ANSWERING FASHION QUESTIONS

hello my beautiful dubs welcome back so i'm super excited to announce that we've surpassed 500k subscribers we're at half a million which is incredible because i just never would have expected to grow so fast like i've only been doing this for a little bit over a year so i'm just really amazed that so many people have bonded with me over their love for fashion history and costume design and who agree i guess with my takes on pop culture as well it's really just it's really nice um the last time i did a q a was when i got 100k so that was some time ago and it was a live stream which was really fun but live streams do kind of make me nervous so i don't know if i could do it again with this big audience but yeah i um i'm really excited to do this this is definitely deviating from my normal content and i don't know how many of you will actually tune into this but uh if you're tuning in thank you and let's get started [Music] so what is your go-to everyday outfit this may be surprising for a lot of people but i don't care about being fashionable every single day especially during the summer time it's just so hot that i i don't know i don't really want to dress well every day because i don't want to ruin my nice clothes with like sweat stains and whatnot so my day-to-day outfit has really been just a denim skirt from this japanese streetwear streetwear brand called hysteric glamour so i wear that a lot because it's just like easy breezy and it's denim so it matches with a lot of things and then usually i wear like a little white tank top because again i'm just like so hot it's been awful in new york city talk about your hair i can tell you use foam rollers curious to your method so i don't actually use foam rollers i use hot rollers the brand that i use is the remington tight curls and they don't actually sell the remington tight curls anymore i bought mine used off of ebay hold on i'm gonna get i'm gonna get a reference because i have to show you guys okay okay so this is what it looks like it's uh i don't know it's got one two three four five six seven 21 curlers in here and they're all really tiny um if you look for hot rollers today you'll probably see a set with multi sizes and the reason i really like this set is because they're all the same size because for vintage hairstyles you only need like tiny ones basically so an alternative if you don't want to get a used set is uh this is something i learned from deed of aunties actually you can buy multiple sets and then just use the uh three quarter inch and one inch rollers because again you don't need anything bigger than that but if you do want to get this set in particular one thing you should know one thing you should know is that uh the clamps that they give you to keep the rollers in place are not these the ones that the remington tight curls officially came with will leave dents in your hair they don't look like these but you can also buy these from like any beauty supply store so you don't need to like find a seller who's nice enough to ship the curling set with these clips okay um and then when it comes to styling my hair there's no rhyme or reason which is why my hair looks like different in like every video i do use a heat protecting spray because they are hot and they are damaging for your hair and i try to lock it in with hairspray i did not spray enough today because my hair is like falling apart a little bit but um yeah hairspray is extremely important if your hair is like not crunchy then it's probably not gonna stay [Music] next question when picking your outfit do you think of an overall concept and choose which pieces fit together or build the outfit around one item also congrats on reaching 500k your videos are so informative and bring joy to my heart oh so sweet um i think it depends on the day like sometimes i have a theme in mind sometimes like if i especially if i bought something new and i haven't worn it yet like i want to build an outfit around whatever new piece i've acquired once again like i don't really have a rhyme or reason when it comes to doing anything i just do whatever i feel like doing the day that i wake up there's no bad method when it comes to creating an outfit how do you even begin styling a character slash cast like what's the process so i think for this question they're referring to my restyling videos which i've only made two of but for those videos when i'm styling a character first i start with the color palette because most fictional characters have a color palette that they uh subscribe to to really nail the character you have to nail the color palette like no one wants daphne blake to be wearing yellow and red right and then i kind of think of the personality and character traits that the character has and how i can reflect that in the clothing so once again with scooby-doo just because i know everyone's familiar with it um for velma in my styling for velma i had her look very library and chic i started with the orange and red to bring attention to her classic color scheme and then i thought of how she's like very book smart and she there's a lot of emphasis on her glasses in the original cartoon so i wanted these like really funky glasses yeah i just wanted something like nerdier to reflect her interest but then also not too nerdy where she's not stylish because fashion is important to me so i wanted her to look good it's also helpful to be knowledgeable about a lot of brands like i keep up with a lot of different brands on instagram and on twitter and tumblr and pinterest really any of those sites if you're following the right people like mood board accounts or whatever you'll get updated on new and emerging brands and also archive collections which are fun as well also the vogue runway app which i highly recommend for people first getting into fashion what advice do you have as far as finding designers like i said the vogue runway app is really good it's basically an app that just has photos of every new collection that drops they have some older collections as well like from the 90s but they don't have that many of them for 90s collections it's probably best to go on youtube and look for them but if you don't even know any designers yeah the vogue runway app is good because they have all designers and you kind of just like go through them and pick and choose what designers you like and then if you google the designer and they've been around for longer than what vogue runway has on the app then you can just go on youtube and look at the collections there also the book survey of historic costume which is a textbook on fashion history for every decade in the 20th century it also lists the prominent designers of the time so that's also a good resource for finding older designers who are no longer around anymore what books do you recommend for those who really want to get into fashion history okay it's almost like i organized all these questions to make sense in the order that i'm reciting them so survey of historic costume once again it's a really good resource for people who don't know anything about fashion history who don't have like a particular