{"id":16404,"date":"2012-07-23T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T04:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=16404"},"modified":"2015-07-23T19:27:12","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T23:27:12","slug":"fifth-blogversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/fifth-blogversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Blogversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started this blog five years ago today<\/a>. In my initial post, I warned that I wouldn’t be blogging much. Two days later, I discovered Britney Spears had “borrowed” one of my rings without permission<\/a>. Of course, I had to share that online, and after that, I couldn’t stop.<\/p>\n

Since then, I’ve changed the name of my company and URL; moved to Facebook from MySpace and to WordPress from Blogger; and redesigned the blog. I figured I’d celebrate my fifth blogversary with another change. If you look at my header, you’ll see that in addition to new colors (black instead of purple) and a new photo ( my onyx skull ring design<\/a> instead of my Hathor swivel ring<\/a>), I have a new motto. I’ve replaced “Wear What You Want<\/a>” with” Never Is the Next New Thing\u2122<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

To me, the new motto is the logical next step from the old one. As I noted in my FAQ, I chose “Wear What You Want<\/a>” as my blog\u2019s motto<\/a> in 2007 because I liked the idea of people knowing the style rules \u2026 and then breaking them. Within reason, of course. Obviously, \u201cWear What You Want\u201d doesn\u2019t apply to every situation. I’ve pointed out before<\/a> that one shouldn\u2019t wear a boob belt dress <\/a>to a funeral.\u00a0 Just last week, Project Runway<\/em> judge Tim Gunn summed up my philosophy nicely when he told New York Magazine<\/a>:<\/p>\n

” I say to people, I don\u2019t care how you are dressed as long as you accept responsibility for it, that\u2019s all.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s exactly what “Wear What You Want” is all about. I think y’all should know what fashion is considered “safe” for what time and place; decide when it’s appropriate to live dangerously style-wise; then anticipate and cope with the consequences. If you decide to sport pink hair and full-sleeve tattoos in your small conservative town, more power to you — just don’t be outraged when you catch people staring at your deliberate outrageousness. If you end up on a fashion publication’s “Disaster Area” page now and then, rejoice! It’s a great story to tell people. I speak from experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I’m the one in the leopard. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div>\n

“Wear What You Want” is still my personal fashion philosophy, but, as far back as August 2008, when Katie Holmes’s pegged jeans dismayed everyone<\/a>, I pointed out that when it comes to fashion, “never say never” is an understatement. In 2010<\/a>, I elaborated:<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m convinced that the styles that are most hated at first \u2014 the ones that make people say, ‘Never!’ \u2014 are the ones that are most loved once our eyes adjust, with past examples including leggings and various kinds of jeans: skinny, acid-washed, high-waisted, distressed and boyfriend<\/a>.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, “Never Is the Next New Thing\u2122<\/a>.” It’s more than a philosophy like “Wear What You Want”; it’s an acknowledgement of reality. I’ve seen it in my business as well as in the fashion world. People who told me they’d never wear skull jewelry<\/a> or big jewelry<\/a> are buying those pieces from me. My multi-finger ring sets<\/a> that stores totally dismissed in 2008 were copied by Topshop<\/a> this year.\u00a0 The luxury-goods experts who told me my accessibility through social media would ruin my business are now saying no business can exist without a social-media presence.\u00a0 So-called impossible things — both good and bad — happen every day in fashion, in business, and in life in general. Just because no one else is doing it yet<\/em> doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear what you want, create what you want, and say what you want, as long as no one loses an eye in the process<\/a>. (Hurting my excellent sense of aesthetics<\/a> doesn’t count as an evil act, as much as I hate to admit it.) Change is inevitable and you can be a follower or a leader. Yeah, it’s scarier to lead … but it’s a helluva lot of fun too. <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started this blog five years ago today. In my initial post, I warned that I wouldn’t be blogging much. Two days later, I discovered Britney Spears had “borrowed” one of my rings without permission. Of course, I had to share that online, and after that, I couldn’t stop. Since then, I’ve changed the name…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[110,12,656,479,103],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anniversaries","8":"category-blogs-and-bloggers","9":"category-blogversary","10":"category-never-is-the-next-new-thing","11":"category-wear-what-you-want","12":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16404"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29945,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16404\/revisions\/29945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}