Get a holiday wardrobe that’s packed with style #1
My holiday doesn’t start until tomorrow but the task of copying this menswear fashion shoot in the name of experimentation began today. Weirdly I find it easier to imagine myself wearing these clothes than anything I’ve seen on a woman since I started the blog, and I don’t think that can be explained away by my gender issues alone. At least with this lot you just put on a shirt and some trousers and get going. No top hats, no lace leggings – heaven.
However – shorts. I put on a fake Armani shirt left in lieu of rent (no comment) by a guy who lived on my sitting room floor for two months. This shirt manages to be papery and plasticky at the same time, and I suspect I’ll have to wear it tomorrow as well judging by the next picture on the page. Then I put on a pair of shorts to match the picture in question. The shirt covered them almost entirely, leaving me with the impression that if I went to work like that, HR might email the dress code around yet again, pointing out that ‘beachwear is not acceptable’ but with the addendum ‘and neither is semi-nudity’, so I swapped the shorts for my trusty Lee men’s jeans rolled up as far as they will comfortably go. I’ve not bought into the loafer trend so a pair of very unmanly leopard-print ballet pumps was as close as I could get. I feel comfy today but I’ve not hit the dapper note of the silver fox in the magazine.
Holiday wardrobe
Workaday wardrobe
Conclusions:
- Menswear might be easier to put on that womenswear, but it’s probably no easier to rock
- The just-stepped-off-a-yacht look requires a nehru collar and a pair of loafers. It certainly doesn’t involve leopard print
- Clearly girls are not supposed to be copying this fashion anyway but hell, this blog is a CONTROL experiment with very strict rules
I've always found it funny when people write letters to the Guardian's Weekend magazine complaining that the recipe ingredients are too middle class and the fashion only looks good on thin people. After all, it's just a magazine. Or is it? I decided to follow its recipes, fashion and lifestyle advice as closely as possible, to see if the aspirations promoted therein can really be achieved by the average reader who is not especially wealthy, not necessarily model thin and is obliged to work regular office hours. This blog has no affiliation whatsoever with the Guardian but I link to the Weekend magazine website for the purposes of illustration. 
Guardian Girl 
J
i think you are my hero. no, honestly i do. i can’t tell you how many times i laughed out loud reading this.
and in a really twisted way i could hear your voice as i was reading your posts. as in, cue movie narration in soothing, calm, english voice.
you’re brilliant, fake armani shirt and all.
keep it going – i think i’ve found a new source of distraction/addiction/breath of fresh air!
x M