decade that they're really interested in because i think the book starts out from like ancient greece or something like somewhere really old and then it goes up to the 21st century so of course the information is not going to be like as dense as a book that is only focused on a decade or a particular time period but it's a good resource if you're just trying to figure out what you like the most and then once you pinpoint what you're really interested in then you can find a book that is uh more detailed as far as like more specific books i'm like in my stack i also have more books than that are in the stack i'm just like lazy with organizing my room this book the core set i don't know if you can read it from the screen but that was my big resource for when i did my corset video and it is just an amazing resource for anyone interested in core sets it's by valerie steele and any book that valerie steele has written or contributed to i would highly recommend what are your thoughts on dressing your body type okay so i used to follow like 17 magazine and l magazine and um i don't know vogue or teen vogue or whatever when i was younger i would really flip through those magazines there was like a lot of advice on what to wear based on your body type and i was really obsessed with this for like a very small amount of time because i think it was a good way to figure out what was flattering and what silhouettes i should try out if you're not really familiar with your own proportions or you're experimenting with new silhouettes then following on a guideline that claims these things are objectively good on you that can be very validating and make you feel confident but at the same time i think it's important to recognize that these guys tend to be very eurocentric they also tend to want to flatter certain features over others the hourglass is supposed to be like the ideal body shape and so a lot of what they tell you to wear is to basically create an hourglass shape i think it's incredibly limiting and if you like something and this guide says not to wear it then like you know the guy right like wear what you want to wear because ultimately these guides are about building confidence and if you have gotten to a point past the need for these guides then you know just don't listen to them because you know what looks good on you you know what feels good for instance like i once again invert a triangle very top-heavy they always say don't wear anything that makes you look more top-heavy well jokes on them i really like wearing poofy sleeves so i will continue to wear poofy sleeves and plus like in the 1930s and 40s the whole like silhouette was very inverted triangle so i think it just depends what you're personally going for and you shouldn't listen to anything that says otherwise okay most influential fashion decade in your personal style so i think i'm really influenced by 1930s 1960s 1970s and 1990s but i've i'm honestly like influenced by all decades and for instance um i don't really like the drop waste from the 1920s on myself so i can't really say the 1920s is you know my style guide but i do really like skull caps from the 1920s and i've been trying to integrate those more into my everyday looks so it's just picking and choosing i'm also really into these rococo era mule shapes that have been really popular lately and bonnets taurian bonnets how do you wear past decade clothing without looking costumey i think when it comes to like fashion versus costume material quality really matters so something that was made with cheaper materials is more likely to look more costumey than something that was made with really durable or nice materials which is why i've noticed that those vintage reproduction sites that are usually like fast fashion and if you don't know what that means there are basically like a lot of sites that reproduce vintage designs but usually the reproductions are pretty cheaply made and so they come off like more costumey but if you wear true vintage i think it comes off less costumey because true vintage garments were usually well constructed and made from high quality fabrics that's something to keep in mind but i also i don't know like i think costume is not necessarily a negative thing all the time i have this elizabethan rough color that i got off of etsy and i think it's just so fun but obviously whenever i wear it my outfits kind of look costumey it's kind of hard to make this very shakespearean uh garment not look costumey in today's times but you know you just embrace that and you rock it it's the mood for the day you know so what inspired you to get into fashion what was the hardest concept to understand i've always been inspired by fashion i grew up watching fashion police project runway the rachel zoe project all with my mom my mom is also a very stylish woman so i've taken a lot of notes from her over the years and i always like loved going shopping with her and for actually a really long time my life i always consulted with my mom on clothes to buy because yeah i just trust her taste she's great when it comes to the hardest concept for me to learn about it's definitely sewing construction because i'm not a good sewer and i've only done like a couple sewing projects though they definitely helped with understanding it more and the reason garment construction is like really important in fashion history is because the way that clothes have been constructed has changed so much like over the last like centuries and one of the ways to identify when a garment was created is by looking at the seams and by looking at things like zipper and how garments were hemmed and etc so not understanding it is definitely a crutch so i'm trying to get better at that if you could swap closets with anybody real person or fictional who would you choose and why i don't know because i don't actually think my style is that cohesive i think i have a lot of different aesthetics going on in my wardrobe and i like having that range so you know a character that i have taken a lot of influence from is fran fine from the nanny but do i want to swap wardrobes with her actually maybe because she does own a lot of expensive and nice clothes but you know for my for my personal taste like i wouldn't want to wear just a blazer and a mini skirt like every day for the rest of my life i like having a range and so it's hard for me to think of a fictional character that has that kind of range uh does style imply sticking to a certain aesthetic absolutely not um why did i say that like that i don't know i think a lot of the pressure to stick to an aesthetic comes from curating a brand image across your social media creating this consistency because followers like consistency and you know everyone wants to be like kind of like an influencer you don't want to change up your content all the time because there's something very aesthetic about having a uniform feed for instance but i just don't believe in limitations because limitations restrict creativity creative freedom and one of my biggest joys in life is mixing and matching different garments and if i feel like i have to really hone in on one aesthetic like i'm losing that joy so yeah i don't think anyone needs to stick to a particular aesthetic if you don't think that suits your interests any tips on how to mix styles example dark academia and cottage core i like both so kind of going off what i said before i think we just need to stop thinking in terms of aesthetics because if you're like thinking so deeply about dark academia and cottage core you're never going to be able to really mix it because if you mix it it ultimately comes into something new it's not going to be either of those things so i think the best thing is figuring out what you like about cottage core like is it prairie skirts is it you know puff sleeve dresses is it gingham print and then figuring what you like about dark academia is it tweed is it the color brown is it blazers and then just building a wardrobe based on the kinds of garments you like and then naturally you're going to style the garments together okay next question i never know how to make my outfits feel more 1920s and be goth at the same time help lucky for you um if you look up vamp in the 1920s then you'll actually come across like some gothic 1920s movie stars also i think just the makeup of the 1920s is kind of gothic because if you look at like old films they use really dark eyeshadow and really dark lipstick it looks like black lipstick and black eyeshadow because of black and white film even though it wasn't actually and also like the really thin eyebrows that kind of give like morticia adam's vibes so i think the makeup itself kind of lends itself to a very gothic aesthetic but in general my tip for wanting your look to be more of reflective of a specific decade is styling your hair or doing your makeup like that decade you could wear a completely modern gothic wardrobe but if you're doing finger waves in your hair and if you have those like arched pencil thin eyebrows like myself you're gonna give like a 1920s flavor to whatever your look is how do i find a timeless style slash wardrobe i think it's quite difficult nowadays with trends it's very easy to fall into over consumption and buying stuff just because it's trendy by the way i love your content mina xoxo thank you so much honestly you just have to unplug like i don't use tiktok for fashion inspiration because i recognize that the fashion tick tocks that do well and that show up on my explore page tend to be based on trends so where i get most of my fashion inspiration is from pinterest and tumblr where i feel like i can curate what shows up on my feed a lot better than platforms like tick tock and even instagram now i definitely looked to a lot of different media resources i looked to paintings and movies and tv shows and old magazines and then i kind of create looks based on those influences but i don't like copy another influencers look because i think ultimately the media that i'm drawn to and that i'm inspired by are things that i feel personally connected to and inspired by like for instance so i own a lot of white flowy blouses and i am going to stick with the white flowy blouses for a really long time because i have an emotional connection to what that represents like i love 18th century i love 17th century i love pirates and vampires which are all images i think of when i look at my white flowy blouses so think about what really inspires you and once you have an emotional connection to an item you're less likely to want to uh move on from it if you could be a costume designer for an already existing movie which movie would that be or if you could be a costume designer for a book adaptation which book would that be congrats on 500 subscribers mina xx thank you so i would not do a period drama because even though i really love period drama pieces i just can't sew for my life and you have to be really good at sewing to be a costume designer for more extravagant costumes um so i probably do a contemporary costume design not that you don't need a soap for those but it's a lot more like styling than it is like garment construction i'm not speaking for all of them actually because there are some shows that do make their contemporary wardrobes from scratch but you don't necessarily need to do that if that makes sense so i probably would want to do totally spies totally spies was extremely formative for me growing up and i think it would just be super super cool to have new outfits for them every single episode and to really modernize it as well because those girls were always fashion forward also they're rich so you have like more of a budget your styles are definitely not as distinct as the girls from winx club for instance so i would definitely differentiate them a little bit more but they would all be pretty fashionable and on trend so yeah i would love to do totally spies netflix if you're ever gonna do it and you don't hit me up i'll probably make a video about it and i will do a better job than you just kidding please hire me all right last question do you have any advice for people trying to boost their confidence with fashion how did you get past emulating others to finding your style the second question i think i kind of already answered when i talk about what inspires me but for the first question about confidence honestly like you have to not give a which i know is really hard especially depending on your environment and who you're surrounded by and i've been really lucky for most phases of my life i've never felt stifled by the people i've been around usually my friends like have never cared about how i dressed and if they did then i would promptly cut them out of my life because i don't need that kind of negative nancy energy so i genuinely believe that if you're being stifled by your friends or community you should just wear whatever you want to wear and that will kind of foster an inner confidence right because you're expressing yourself the way that you want to express yourself and that inner confidence will attract people who will support you um and what you do so life is too short honestly to be worrying about anyone else's opinions i know it's hard but you just have to think about what really matters to you and how you really want to live your life like do you want to live your life just dressing up in your room and never being able to dress the way you want to outside of the home i mean for some people maybe but if for you that's like not your ideal then you have to start romanticizing your life and do what makes you happy i'm gonna sign off now because i've been talking for a hot minute i really hope you guys enjoyed this little moment it's definitely different from my normal content and i definitely feel like a little bit awkward doing something like this so i don't know if i'll ever do it again maybe when i get 1 million subscribers but until then um i'll just be doing my regular commentary stuff and i'll see you guys next week so have a good day and goodbye [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Mina Le

Views: 331,357

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Id: 0bOiCjOrhZ0

Length: 24min 2sec (1442 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 27 2021