Man Getter vs. Man Repeller- Southern Edition

Have any of you read the blog the man repeller? I love it. Leandra Medine launched her blog in April of 2010 as a 21 year old journalism student. Frankly, she is an inspiration to me. It could be that I think we have a similar writing style, you know, like we are talking to people rather than talking down to them. It could be we both write with a sense of humor and we both love fashion. However, Medine writes with more satire than I do. And honestly, I just don’t think I could pull off some of those outfits that she does and I am not sure that I want to. As much as I admire what she does, dressing for herself rather than a man, I rather believe that dressing well can also be simply for me.

When I step out of the door and I look nicely put together it gives me a sense of empowerment. Believe me, I did not always dress well. I can remember in middle school wearing the same exact outfit every week. Seriously I do not exaggerate.  Fashion was something that I admired in magazines but it still remained a bit of an enigma to me.  I can remember when I would get a new outfit and wear it to school and my classmates complimented me- THAT was when I first really began to feel what fashion could do for me. From then on it became a never ending obsession. As I became older and even now my style is ever evolving and changing. However,  I would say that it’s only rather recently that I have begun to really embrace the “Southern Style”. How so?

Well, I used to be very proud when someone would tell me “oh you don’t dress like you are from here” “you look like you are from New York or LA” on and on. But- that’s really not what I am about. You see, I am very proud of being from the South. And in a way, we are seeing the South rise yet again through the fashion industry. For instance, we are seeing more designers coming out of Atlanta and even Savannah. Even Andre Leon Talley is on the Board of Directors at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and even had a lovely fashion exihibit- which I hate that I missed.  Just recently SCAD student Krystal Sokolis won the 2012 Independent Handbag Design Award in the student category (to read more go here http://www.scad.edu/news/2012/independant-handbag-design-award.cfm).

What is my greater point, you may ask? Since as per usual I have gotten off track a bit?

You see, I wonder what is more important- and I challenge each of you to ponder on this: is it more important to be a Man Repeller or a Man Getter, as Leandra has termed us? Or should a man really even be a part of this debate? I say, let us have Fashion for Fashion’s Sake, just like Art for Art’s Sake. So long as it makes you feel good to wear it, go for it. Of course I and other may wonder what the sam hell you were thinking walking out dressed like a hot holy mess- but really you can wear whatever you want and pull it together and look GOOD doing it. Really you can! Everyone is different and has their own style and if you can rock it then by all means- go for it. For me, that means pulling out pearls that belonged to my great grandmother and putting them with some tremendous Swarovski crystal earrings, white jeans, some kind of shirt and a blazer. Or even a ballgown and cowboy boots.  Yeah. I like the idea of a ballgown and cowboy boots. Do you put your own “Southern” spin on your style? And how do you achieve it?

How would you define “Southern Style”- and do you dress more for yourself or others? What is most important to accomplish with fashion? Is it being well put together? Or “fashion for fashion’s sake”?