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Can you find personal style in the age of Instagram?

Could style icon Iris Apfel have developed her iconic look in today’s age of social media saturation? Or would she be destined for an autumn spent in Y2K throwbacks like the rest of us.

Interior decorator, designer, style icon Iris Apfel ather home on Park Ave in 2010. Picture: Jonas Gustavsson
Interior decorator, designer, style icon Iris Apfel ather home on Park Ave in 2010. Picture: Jonas Gustavsson

In the age of social media can you still have personal taste? It’s a question the culture writer Kyle Chayka unpicks in his new book, Filterworld, How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Consider the long reign of Y2K fashion (complete with return of low-rise jeans). In recent weeks, three-quarter length capri pants have been again threatening a (once unthinkable) comeback, prompting the head of fashion at Instagram, Eva Chen, to post: “Friends, I’ve seen CAPRI PANTS in not one, not two, but three lookbooks and counting. Prayers for us all this spring.”

Interviewed on The Ezra Klein Show podcast, Chayka observed that personal taste isn’t a “code” to be solved. It should not be data driven. Just because Instagram is awash with “beige-fluencers” or plays hosts to dozens of accounts dedicated to the style of the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy does not mean this is inherently “good taste”. Or that it needs to be your taste.

Chayka noted Voltaire’s belief that “in order to have taste, it is not enough to see and to know what is beautiful in a given work. One must feel beauty and be moved by it”. In other words, your own personal taste needs to come from within.

A reminder of the power of true personal taste came a fortnight ago in the death, at 102, of “accidental fashion icon” Iris Apfel, pictured above. Years ago the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held an exhibition dedicated to Apfel titled Rara Avis (Rare Bird): the Irreverent Iris Apfel. Apfel’s outfits were kooky and kaleidoscopic; her signatures included armloads of clanking bangles, mixing couture with flea market finds, and her enormous, owlish horn-rimmed glasses. She was the opposite of Coco Chanel’s missive that elegance was restraint – instead of taking one thing off before leaving the house, Apfel piled more on.

Which is not to say that the only way to have personal taste is to dress like Coco Chanel or Iris Apfel. Or a beige-fluencer. It is deciding, like Apfel, to dress in a way that expresses exactly who you are and what moves you.

Perhaps this is capri pants, or maybe it’s 18th-century paste earrings. What matters is remembering that you can’t actually get personal taste wrong.


Signet Rings

Forever associated with aristocratic heirs toa familt pile (if nore necessarily the means to sustain it), the signet ring has had a rebrand. Lost but loveable Dexter, played by Leo Woodall in Netflix’s remagining of the David Nicholls novel One Day, is flying the flag for them.

Sarah & Sebastian traction signet ring, $2200
Sarah & Sebastian traction signet ring, $2200
Alinka Luna signet ring, $2600
Alinka Luna signet ring, $2600

So, too, the chic women sporting one as the ultimate power move. For those without a family crest, why not make up your own, or personalise with meaningful stamps and birthstones at Australian brands such as Argent Silversmith?

Pascale Monvoisin Orso signet ring, $1110 from Net-a-Porter.
Pascale Monvoisin Orso signet ring, $1110 from Net-a-Porter.
Oval birthstone signet gold, Argent Silversmith. $1200
Oval birthstone signet gold, Argent Silversmith. $1200

Q&A - Jeremy Hershan

Founder and creative director, Haulier International

Jeremy Hershan, founder and creative director Haulier International.
Jeremy Hershan, founder and creative director Haulier International.

Who is your autumn style icon?Samuel Beckett, for his love of great knitwear.

And your ultimate style icon? Early 1990s Nicolas Cage.

The one piece you need for the changing seasons? A Haulier string vest. It is the ultimate layering piece.

Most treasured souvenir? Some gold charms I picked up at Gray’s Antiques while living in London that I wear daily around my neck. They include some gold boxing gloves, a pair of scissors and a Roman coin.

Something you always pack in your suitcase? Boxing gloves. Boxing is my hobby and I love visiting gyms on my travels abroad. It’s the first thing I do on arrival which is a great way to acclimatise and combat jet lag.

Most worn piece in your wardrobe? I wear a lot of vintage denim from as far back as the 1960s and 1970s. Denim of this age can be quite brittle. So I continue to patch and repair my old jeans.

Your philosophy on style? I think Yves Saint Laurent said it best: “Fashion fades, style is eternal.” For me, this means focusing on a wardrobe of pieces that transcend fashion, that are crafted from the highest quality materials and made using traditional manufacturing techniques. Our brand motto is Enduring Goods. This represents our focus on timeless design and lasting quality.

Favourite era for fashion? I came of age during the 1990s, which had a lasting impact on the way I see fashion. However, I have always been drawn to the music, cinema, art and design of the 1970s. It’s an era that continues to colour and inspire my work.

Person you admire? Ralph Lauren.

Biggest fashion regret? The vintage pieces I didn’t buy!


Shopping

Giorgio Armani, who turns 90 this year, told the fashion press backstage at his most recent menswear show, “I don’t think men’s fashion needs to be changed every season … I believe it must not be an upheaval; the secret is to do the usual, in an unusual way.”

Look for interesting fabrics, twists on classics and accessories that add a little oomph when updating your wardrobe for autumn.

Main picture: Giorgio Armani menswear autumn/winter ’24; Mr P Jacques fringed tassellated loafers, $571, from Mr Porter; Omega Constellation 28mm, $19,500; Gucci sunglasses, $855; Haulier large utility tote, $625; MJ Bale Hooper Knit rugby top, $229.
Main picture: Giorgio Armani menswear autumn/winter ’24; Mr P Jacques fringed tassellated loafers, $571, from Mr Porter; Omega Constellation 28mm, $19,500; Gucci sunglasses, $855; Haulier large utility tote, $625; MJ Bale Hooper Knit rugby top, $229.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/can-you-find-personal-style-in-the-age-of-instagram/news-story/32c53018c58d535215f4930b5dd2cc73