If you haven't watched the prematurely cancelled Freaks and Geeks, you should. If you have then why don't you re-watch it on Netflix, hm?
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Thoughts On Building A Wardrobe
*me in my closet in 2007
Nearly every article I read that lists the "10 essential pieces you need for your wardrobe" (forever, or merely for this season depending on how often they want to hawk a brand) I just end up rolling my eyes. I went through a phase where I felt I needed to have the perfect black slacks everyone is always talking about or that essential white button-down, but those purchases never ended up in high rotation in my wardrobe. Even when I interviewed for positions during college as a secretary or teacher's assistant I ended up wearing vintage pencil skirts I found at thrift shops and blouses with prints or details that meant they couldn't be worn with "everything" but ended up being worn with all the pieces I owned more than anything basic white.
You see, when you're building a wardrobe it means you're still at the beginning of knowing your style. I started building my current wardrobe in college. I went from not much personal style to being very intentional with how I dressed when I got up every morning. I had to build largely from scratch since I had a previous aversion to skirts and dresses and that is essentially what I wear now. At that point in time I worked as a cashier in addition to being a student and my budget was tight. It was sometimes frustrating to have limited options, but I just bought when my budget allowed and tried to acquire pieces that would get worn and re-worn. I still routinely wear pieces that I bought back then--vintage dresses and shoes that have survived the intervening years. The reason my wardrobe is large today isn't because constant new acquisitions, but rather my holding on to certain pieces for a long time. And because I'm not prescient, there's a number of pieces I bought that didn't last in my closet. I bought dresses that I thought I'd want to wear everyday forever and discovered after a month I was absolutely sick of them. I bought shoes I thought I'd wear until they fell apart and then realized the color didn't suit anything in my closet and the heel was too high for me. I still end up buying things that I think will be perfect and learning only through a few wears that I'm a bit uncomfortable in them and they aren't something I see myself wearing in five years.
So, the biggest aspect of building your wardrobe is to understand it's largely a matter of time. Perhaps you have an exhaustive budget and can afford to purchase every "essential piece" you are advised to or personally feel driven to own. The odds still remain that some of those pieces won't become as essential as you believe them to be at the moment of purchase. Only time will test which ones get worn and which ones are relegated to the back of your closet. A more likely scenario is that your budget is limited and you can only invest in a few pieces, however instead of being limiting this style of slowly building your wardrobe is much more likely to mean you end up with pieces you'll like for multiple seasons and even years. It's the crux of every remix I post: acquiring pieces that get worn.
You might ultimately arrive at ten essential pieces that are the crux of your closet, but those ten pieces are very likely to be unique to you. They might be built around a silhouette that suits you or a favorite color or a specific era, but through whatever detail to them that makes them you they become your most-worn pieces. Anyway, I just wanted this to be a little piece of encouragement--if you admire someone else's closet suiting them so perfectly then you can realize it took time for that to become that way and if you're building your own closet from scratch then realize building takes time. The key is to think long-term and to not compare your wardrobe options to someone else's. Style isn't about trends or the latest pieces, but about clothes that suit you and express something within you--and style can't be acquired overnight but it will last forever.
Nearly every article I read that lists the "10 essential pieces you need for your wardrobe" (forever, or merely for this season depending on how often they want to hawk a brand) I just end up rolling my eyes. I went through a phase where I felt I needed to have the perfect black slacks everyone is always talking about or that essential white button-down, but those purchases never ended up in high rotation in my wardrobe. Even when I interviewed for positions during college as a secretary or teacher's assistant I ended up wearing vintage pencil skirts I found at thrift shops and blouses with prints or details that meant they couldn't be worn with "everything" but ended up being worn with all the pieces I owned more than anything basic white.
You see, when you're building a wardrobe it means you're still at the beginning of knowing your style. I started building my current wardrobe in college. I went from not much personal style to being very intentional with how I dressed when I got up every morning. I had to build largely from scratch since I had a previous aversion to skirts and dresses and that is essentially what I wear now. At that point in time I worked as a cashier in addition to being a student and my budget was tight. It was sometimes frustrating to have limited options, but I just bought when my budget allowed and tried to acquire pieces that would get worn and re-worn. I still routinely wear pieces that I bought back then--vintage dresses and shoes that have survived the intervening years. The reason my wardrobe is large today isn't because constant new acquisitions, but rather my holding on to certain pieces for a long time. And because I'm not prescient, there's a number of pieces I bought that didn't last in my closet. I bought dresses that I thought I'd want to wear everyday forever and discovered after a month I was absolutely sick of them. I bought shoes I thought I'd wear until they fell apart and then realized the color didn't suit anything in my closet and the heel was too high for me. I still end up buying things that I think will be perfect and learning only through a few wears that I'm a bit uncomfortable in them and they aren't something I see myself wearing in five years.
