Sartorially Speaking: October 2014

The term ‘basic bitch’ has recently entered our lexicon shaming ‘boring’ girls who like Taylor Swift, Instagram-ed flowers and Pumpkin Spiced Lattes. It is used to describe a sheep, a simple girl without her own ideas that likes what everyone else likes and stands firmly in the average category. The term ‘basic bitch’ itself, with no meaning applied, sounds pretty horrible. It is used in context like, “Hey, look at that basic bitch at the Farmer’s Market” and “Her favourite movie is The Notebook, how basic”. She is described as being essentially and classically boring for reasons listed on The Cut such as wearing infinity scarves and peplum tops (together, or separately, I don’t know) and reposting or displaying inspirational quotes from Marilyn Monroe and the like.

But really, who the hell cares? Is it really so bad for a girl to Instagram her morning coffee whilst subtly showing off her fresh manicure? And what’s so wrong with loving Sex and the City? Let them wear their love heart necklaces and enjoy the music that plays on mainstream radio. It’s not hurting anyone.

These days, being an individual is cool, it’s encouraged. It’s the in thing to be yourself, break away from the crowd and do your own thing. Let your freak flag fly. It’s wonderful, it really is. But is it really unfair to be critical of unassuming women because they are not a completely separate entity with separate interests and separate style and separate tastes. What’s so wrong with liking Taylor Swift anyway? Sure, she’s mainstream but mainstream becomes mainstream because lots of people like it. Lots of people like it because it’s probably good. Not that many people are sheep nowadays and if a chick wants to listen to 'Shake it Off', so be it. It does not mean she’s simple or any less individual or intelligent or exceptional than someone who listens to an indie street band they “discovered”. It just means they enjoy catchy, feel good music. Is that really that bad?

My issue with the term ‘basic bitch’ is that is mainly women devaluing other women based on the simple cheesy pleasant things that they enjoy doing. Just as the women using this term don’t want to be pigeonholed into a stereotype for their interests, neither do the ‘basic bitches’. So what if they enjoy mainstream food or clothing? Jumping on the macaroon bandwagon doesn’t mean someone is ‘basic’ nor a ‘bitch’, all it means is that they have a penchant for cute and yummy French desserts. It doesn’t mean they are a blind follower of the crowd with no originality or personality.

Just like in The Incredibles, if everyone was super, no one would be. The ‘basic bitches’ of the world offer a contrast to those ‘unbasic bitches’, allowing the differentiation to occur and make the overtly unique appear so. If you are an incredible individual, thank, not hate the basic bitch, and stop calling her that. In my experience, the people using these terms appear to be strong feminist advocates, however, calling a fellow women a basic bitch with a mocking cruelness that it seems to come with, sets this whole feminism thing back, don’t you think?

So just as you want to be left to do your thing and be you, let your fellow female do her thing and be her, even if it so happens to be the same thing as a thousand others.

Disclaimer: This is based off my experience with the term alone, it does not mean everyone who uses the term does so negatively.

It's the end of semester, it's finally heating up and sandal weather is upon us.

The season of iced tea and lemonade, markets and music festivals, late night swims and ice-cream. What am I talking about? It's always the season for ice-cream...

When looking for, I hate to say it but, inspriation for the summer months, I always tend to go three ways.
1. Old school: Brigette Bardot, Jane Birkin, Audrey Hepburn etc
Unoriginal, I know, but simple yet effective. If only I had BB's hair.