Platform sneakers, wool crepe peplum skirts and MC Hammer style harem pants, we've all been there, and if we haven't, at some points in our lives we've at least pondered secretly about these fashion fads, waiting for someone else to hang their head in shame to also liking these trends. I know I am guilty of this. Leandra Medine however, a role model to all acclaimed fashion bloggers in the making today, carelessly outfits herself in attires that, to majority of women, represent a daring sensation of true style and confidence but to men, maybe not so much...
In her popular 2013 semi-autobiographical book, Medine's rollercoaster of up and down fashion moments leave her readers in tears of laughter, cringing at the reflected similarities in their own lives and a sense of self-esteem that she influences, in order to push girls to be proud of what they wear and to be the person they have always wanted to be. Medine wears her heart on her sleeve (literally) with her experiments with fashion that she has harmonically wrote about in each chapter of this quirky style obsessed book.
In her popular 2013 semi-autobiographical book, Medine's rollercoaster of up and down fashion moments leave her readers in tears of laughter, cringing at the reflected similarities in their own lives and a sense of self-esteem that she influences, in order to push girls to be proud of what they wear and to be the person they have always wanted to be. Medine wears her heart on her sleeve (literally) with her experiments with fashion that she has harmonically wrote about in each chapter of this quirky style obsessed book.
What started out originally as trying on wacky and eccentric clothing in Top Shop's dressing rooms turned out to be the most comedic approach to high fashion in social media history. Although Medine is so immersed with fashion, her distinct concept is executed in a way that allows her to stay relevant in today's fashion society, by creating a cyber subculture for girls to relate to across the globe. We can read hundreds of fashion articles over and over again but do we really learn about those physical experiences and key life moments that each purchase brought or the feeling when you tried on your first pair of Manolo Blahniks? Medine described her book to be "based on the notion that the female memory is so driven by fashion" and I can't help but personally agree with this statement myself.
In each chapter of this witty book, Medine retrospectively takes her readers back to the fashion disaster or epic statements in her life that truly brought her to become the Man Repeller she is known as today. Whether she is actually successful in pushing men away with her weirdly wonderful garment combinations, or ironically an absolute colossal fail and does the opposite, we follow her life lessons through to the last chapter as if they were our own in this not so serious take on very serious fashion.
As a fashion student myself and also in the process of writing this blog, I could not have picked a better book to read in my spare time for guidance and an insight into the development of such an inspiring light hearted blog. Although this was a gift given to me for my birthday and I wasn't too sure what to make of it at first, it more than fit the criteria for the style of book I was in search for. Especially to feed my interests in fashion outside of my university work. So all future and present fashion students, those especially wanting to start up a blog, go out and buy this book!
The book Man Repeller is just the introduction based on her first steps into the global fashion blogisphere and her memories during the creation, but to carry on Medine's story, visit her blog at http://www.manrepeller.com to follow Medine's informal charismatic blog posts about fashion, personal style, collaborations podcasts, beauty, culture, trivia and a certain section she likes to call 'Dick shun ary' (obviously it is meant to spell dictionary, but it wouldn't be Man Repeller without Leandra's natural goofy humour dominating the home page. For one, she did invent the term Man Repeller.)
Features from Man Repeller's Personal Style page:
Man re-pell-er- outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls, shoulder pads, full length jumpsuits, jewellery that resembles violent weaponry, and clogs.
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