With the much-appreciated feedback we’ve been getting for What’s Zo Wearing?, and so many wonderfully inspired and inspiring creatures out there, we’ve decided to occasionally present our favorites; créme de la créme so to speak. Here we’ll be asking about personal style philosophy, shopping habits and views on fashion in general.

I first came across Princess Coldheart a.k.a. Princest on MySpace a few years ago and immediately fell in love with her look. Appreciation of drama, big hair,and big shoes is a sure way to my heart, but there’s far more to her than meets the eye. Spend some time reading her painstakingly written LJ entires and you’ll see a well-versed, intelligent and delicate person. She’s not afraid to present herself as dramatically as she pleases, while still being fascinated by the world around her and that’s where the real inspiration lies. You can find her here and here.

“I generally try to be unique, vibrant and individualistic when it comes to the way that I look and dress and how I style my hair and do my make up. Frankly, my style has gotten much simpler and more stripped down over time (as compared to how intricate, elaborate and altogether impractical my predominantly all-black outfits and overall look used to be).

I’m actually quite reclusive and don’t really go out much and even then, there aren’t many genuine opportunities to allow or justify my getting especially creative and ornate. That said, I still do love to periodically “really express myself” in some categorical way. These opportunities mostly come whenever I do photo shoots and also actually whenever I feel like getting especially stylistically and memorably attired for work: I’m an independent professional Domina and one of the many fantastic things about such work is that I get to dress up as creatively, distinctly and artfully as I wish.

My style philosophy really depends on what the day or the event calls for, how creative and inspired I feel, how exciting my wardrobe options are at any given time, what mood I’m in and how much time I have… On the whole and nonetheless, I do like to look and feel unique and characteristic without being hampered too much by especially unworkable details. My look can range from astonishingly simple and dressed down to improbably complicated and unreasonable, even perplexing… yet still somehow and all the while I like to look and be somehow precise and fundamentally minimal in some overall way.

I have very haphazard shopping patterns — I shop only rarely as I find it a bit exhausting! And I don’t often find many things that are perfect as they are… I dislike acquiring anything that needs additional alteration or work but it’s quite difficult to find things that fit me well and also suit me exactly. I will consequently get some nearly perfect item if it really is utterly nearly perfect. By “nearly perfect” I mean it caught my eye in some immediate way, it’s different and special beyond dispute, it’s well-designed and well-sewn, it’s without question versatile and aesthetically special.

Most of the local clothing shops that I preferred have unfortunately either changed locations or shut down and I generally don’t like to shop online as it’s difficult to know how something really looks and how it will actually fit when viewing it through a computer and not having the chance to try it on. Consequently, whenever I do manage to shop successfully, my purchases are rare and sudden, great and unexpected finds. I spend my shopping time entering unknown shops that seem in some way to have some kind of potential or that have been recommended to me. I also pass through vintage and secondhand shops when I can because these shops can definitely hold unanticipated treasures that won’t be found or replicated elsewhere.

I used for the longest time to only wear black and huge black platform boots. I still at times retain this (perhaps rather predictable) visual approach but I’ve now come to also appreciate the vibrancy and possibility of certain colours and colour combinations. I like sometimes to mix and match unusual fabrics, patterns, vintage pieces with modern designs. My favourite colour used always to be a certain shade of blue but my favourite colour now might be a cross between olive and military green. A colour combination I suddenly seem to particularly enjoy is pale pink and olive green. Who knows what colours and approaches I might favour next? I doubt even I do… which of course is part of the fun. Unpredictability can offer strange and lovely results and I endorse anything and everything that might or could produce a strange loveliness or a lovely strangeness.

My style inspirations span a wide range of women all of whom to me had or have tremendously creative, timelessly beautiful and impeccably special style. Women like Björk, Rinko Kikuchi, Sofia Coppola, Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Sabina Sciubba, Dita Von Teese all are consummate in some singularly creative and distinctive way. I also at times draw inspiration from characters in films: The character Fuyo Kinoshita played by Tamaki Ogawa in the intriguing Japanese short film Crawling Bugs (directed by Atsushi Kaneko) and the character Su Li-zhen played by Maggie Cheung in the immeasurably beautiful Chinese film In the Mood for Love (directed by Kar Wai Wong) are both striking and immediate examples.

Lastly, I’m always secretly thrilled whenever I come across someone on the streets or online that exhibits obviously great personal style that seems to come naturally and isn’t too studied. I love when a person’s creative individualistic personality shines genuinely through into their outward style: There are plenty of people with good style but have flat and dull personalities. It is I think the people with great and unique personalities that have the best and most special styles. This “rule” has of course its exceptions (as all rules do) but it’s nonetheless a very pleasing and wonderful thing to come across people who look beautiful and fascinating because they are beautiful and fascinating. Whether I am “one of those people” isn’t for me to declare or decide but it’s a standard I think worth keeping in mind and worth striving to achieve.” – Princest

Posted by Zoetica Ebb on December 3rd, 2007
Filed under Fashion