Urban Aspirations

Lily Allen’s social/style aspirations are expressed most succinctly though her clothes. Middle-class with a desire to be urban: prom dress with trainers and bling; and through the way she talks: generally well-spoken with ‘street’ add-ons: police = ‘fiwf’, and there is a laboured missing out of ‘t’s. Fuck a bit of slang though, the main crime she commits is ruining the credibility of good dresses (Luella summer 06, gingham) by wearing them with trainers. It’s like no, really you ARE actually wearing Luella, you ain’t fooling anyone with a pair of reeboks, or with your street affectations in ya’ lingo. However, to do, as that soulful man Usher, and our Tony B do best, the U-turn, I will say that I understand that hankering to mix genres of clothes.
I do it on occasion for several reasons:

1) a reluctance to admit that I am trying to dress up represented by a token (and unconvincing) casualisation of an outfit which involves a selection of the following:

- wearing flats or plimsolls when heels would look better,
- mismatching hooped or other earrings,
- wearing a neon hoodie,
- and/or a gold chain,

2) Getting REALLY pissed-off with combinations that are too co-ordinated, colour or otherwise, which is the epitome of tedium (though no, I wouldn’t put big trainers with a prom-dress – there’s eclecticism, and then there’s crime),

3) Deciding periodically that I dress like an older frump and (oh no) attempting to add 'fun' to an outfit.

4) All of this though is also subconsciously (not) linked to the influence of going to clubs and dancing to M.I.A. and having an interest in her stylist and designer, Carri Mundane aka - Cassette Playa (via reading Charlie Porter's now deceased column in the Guardian weekend) who also styles The Klaxons: read, the *neon*.