So, the biggest aspect of building your wardrobe is to understand it's largely a matter of time. Perhaps you have an exhaustive budget and can afford to purchase every "essential piece" you are advised to or personally feel driven to own. The odds still remain that some of those pieces won't become as essential as you believe them to be at the moment of purchase. Only time will test which ones get worn and which ones are relegated to the back of your closet. A more likely scenario is that your budget is limited and you can only invest in a few pieces, however instead of being limiting this style of slowly building your wardrobe is much more likely to mean you end up with pieces you'll like for multiple seasons and even years. It's the crux of every remix I post: acquiring pieces that get worn.
You might ultimately arrive at ten essential pieces that are the crux of your closet, but those ten pieces are very likely to be unique to you. They might be built around a silhouette that suits you or a favorite color or a specific era, but through whatever detail to them that makes them you they become your most-worn pieces. Anyway, I just wanted this to be a little piece of encouragement--if you admire someone else's closet suiting them so perfectly then you can realize it took time for that to become that way and if you're building your own closet from scratch then realize building takes time. The key is to think long-term and to not compare your wardrobe options to someone else's. Style isn't about trends or the latest pieces, but about clothes that suit you and express something within you--and style can't be acquired overnight but it will last forever.
Snapshot
Jackie Kennedy 
James Dean 
The Supremes 
Elizabeth Taylor 
Queen Elizabeth 
Grace KellyA Tip For Developing Personal Style
*vintage shopping in 2008 without my friends When asked how to develop personal style the biggest tip I know of is a rule I made for myself during college--that rule being: stop asking other people "does this look cute?" It's a pretty basic rule and one that you can exercise on a daily basis. The point isn't not caring if you look cute for your boyfriend or wearing a dress that your mother likes when she visits, but figuring out what you like for yourself.
I noticed in college on a shopping trip with friends how often when a dress or top was pulled a friend or myself would ask for affirmation before even trying it on. We needed some sort of validation for our attraction to a certain piece in order to hang on to it. It started to bother me as I became more drawn to vintage or retro pieces and my friends always voiced negative opinions. I would put back things I really liked and regret it later. More and more I realized how my style was quite different from theirs and I didn't really want to borrow things from their closets or shop at the same stores, but their negative responses to my picks was still affecting my decision making. One day I realized I just needed to stop asking. When I removed their part in my decision-making process I no longer felt any "wrongness" in choosing things; I started to follow my gut.
Personal style is personal. Even when we have similar styles to our friends or admire our mother's wardrobe we still have our own voice and if we can get out from under peoples' shadows and learn to re-work influences in a way that is personal and unique. You can want to mimic your mother's chicness or have your friends envy your outfit and ask "where's that from!" but dressing to impress other people is different than adjusting your choices to suit other people. Don't mistake this as stating "you can't dress to please your boyfriend" or something; the point is rather about building your own internal voice--this is about weeding out the unhelpful and limiting noises that friends and culture pushes at you. Sometimes it's hard to recognize our own voices and preferences outside of all the opinions being thrust upon us.
This isn't an end all system or how-to guide, but one specific tip that helps you experiment with style. There is a real change when you do stop asking "does this look cute?" You start to look at pieces you never would have considered before and begin feeling confident when you get dressed in the morning. You're even better at dealing with criticisms when they occur because it doesn't really matter if your sister thinks your dress is cute--you think your dress is cute and after all, you're the one wearing it. Your opinion of yourself is more important than anyone else's of you.
Personal style is personal. Even when we have similar styles to our friends or admire our mother's wardrobe we still have our own voice and if we can get out from under peoples' shadows and learn to re-work influences in a way that is personal and unique. You can want to mimic your mother's chicness or have your friends envy your outfit and ask "where's that from!" but dressing to impress other people is different than adjusting your choices to suit other people. Don't mistake this as stating "you can't dress to please your boyfriend" or something; the point is rather about building your own internal voice--this is about weeding out the unhelpful and limiting noises that friends and culture pushes at you. Sometimes it's hard to recognize our own voices and preferences outside of all the opinions being thrust upon us.
This isn't an end all system or how-to guide, but one specific tip that helps you experiment with style. There is a real change when you do stop asking "does this look cute?" You start to look at pieces you never would have considered before and begin feeling confident when you get dressed in the morning. You're even better at dealing with criticisms when they occur because it doesn't really matter if your sister thinks your dress is cute--you think your dress is cute and after all, you're the one wearing it. Your opinion of yourself is more important than anyone else's of you.
