Celeb style? Magazines shoot celebs in senseless outfits

These days, celebrities seem to get away with anything and everything: drugs, DUI’s, tacky… These days, celebrities seem to get away with anything and everything: drugs, DUI’s, tacky reality shows (‘Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,’ anyone?) and ‘mdash; gasp ‘mdash; horrible outfits.’ While the ability to sing, dance, act, inherit money or walk down a runway doesn’t guarantee that you have personal style and fashion sense, hundreds of magazines and Web sites are devoted to celebrities. They cover what celebrities wear, where they shop, their favorite designers, clothes they design themselves and the designers to whom they serve as muses. And we all eat it up! Or at least the large percentage of the public who keep these magazines printing and these Web sites up and running do. We devour every last morsel, either craving more of the good stuff or feeling sick at the thought of celebrities being heralded as fashion’s filet mignon when really their outfits looks more like ground beef.’ The fashion industry just can’t get enough of one particular model, Agyness Deyn. But I can’t buy into the hype. I can’t remember a time when I thought that her outfit looked good. Whether it’s a ridiculous ’80s combo or a case of menswear gone bad, time after time, there she is on the glossy pages of magazines with nothing but praise following her name. I’m almost positive that some 14-year-old budding fashionista is right now trying to find that exact look she wore in Teen Vogue last month. Why? Because she’s in a magazine, duh. And I’m sure she’ll find what she’s looking for. Trends are replicated instantly via ‘fast fashion’ chains like H’amp;M and Topshop. See something on Kate Moss that you like? Stop back in a week, and Topshop will have it. (And by ‘stop back,’ I mean get on a plane and fly to the U.K. ‘mdash; the first Topshop in the United States doesn’t open until October.) While Kate does have fabulous style, there are plenty of celebs who could use some lessons. Sure, they have stylists and personal shoppers at their disposal to keep them primped and pampered. Occasionally, though, when left to their own devices they concoct their own getups with odd combinations that, in an effort to be unique, end up looking like they got dressed in the dark. What’s worse than one bad celebrity outfit is two or three bad ones. And then before you know it, it’s everywhere. Other celebrities follow suit, even if it doesn’t catch on with the general public. One particular example is the ‘wide-leg boyfriend jeans rolled up and belted’ trend. Yes, editors from prominent fashion magazines have kept the new brand Current/Elliot ‘Boyfriend’ jeans on backorder since July, but do actresses going to the grocery store wearing various versions of rolled-up baggy jeans really deserve recognition for their so-called ‘fashion sense’? And these aren’t B-List stars, in fashion or film. I’m talking about people like the usually sophisticated Katie Holmes. They look frumpy. If you saw a girl in baggy jeans, flats and a T-shirt in Oakland, you wouldn’t give her outfit a second look. So maybe it’s not all the stars’ faults. Maybe it’s the magazines that choose to cover them. But what are far more interesting than expensively dressed and poor-looking celebs are normal people who are creative enough to do more with less. My favorite parts of magazines and Web sites are always stories or blurbs featuring real people who get by without million-dollar mansions.’ It’s always intriguing to read about the secret places where they found their treasured pieces and unique fashion finds that they’ve mixed up in fresh ways. Whowhatwear.com features ‘MySpace muses’ that are every bit as stylish as their celebrity counterparts. And while I speculate that the individuals photographed on the street and featured by The Sartorialist (thesartorialist.blogspot.com) are not poor college students, they still serve as hope that even in the absence of a celebrity stylist, flashbulbs around every corner and Anna Wintour on speed dial, everyday people possess just as much style sense as an average celeb.