True Fashionista: Meagan Kyla

Oh the tangled web blogs weave. Visit a blog and click on the profiles of commenters or the links in their blogroll and you go down the rabbit hole. I could easily spend hours on the computer with just one innocent click in a blog’s sidebar. Sometimes it’s a time suck, and sometimes you hit on a true gem and find a new favorite blog. Thanks to a late-night blogroll rabbit hole I found the utterly awesome Meagan Kyla, a True Fashionista.

While Meagan Kyla's blog is no longer in existence, I kept this interview for style inspiration.

I find the most sartorial inspiration from those who don’t dress the way I do. They force me to expand my horizons, see beauty in that which I may have otherwise ignored, and push my sartorial boundaries. And this is what I get from Meagan Kyla.

Meagan Kyla is the author of Coffin Kitch, a personal style, fashion, and lifestyle blog. While many fashion blogs focus on current trends and pop culture, Coffin Kitch focuses on the goth lifestyle and look. However, unlike many goth blogs, Meagan is incredibly friendly, welcoming, and accepting of us non-goth people. From a recent post on her blog:

I do enjoy people's opinions and doing the research into things that they love and if they have a passion for goth, well it's relevant to my interests and I sure will give it a read. The snobbery, elitism and petty crap is in every ‘scene', but for some reason goths love to make outsiders feel so uncomfortable that the goth scene doesn't prosper. I know we love dead things, but come on! I'm not saying I wasn't guilty of snobbery in my youth, but as an old lady in my 30s (haha, slap me now!) I've realized to just relax and be more excepting. My life is filled with things other than bats, spiders and Robert Smith.

This totally resonates with me for when I was in high school I hung with the “goth” crowd. Back then we didn’t have a real name for it, we just wore our Doc Martens, sprayed our black hair to the sky, and listened to a lot of music that our parents found weird and depressing. Though I rocked my Docs, biker jacket, and hairstyle very similar to Meagan Kyla’s I never felt as though I fit in, that I was “goth” enough or “cool” enough for this crowd because I was too happy and liked fashion too much (so much so, my leather biker jacket, embarrassed to write it, was from Express). I slowly left the scene because I found it too exclusionary, and Meagan Kyla’s blog reminds me that I can’t judge a whole culture by a handful of individuals. My 11th grade self loves Meagan Kyla’s positivity, quirkiness, and Robert Smith and Siouxsie Sioux tattoos!

Not only is Meagan Kyla a blogger, but she’s also a fashion stylist and even has an Etsy shop full of some pretty badass upcycled fashion. She sees the fun and spirit of fashion, and truly sees how what you wear can help define your personality to the world. She is proof that you don't need a gigantic closet to have a defined personal style, and that even if you have a very distinctive style, you can still dress appropriately for any situation that life throws your way without losing yourself.  I love her bubbly attitude, and how she doesn’t take herself, the goth culture, or life too seriously to enjoy it.

As with all other True Fashionistas, I asked Meagan Kyla to answer the same five questions; here are her answers.

How would you describe your personal style?
Spooky with a twist of kitsch, I truly believe ‘Everyday is Halloween'! Though goth is looked at as a negative term, when people call me goth I thank them! Goth is not just a teenage phase, it is a legitimate fashion style, yet I don't just limit myself to those strict guidelines.

Where did you get your passion for fashion?
I remember opening Christmas gifts and getting horrible cat sweaters from relatives, I was a shy kid and just wore them in disgust. Once I could pick out my own clothes, and I started to get more into alternative music side of the spectrum is when I threw all rules out the window. I wore the most god awful things from the thrift stores, but it helped to develop my love of fashion. Fashion is about experimenting and loving it as if it was your second skin.

Where do you find sartorial inspiration?
Pretty much anything involving the 80s; old 80s music magazines, music videos and post punk bands,
I'm a little obsessed even though I am a child of the 80s. My modern inspirations come from Auxiliary
Magazine as I had worked with them for three years as the fashion editor, other bloggers and street fashion.I am also inspired by Old Hollywood starlets, the Victorian era and The Addams Family.

What is the difference between fashion and style?
Fashion is disposable to me, it's a trend or a fleeting fancy, though it has its legitimate place in the
world. Being “in fashion” is what the latest fashion magazine is sporting or what ‘so and so' is wearing. Style is something you own, it's you, it's something that defines you even though it may not be in fashion or following a trend.

Any advice for a woman who is starting to find her personal style?
Don't knock it till you try it on, love it or hate it, then move on! Wear things that make you feel good.
Personal style is well…personal! Know your body and don't just jump to all your flaws, accentuate your positives as the negatives can be camouflaged. Start slow and don't be too freaked out by shopping and styling yourself. It can be frustrating, yet very rewarding at the same time.