Cheap Thrills
Pictures Of You, Pictures Of Me
I recently printed out a few of my favorite instagrams using Printic. When you take a lot of digital photos it's nice to have something tangible every once in awhile and Printic is a pretty affordable way to do it. I probably won't have these pictures for long--I think they're nice to pass along in letters, scrawl a little caption on the bottom and sort of say, "carry me around in your pocket and place me between the pages of your favorite book."
For Late Bloomers
I definitely feel like a late bloomer in nearly every sense of the term. Romantically I've had more prospects in the past 6 months than I've had in the previous 26 years (although to be fair some of those years do not count as it would be silly for me to have a boyfriend at age 3). Even as a child I was off the charts for being too small, to the point that my mother took me to a doctor to see if there was actually some larger issue at hand with my lack of growth. Of course, with late blooming I don't mean to be so literal in my interpretation--I am not just slow at growing upwards.
To get slightly personal, in the past few months I've experienced romantic confusion, first dates, and now am happily labeling Thomas as my "boyfriend." Thomas is my first boyfriend. About a month prior to meeting him I was asked out on a date by a sweet young man and went on my first coffee date. Not my first coffee date with this guy, my first date full stop--not that I generally advertise this information. Do not mistake me for Puritanical in desires or expression, in many ways the opportunity for kissing or dating or whatever simply never arose for me; I haven't been turning down boys or wasting prime make-out sessions with incoherent babble. There are a myriad of reasons to explain these things--my (fully owned) social awkwardness, my family's propensity to move every few years, and my general late blooming.
I attended public co-education schools for 11 of my 12 years before college and I can recall friends who'd come back from make-out sessions in locker rooms with hickeys in the eighth grade. It seemed normal and I enjoyed their romantic trials and tribulations as much as I enjoyed our other discussions on favorite television shows and novels, but none of it ever seemed to touch me. I've often contemplated my future alone as a hermit not as one of resignation but with genuine interest in what I might name my Irish wolfhound and what climate or region might suit my disposition best. While it sometimes seemed ludicrous that I had so little experience most of the time I was perfectly content--either I'd find someone or I wouldn't. The latter option was (is) not the end of the world.
When the offer of a first date was extended by someone I was interested in, I accepted and didn't spend any time worrying that it was my first date. I hardly wasted any thought contemplating my first novel by a new author or the first time I tried a different food--I went in mostly blind and took each experience as it came. I feel like I was able to avoid a lot of the nerves because I'm not the overly shy, neurotic girl I was a few years ago. I probably wasn't ready to be dating even when I was a college student who was capable of traveling abroad alone, maintaining grades while also working, living across the country from my family, and other various activities that require some level of maturity. Just because you (or I) might be a late bloomer in one area or another it doesn't mean that across the board you're below average. I think it's important to focus on what we have done or can do as much as what we haven't--like getting your first job as a teenager and not quitting or reading multi-volume book series in the span of week. I find it odd that some people can make it to their mid-twenties without having flown by themselves or lived on their own or held a steady job--oddness is relative. Late bloomer seems to be synonymous with "doesn't fit an age-related mould." But most people don't fit a mould.
Style-wise I also feel like a late bloomer. As I've posted before self-consciousness kept me in jeans and tees for most of my school years despite my general dislike for said clothes. I also didn't wear make-up and routinely forgot to brush my hair until I was a senior in high school. I only started dressing in a way I found interesting the summer before my junior year of college. It was only a couple of years ago I was bold enough to cut my hair off and this summer to get the courage to dye it blue. As someone still overcoming shyness and self-consciousness any change that would make me stand out or could potentially look really bad is something that takes a bit of courage. I'm still getting comfortable in my own skin and less worried about how I look--which ironically tends to lend itself to more declarative style choices.
The large point of this highly personal post with potentially embarrassing factoids is: late blooming really isn't a big deal. It's perfectly normal and just because everything isn't happening now, doesn't mean it will never happen (something I felt at various stages). Growing up people can spend a lot of time worrying that their friends are having more experiences than them and not enough time focusing on whether or not they're enjoying their own choices. When I truly think of it I don't regret any evening I skipped a high school game or hang-out for book, I don't regret going to prom stag, and now I don't regret going on a first date that didn't lead to a relationship, kissing someone who I didn't end up with, or taking a chance on Thomas. It's not about whether you have your first kiss at fifteen or twenty-five; it's about whether or not you enjoy who you're kissing...
