Katy Perry's inspiration - It started with the influence of rockabilly girls she saw in the swing-dance classes she attended when she was 13. "I loved the way they commanded attention - they looked so cute and cool and sophisticated and well manicured."
She then went through a brief "punk rock" stage ("I was dating boys in bands, drawing on my jeans, and making my own T-shirts") and proto-emo phase in the late '90s "with a short black pixie haircut and barrettes and all that," she says. "I loved Shirley Manson and Gwen Stefani and Alanis Morissette. those were my girls."
Right now, she's going with a "Bettie Page meets Wonder Woman meets Doris day meets Judy Jetson meets Natalie Wood meets Daphne Guinness meets Chloe Sevigny kind of look." [Elle 2011]
Clothes Swaps are my favorite parties to host. Of course, this was stemmed from when I fasted from shopping for Lent. That time spent wandering around stores had to be channeled elsewhere as I refrained from purchasing clothes, shoes, and accessories for 40 long days and even longer post-crazy day at the office-nights. Now, I host a couple of these each year amongst my girlfriends and donate the extras to local charities.
Remember that 80 percent of the time, we wear only 20 percent of our clothes. So go through your wardrobe and jettison anything that's one of the four S's: stretched, small, smelly (ew!), or stained (sure, you could clean the stained and smelly pieces, but the idea is to let things go).
A tip for my shopaholic fashionistas – Don’t buy new hangers. When you add a new piece to your wardrobe, put an older one in a bag to give away. Start this recycling habit now. Your closet will thank you.
And on a side note: What’s the point of labels on clothes? We automatically remove price tags but keep these little info tags on the seams. When you think of it, it’s practically a cumbersome birth certificate that announces – who the design parents are, the warehouse hometown, size at delivery, and a bonus tip for suggested cleaning maintenance. Besides that, it’s really not necessary! Let’s start a revolution. Go through your wardrobe with scissors in hand and do as Uncle Joey used to say: Cut. It. Out.
