Curation + Inspiration

My daughter recently sent me some of her travel pics—she’s quite a talented amateur photographer. And this got me thinking about cameras and picture perfect style.

It used to be that to take great pictures, you had to understand things like lenses and apertures and shutter speeds. Then automatic cameras came along that could make all the proper adjustments so that, most of the time, your pictures turned out pretty great even if you didn’t have the foggiest idea how a camera worked.

The new cameras automatically read the amount of light. They automatically adjusted the focus. All you had to do was point—and CLICK!

But there was a certain trade-off that came with all this ease and efficiency, too. You were limited in how you could exercise your creative muscle with the automatic cameras.

What if you wanted your shot blurred to highlight motion? Or what if you wanted the foreground in focus and the background out of focus? The automatic, easy, point-and-click cameras don’t require a lot of skill but they also don’t allow for as high a degree of creative expression.

The same is true with style.

While it’s much easier to walk into a department store with a magazine picture and re-create the look with the help of a personal shopper, or to see a fully styled outfit on a display mannequin and then just point and SWIPE your credit card to grab the entire look as your own, this style picture will never convey the same depth of expression as that of a gal who can fiddle with the dials and who isn’t afraid to play around and experiment.

Photographers work with aperture and shutter speed and focus. Fashionistas work with fabric, proportion, cut, and color.

Change the settings on a camera and you get a completely different picture. Change the combination of elements in your outfit and you get a completely different look.

Photographers know the effects they’ll produce by shooting faster or with more light. And you need to learn what effects you’ll produce if you dial up the color or tone down a print. If you cinch in your waist or wear a shorter skirt. If you remove shoulder pads or add a scarf.

And just like a photographer with a fancy-dancy camera might have to develop two or three rolls of film to discover one outstanding photo worthy of framing and hanging on his wall, the creative fashionista might have to try on many different combinations of outfits and accessories before landing on her winning look.

So here’s a question for you:

Why do you suppose we label photographers as artists, but we don’t think of ourselves as artists when we’re getting dressed everyday?

Maybe it’s time we do.

Which brings me to today’s VPOD.

While there is still quite a supply of vintage Lilli Ann suits and coats available, dresses are far more rare. So I was thrilled to discover this vintage velvet cocktail dress by Lilli Ann with a design that creates a slimming illusion and that is just right for upcoming holiday festivities.

It’s a picture perfect find for a Vintage Crusader!

Available at Unique Boutique NYC.

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