Plaid is Rad. Feel free to quote me on that. Or get it printed on a t-shirt if you really want to take it up a notch. Understandable. Because truly. Plaid is rad and here’s why…
Traditionally the domain of the beer and sneakers division, lumberjacks, truckers, and my sister’s posse in the early 90’s, it wasn’t a fabric I thought was cool. Or to be perfectly accurate, thought about at all. But two key looks changed my mind.
This fashion tale begins in ye olde times. So around 1993. Def Leppard were as big as their hair. Weekend At Bernies 2 was playing at the flicks. There was a ‘new class’ on Saved By The Bell. And my sister and her pals were wearing plaid. A lot.
This high frequency wearing wasn’t because their school uniform was plaid, but rather because it formed a key part of their School of Life (SOL) uniform. Which was a plaid shirt paired with very tight black skinnies. Everyone in her gang wore it, even the guys. Well… I mean, I’m 85% sure some of her gang were guys. The unisex plaid/jean ensemble made it hard to tell. But, if they were in fact all gals, some just enjoyed wearing plaid, skinnies, and a moustache. Each to their own.
I used to alight from the school bus at the interchange where they hung out in their ‘uniforms’, with their 90’s metal band hair, and think… No.
For starters, their preferred hang out was a bus interchange. For anyone who can’t recall/wasn’t even born, allow me to talk you through what a bus interchange in the 90’s was like. Picture Gollum’s cave/lair but with a thick smokey/chokey haze. And that was just from the hairspray.
Secondly, as a gal I actually enjoy looking like a gal. So I didn’t think the unisex plaid thing was my thing. Especially since at that time the only other unisex ‘look’ was the unitard. Yes, that is a real word. It’s the technical term for a one piece ski suit. From the back it’s impossible to tell which sex the wearer is. From the front you don’t want to. It’s Tight in all the wrong places.
Finally, there was the hair. Google Def Leppard 1993 and you’ll understand.
I filed plaid (and the unitard) neatly into the basket labelled ‘not-my-style’ and didn’t give it another thought until recently when plaid popped up on Twilight. And it looked good… Also, it wasn’t accompanied by bad 90’s hair. In fact, K-Stew has very good hair. However, Twilight is not really my style genre; I’m rom com, they’re teen angst. But I was interested…
The second key moment was courtesy of American Idol. J.Lo worked an excellent, feminine, rock star style plaid number. The contestants and the audience also rolled out some solid plaid looks. Someone (probably the show’s stylist) was onto something. Or, a designer friend of the show had an oversupply of plaid, which he/she needed to move. Either way I was starting to think Plaid looked pretty Rad.
A few weeks ago I was innocently walking down the street. I was not out shopping. At. All. (Btw, just wanted to say a quick hello to my husband. So… Hi! And also, in case you missed my point, casually highlight my pure, non-purchasing intentions.) Anyway, as I mentioned, I was 100% focused not on fashion (I was en route to the ice cream store), not that it worked… Because, pretty much out of nowhere, the radest red and blue plaid shirt starting shouting very loudly at me from behind a shop window. I swivelled my head left, right, and behind – to check if the shirt was, in fact, flagging me. I was the only person on the street. So… Me then. I casually strolled into the shop, tried the plaid, perfect fit, and the rest is fashion history. Well… Not history since other people are also wearing plaid. I’m not claiming a history making moment. But I’ll take the slogan.
My rad plaid (which is on such high rotation, I’ve been dressing straight from the clothes line, you could say it’s now my SOL uniform…) is by a brand called Rails. Which apparently all the off duty supers and celebs have known about for ages. I was hard pressed to find a celeb not wearing plaid.
Goes great with denim (all shades), leather pants, high tops, ankle boots, ballet flats, heels. And of course, a good manicure…
Style-spiration from the plaid pros:
