The Appeal Of The Jumpsuit

At midnight when July became August, Zara launched their fall campaign online. I was visiting it for the umpteenth time that day - as I do on a daily basis - and experienced technical difficulty with the sidebar. I was annoyed; I have a sale to browse. However when Edie Campbell and Ine Neegs appeared in front of me with 'AW.14' across the page, the sale just seemed so last season, so last minute.

I was excited differently.

After examining the campaign (repeatedly), I looked at the new arrivals and there it was. The jumpsuit. The kind I want; the kind that would make me look like a flight crew; or from another side of earth; or the closest truth, a fashion kid (ambiguously compelling anythings attract me). It was grey, buttoned up, collared, long sleeves, and roomy; a sub-category of jumpsuits sometimes called a boiler suit. It even has the D-ring, Zara ripped of Celine and insisted was the hardware du jour of the summer and I didn't mind it this time. And let me tell you, Zara used that shit like it's sprinkles on a donut - never fucking enough.

But for $149? I'll wait. I've bit the bullet before and that wound worsens not better with time when the price goes down to $20.

How did this apparel affair started? I had just discovered Jayne Min's blog STOPITRIGHTNOW and was infatuated with her herself (ephiphany: you become what/who you love). Her skater boyish, not-serious p.o.v. felt cool and new to me in a way the rest of the  homogenous blogosphere largely didn't. I admire and identify with her ease and humourous take on fashion. She subverted the likes of Celine and Acne that it read less fashion victimy and more authentic. Like yes, she would wear furkenstocks, duh and in ways, made me re-evaluate my own established codes of dressing.

And one instance of that is the jumpsuit. Min was wearing a marled grey one from ASOS with the Givenchy shark necklace (just one of many pieces of hers I covet). At this point, remnants of any baggy jeans were deserted in my young teenager days - I called them elephant pants - but her outfit was so convincingly cool, I had to reassess.

Jumpsuits just made sense. They are a fashion hack: it's a top and a bottom, so I wear and more importantly, decide only on one thing instead of two. Its efficiency is compelling.  Like, you'd be surprise how fascinated people are by what essentially is a shirt and pant sewn together.  My style modus operandi afterall is maximizing impact with as little effort as possible and a jumpsuit is an unlikely addition.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one: said jumpsuit was uber popular on ASOS that it sold out but I'm a boss (read as: bawss) so I got my hands on them anyway. This took my ASOS shopping v-card.

It wasn't going to be my last either. I've gotten more since then and it's never enough it seems - am I a jumpsuit slut? Fortunately, the demand for jumpsuits must be increasing because more and more retailers seem to carry them. My only concern is their ubiquity. I am not trying to look like a mall-babe here.

When I was browsing Zara's site later on I noticed that they have introduced a separate category for jumpsuits whereas before it was a game of hide-and-fucking-look-forever-seek. It's a lesson, I thought: if you're persistent enough, people will stop putting you in the wrong category and give one all your own.

Wear a jumpsuit. Be a jumpsuit.

photos via: zara, stopitrightnow