This week, the same prompt was given to both of us. This is a way to see a varied perspective of the same idea. It's interesting to see the main point is similar, while the source of the inspiration may be different, it's your approach to inspiration that is important.
Cesy says,
I’ve spoken about this before, because I feel really passionately about the fact that traditional sources of inspiration are so important to weave into any creative process. But it’s not always easy to shift your habits from purely digital to being a diversified collection of creative inspiration sources. The crux of the issue is social media algorithms feed you what you’re looking for based on your past interests, so you’re never being challenged to look outside of your pre-existing taste, you’re never having to do as much of the mental labour of sifting between things you like and things you don’t like. I think this is integral to strengthening your personal taste. Given that, my favourite place to find inspiration outside of social media is people watching.
For me, the key to this is being in a place that has a high concentration of creatives or artists. I think that creative people will be more inclined to express themselves visually in a unique way. Or find a restaurant or wine bar that you know is frequented by people who visually present themselves in a way that you aspire to be like or that interests you. You can also go into your favourite stores and look around at the people who work there or also shop there.
The source for your inspiration can be varied but I think the important part is to shift your mindset around being inspired. Let go of the idea that everything in life is clickable and shoppable. It’s tempting to see someone wearing an amazing item and run up to them to ask where they bought it, but challenge yourself to look at things as references rather than wishlists. When someone walks past in an outfit you like, ask yourself things like “why does this interest me?” “what do I already own that could emulate the same vibe, without the exact pieces?” “do I want to emulate this myself or just appreciate it in general?”. I think that these questions help me to shift inspiration from being an intense feeling of wanting, and instead become a feeling of appreciation or gratitude for beautiful things, this changes being inspired from being a stressful experience that you can only do when you’re ready to shop, to being an experience that happens subtly and even subconsciously, in an ongoing way that slowly builds your taste bit by bit in the background of your day-to-day life.
Soph says:
Since moving to New York, and between all the travel that comes with building brands rooted in different cultures, the way I find inspiration has changed completely, it doesn't get served to me anymore, I actually have to go and look for it.
That's probably why vintage and secondhand shopping has become the place I keep coming back to, it's made up over 70% of what I've bought this year, and I think that's because nothing is sorted for you the way it is online, you have to actually dig through racks and try on things you would never have searched for and most of the time you leave with nothing at all. I think that's kind of the whole point though, putting on something from 2003 and imagining who wore it before me, what their life looked like, the confidence it must have taken to wear it out, does more for my creativity than anything an algorithm has ever shown me.
Travel does something similar. Landing in a new city, or even a familiar one, for work and watching a whole population of people live their lives with absolutely no idea who you are makes you look at things without any agenda, you're not scrolling for something to want, you're just there in it. And I think that's changed the way I dress too, the more places I go the more I experiment, the same way you get stronger at the gym or better at public speaking the more you actually do it, and it's given me the confidence to wear things now that I never would have five years ago.
In short, I think inspiration these days comes from putting myself somewhere I actually have to work for it. A rack of secondhand clothes, a new city, a street I don't know, and just letting whatever I find there slowly change my mind. Living in New York is full of friction, however that friction has turned into inspiration if you slow down and let it.