based platforms like Instagram, there is a whole host of online activity just waiting for us to become a part of.

These sites have been recognised as legitimate and useful ways of spreading information around the world in seconds, from bloggers at fashion shows to Facebook pages set up for every band, celebrity and organisation you can think of. However, it is often the personal accounts that see all of the confrontation.

Declining someone’s friend request on Facebook can cause all sorts of ‘real life’ problems. Trust me, the subsequent array of private messages and texts demanding to know why you hate them so much and what exactly they’ve done wrong is no fun to deal with, and enough to put you off social interaction for a long time. So why have we let it drag so much of our lives into its tangled web of pokes, posts and private messages?

I’m afraid, my friends, we are a generation of social media addicts. Unfortunately, we now have even more interactive fuel to feed our dirty little habit, all of which is available at our very fingertips due to the other technological advance to take the world by storm – Smartphones.

It seems the instigators of this media movement such as Facebook and Twitter leave the most room for encountering confrontation. Every week now magazines and newspapers have headlines showcasing the latest celeb twitter war to take hold, and in some more severe and unbelievable cases people have even been grilled by police, refused entry to foreign countries and prosecuted due to a seemingly harmless tweet.

In my opinion, perhaps the worst culprit of the unintentional social suicide that can occur is undoubtedly Facebook. Most of this can be put down to a combination of awkward friend requests, the horror of being blocked and, of course, the infamous relationship status. The endless arguments and drama that can occur from something as simple as a slight change in your relationship status is unimaginable, and I am sure 99% of you reading this have experienced its wrath first hand. I have found myself staring at my iPhone in shock and horror over my boyfriend hiding his relationship status, and only after an extensive conversation with my best friend which consisted of her telling me it wasn’t because he was ashamed of me or flirting with other girls did I realise, I was in fact being a bit of a psycho.

Now don’t get me wrong, technology is amazing. From iPads in classrooms to pioneering breakthroughs in the medical sector, the possibilities of where we could be in a decade are endless. Social networking sites are equally amazing, perfect ways of keeping up with family and friends from around the world along with a whole host of other uses. My advice? Enjoy them for all the awesome reasons that made us fall in love with them in the first place, and try not to get too caught up in the unnecessary drama they can throw up.

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Diary of a Fashion Fanatic

Summer Essentials Series - Part 2

Summer Essentials Series - Part 1

Old is the New Young

Patience is a Virtue

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got2b Schwarzkopf!

Out on Campus

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