Author Archive for Olivia Hill

An obsession over physical appearance is pretty much the definition of superficiality, but there is a human need for adornment that has been alive for as long as we have walked the earth. The desire to flaunt and boast bright colors is a natural and ancient desire, and those who have found a way to make a living off our insatiable appetite for personal decoration are clever, indeed. I find fashion magazines to be not only irresistible eye-candy, but a fascinating study of culture, society and even psychology. There is a direct correspondence between what is happening in our time - globally, politically, sexually - and what appears draped about the willowy bodies of our iconic fashion models. The impractical body-defying women's fashions of the Elizabethan era defined a time when godliness and chastity were of the utmost social importance, and dresses masked and bound the female form. Styles from the 1920's reflect a time that was all about art and music and a farewell to the conservative values of the past century. I appreciate fashion because of its powerful ability to transform an individual on the inside and out. When browsing a magazine I try to detect who the designer is trying to lure and to what emotions the designer is trying to appeal. If your ideal life is on a boat in the Turkish Riviera, fashion cannot give you the boat, but can make you feel like you've been there. Fashion can make you feel as elegant as Grace Kelly, as mischievous as Bonnie and Clyde, or as slinky and sultry as Veruschka circa the 60's. High fashion labels promise these kinds of transformations for a price, and for this reason, fashion maintains its association with the elite. Fashion, at its most superficial, is the women decked out like a Christmas tree in the latest designers labels, but try style comes from a self-confidence in the individual that can't be bought.