Seriously, Ms Marant?

This is another one of the many posts that's been sitting half-written in my Drafts folder for months. (See them shorts? The air is a little too nippy for them now. And the brown on the limbs are starting to fade. Sigh.) It started as a show-and-telling of my new favourite Summer combo - a very flat-chested Dolly Parton x scruffy schoolboy(?) - having re-discovered vintage western shirts in the boyfriend's wardrobe and promptly borrowed them. As usual, other even-more-frivolous-things-to-post got in the way and soon it was March! Fashion-Week-style.com-a-clicking time! And look what I found...

Shown on the Isabel Marant runway. She has gone and posh-ified (with what looks like slinky silk) the good ol' yoked and embroidered western shirt for her Autumn/Winter 2012 collection. Which made this five-month-old post kind of relevant again. Not because we're heading into Autumn in our part of the world and not that the classic cowboy shirt is a seasonal thing (it can, and should be, worn all year round!). It is relevant, maybe only to me, again because I'm still getting my kicks from observing how "popular style has been stuck on repeat".

I also would like to know if anyone would fork out an exorbitantly large sum of money for a designer shirt when there are tonnes in similar, maybe even better, style and of equally good quality (my boyfriend's vintage shirts in cotton are very old but still in superb condition) to be found for cheap at flea markets and secondhand shops. Hardcore Isabel-ettes need not apply/reply because we all know how, to you, every "ridiculously perfect"* and "effortlessly chic"* piece by Ms Marant is a must-have.

Oh, I was reminded of an article I read a long time about the appeal of Isabel Marant. Like finding a misplaced bunch of keys, it took me nearly an hour to "backtrack my moves" to find it so read it!  

*Who else is tired of hearing and reading these oft-repeated fashion buzzwords-of-the-moment? It made me a little ill just typing them. Errrk.