Tuesday 13 November 2012

Change the 'Speak'

If you follow me on twitter @MakeDoStyle or fashion journalist doyenne Hilary Alexander @HilaryAlexander you will know we have a pet hate at the moment mainly the use of cliches. Hilary has for years been a real hoot when tweeting about Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor. Many a Saturday night I have had to send her a tweet simply saying 'Hilary!' when she has shown appreciation of good looks and muscles of the male dancers or contestants.

The lovely Hilary Alexander

After enjoying Skyfall on Saturday evening I managed to catch up on the Strictly tweets having missed it and caught the end of X Factor when low and behold one of the judges uttered the immortal words 'you owned it' in reference to a contestant's song choice. Ugh, in fact triple ugh!

Of course I tweeted my disdain and right back at me Hilary added 'you nailed it'. There are so many X Factor speak cliches it is untrue. Last year when I still loved X Factor and the year before lots of us used to play hashtag xfactorbingo (I haven't completely mastered the Mac yet and don't know how to do the hashtag symbol!).

But the real point of this post is to out dreadful fashion speak. Hilary tweeted me the next day to suggest that while we are on the subject of appalling X Factor speak maybe it wouldn't harm to bin a few fashion speak horrors as well, namely 'statement necklace', 'hero jacket', and 'power cardigan'. Let's face it fashion journalism is awash with tired lazy cliches and many fashion bloggers ape the speak too.

Top of my list  of fashion speak to go would be 'versatile' (I am guilty of this one), 'team with', 'modern twist' and  'off duty' plus a whole host of adjectives like playful and decedent preceding the garment concerned. It would require a lot more thought to write a piece!

What fashion speak would you bin?

19 comments:

  1. I would bin inaccurate shape descriptions e.g. 'petite' always comes with advice on how to create the 'illusion of curves'. Erm, petite is a height, it has nothing to do with bust definition. Likewise 'hourglass' assumes that the woman is size 16+ - again it's a body shape not a size; and although it may be the only way magazines feel comfortable portraying size 16+ women is hourglass, it is hardly helpful to the size 16+ women who are apple shape or tall and leggy (because they DO EXIST).

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  2. How funny but so true there are some awful words out there and x factor is the worst! "You made the song your own" argh!!!!!

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  3. investment white shirt - come on it's white cotton! I had one of those for school!
    biker chic - has anyone looked at the real thing lately?
    edgy - I know its showing my age but this makes me think of Kate Moss circa 1992
    and, my personal (least) favourite - with a twist - not just fashion people guilty of this one

    Long time reader, first time commenter
    JaneS

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    1. Hahahaha - all so true! And thank you for comment Jane xx

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  4. "On trend" makes me roll my eyes. The misuse of "bespoke" by my fellow Americans drives me bonkers, but that's another discussion.

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    1. Don't start me on bespoke too - I might to a post on this matter!! xx

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  5. Oh yes I hate 'with a twist' too, I get irritated by 'on trend' being over used to death. I am chuckling to myself over the idea of a power cardigan.

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    1. The power cardigan deserves a show of its own! xx

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  6. Hi my dear! fab post as usual, I would say I'm so guilty of using 'effortlessly stylish/chic', 'on trend', 'in season' (this sounds like my blog is ready to mate-haha!). Thanks for the well wishes, am having rather bad 'womens problems', hoping to see a gynocologist very soon though xxx

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    1. I think we can drop the 'effortlessly' but we need to retain stylish and chic otherwise we'll have nothing left!! Take care xx

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  7. "Must have"..."lust list" and "to die for" as well as "on trend" as indicated above...pretty sure there are a few more too. An "Investment piece" usually means its expensive...ha ha.

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  8. Mine would have to be "a nod to ..." Ugh!

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    1. Opps ..yes true and guilty of that one ages ok, move on ...next! xx

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  9. Oh my goodness, how bad is XFactor this year and I think you and Hilary need to create an online guide to identify those words that aren't 'on trend' any more. How blooming cool that you and Hilary tweet each other, very impressive!xx

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  10. Power cardigan, hahahaha, that one is new to me. Sounds like an oxymoron.

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  11. LOL! what a revelation on cliched writing, it is all so true

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