Annoyingly Trendy ...

I still remember how fashion used to be when I was 18 years younger. It was the eighties and fashion was at its golden pinnacle. So many trends were invented and they were all original.

On the TV, I saw Madonna wearing rubber bangles and dressed in neon colored frocks bought from thrifty stores, while Cyndi Lauper's other shot-to-fame factor apart from her raspy singing voice was her punkish hair, a mix of Vivienne Westwood's ginger and blond. In other words, fashion was all about being innovative and creative back then.

But now, the word innovation no longer exists. Instead what we have today is more of trend rotations from the past. Yes, everything seems to be culled from your mom, sister, or grandmother's closets rather than being freshly bought from stores.

Moreover, there are some trendy items that have been awfully overrated and keeps coming back despite of having been in the scene long way back. Here are some hyped stuffs that made some fashionistas sick to the core.

Keffiyeh scarves

At a first glance, the first impression that I got from those who sported the Arabian scarf (also known as "shemagh") was “he/she might have just return from Mecca, performing their pilgrimage”.

But somehow, I felt a tad awkward because say, if you just return from a pilgrimage trip to Mecca, then how come you could wear it with a pair of shorts? Oh boy, what a religious fashion faux pas!

On a second thought, I could easily mistaken them, those who wore the keffiyeh scarves for being a, or at least linked to the terrorists because obviously, only terrorist or Palestinian jihad soldiers would wrap these scarves around their necks. These days, I have seen more people chose to abandon their Pak Haji scarves at home. What a relief!

Vests

Vests were the fashion staple of the early 90’s and everyone was crazy about it, either men or women. I too had my own vest back then and believe it or not, to some, leaving home without a vest is equivalent to being naked in the public. Hahaha, so informative.

Like Ray Ban’s Wayfarer, vests disappeared from global scene for quite some time and was last seen on the runways in 1996, a year before the supreme late Gianni Versace was shot to death in Miami by his jilted lover, Andrew Cunanan.

Suddenly, after years of being a part of uniform essentials for school prefects and GSC workers everywhere, vests are back in style. I first spotted them on Justin Timberlake last year in his “My Love” video, and somehow the trend of vest wearing became sporadic among men. Oh dear, nothing makes me sick than to see the vests and immediately reminiscent my old primary school days. Sigh!


Wayfarer

One of the pioneering shades designed by Ray Ban. Long, long time ago, men were crazy about it because it spelled ultimate style and macho.

It also reminds me of a geeky freshman boy character from the cult teen series “Beverly Hills 90210”, who frequently sported it with his off-yellow old blazer and faded jeans. If you don’t know what Beverly Hills 90210 is, then ask your older sisters and brothers because they used to drool over Shannen Doherty, Tori Spelling, and Jason Priestly in the series back then!]

Now, 14 years later more or less, Wayfarer is back in favour after years of being sported by blind jazz musicians. Besides Ray Ban, which could possibly priced more than RM1000, you can also buy the cheap imitated version from some high street stores if you can’t afford the real thing because in fashion, there’s always a second path to take if you can’t access the first one.


Trilby Hats

Pair it with a nicely tailored suit and crisp white linen shirt with French cuffs, and then you get Justin Timberlake’s sartorial style.

I don’t have too much encounters with this hat except I always confuse it with the hats worn by black musicians of the sixties, you know when they play that soulful jazz music. Is that what you call trilby hat as well? What about the one worn by Boy George in his eighty hits “Karma Chameleon”? Was that a trilby too? Whatever they are, they are from the same family – hats.

Compared to these days, I used to see lots of these trilby hats adorning the heads of fashionistas everywhere around KL, especially at the Pavilion area. I remember seeing my friend Robert Chan (editor of Clive magazine) wearing one last year during one of the MIFA’s gala nights, complete with that Lone Ranger printed triangle scarf tied around his neck. So Justin baby!


Leggings

When was the last time I saw leggings at home? Oh, it was 20 years ago. My mum used to wear leggings underneath her pink short skirt and cowl neck top to work. Darling, it was the eighties and leggings, no matter how sheer or opaque it was, women were so gaga by it.

Then as we entered the 90's, they came in bright colors and most of the time, were sported by high school girls (think Beverly Hills 90210). Leggings return to the fashion scene in 2005 while Malaysians started to adapt them as part of their wardrobe in fall/winter 2006.

From my understanding, people wear leggings during wintry months to keep their feet warm but here, you wear leggings because you want to look god-damned stylish, the obvious reason that I can tell. Last year, I saw the colorful ones back in fashion in one of the Coach's ads. But according to E! Style, leggings in bright electric hues are a no-no because we know where your legs are.

*Photos courtesy of beglam.com, lookbook @ flickr.com, Cyndilauper.com, thebosh.com, and chocosho.com