To get slightly personal, in the past few months I've experienced romantic confusion, first dates, and now am happily labeling Thomas as my "boyfriend." Thomas is my first boyfriend. About a month prior to meeting him I was asked out on a date by a sweet young man and went on my first coffee date. Not my first coffee date with this guy, my first date full stop--not that I generally advertise this information. Do not mistake me for Puritanical in desires or expression, in many ways the opportunity for kissing or dating or whatever simply never arose for me; I haven't been turning down boys or wasting prime make-out sessions with incoherent babble. There are a myriad of reasons to explain these things--my (fully owned) social awkwardness, my family's propensity to move every few years, and my general late blooming.
I attended public co-education schools for 11 of my 12 years before college and I can recall friends who'd come back from make-out sessions in locker rooms with hickeys in the eighth grade. It seemed normal and I enjoyed their romantic trials and tribulations as much as I enjoyed our other discussions on favorite television shows and novels, but none of it ever seemed to touch me. I've often contemplated my future alone as a hermit not as one of resignation but with genuine interest in what I might name my Irish wolfhound and what climate or region might suit my disposition best. While it sometimes seemed ludicrous that I had so little experience most of the time I was perfectly content--either I'd find someone or I wouldn't. The latter option was (is) not the end of the world.
When the offer of a first date was extended by someone I was interested in, I accepted and didn't spend any time worrying that it was my first date. I hardly wasted any thought contemplating my first novel by a new author or the first time I tried a different food--I went in mostly blind and took each experience as it came. I feel like I was able to avoid a lot of the nerves because I'm not the overly shy, neurotic girl I was a few years ago. I probably wasn't ready to be dating even when I was a college student who was capable of traveling abroad alone, maintaining grades while also working, living across the country from my family, and other various activities that require some level of maturity. Just because you (or I) might be a late bloomer in one area or another it doesn't mean that across the board you're below average. I think it's important to focus on what we have done or can do as much as what we haven't--like getting your first job as a teenager and not quitting or reading multi-volume book series in the span of week. I find it odd that some people can make it to their mid-twenties without having flown by themselves or lived on their own or held a steady job--oddness is relative. Late bloomer seems to be synonymous with "doesn't fit an age-related mould." But most people don't fit a mould.
Style-wise I also feel like a late bloomer. As I've posted before self-consciousness kept me in jeans and tees for most of my school years despite my general dislike for said clothes. I also didn't wear make-up and routinely forgot to brush my hair until I was a senior in high school. I only started dressing in a way I found interesting the summer before my junior year of college. It was only a couple of years ago I was bold enough to cut my hair off and this summer to get the courage to dye it blue. As someone still overcoming shyness and self-consciousness any change that would make me stand out or could potentially look really bad is something that takes a bit of courage. I'm still getting comfortable in my own skin and less worried about how I look--which ironically tends to lend itself to more declarative style choices.
The large point of this highly personal post with potentially embarrassing factoids is: late blooming really isn't a big deal. It's perfectly normal and just because everything isn't happening now, doesn't mean it will never happen (something I felt at various stages). Growing up people can spend a lot of time worrying that their friends are having more experiences than them and not enough time focusing on whether or not they're enjoying their own choices. When I truly think of it I don't regret any evening I skipped a high school game or hang-out for book, I don't regret going to prom stag, and now I don't regret going on a first date that didn't lead to a relationship, kissing someone who I didn't end up with, or taking a chance on Thomas. It's not about whether you have your first kiss at fifteen or twenty-five; it's about whether or not you enjoy who you're kissing...
Find The Map And Draw A Straight Line
Bit of a random photography post. One of my friends wanted pictures with a map projector and between shots I snapped for her, she snapped these two for me. I do really enjoy playing with projectors. Off topic: this blue velvet nail polish is the best color.
Baby You're A Firework
Every year in Tultepec, Mexico the citizens gather to celebrate the city's main export (fireworks) by having a pyrotechnic-infused festival-battle. Photographer Thomas Prior captured the beautiful although dangerous-seeming celebration in a stunning series of images that seem perfectly suited for today. Simply gorgeous...from a distance. My own plans for the day are far more tame, although I'm quite happy to be back to the season of sparklers.
Uncommon Goods
Last week UncommonGoods sent me this lovely necklace by artist Julie Moon. I really like the candy-colored porcelain which is made in such a way to look almost like a stone; the piece has a nice dimensionality to it--it's colored on all sides, so no matter how you twist it there's a pretty color. Anyway, I quite like it and if you're looking for unique jewelry you should check UncommonGoods out. The site is definitely going on my list of places to keep in mind when buying gifts for friends and family.
Audrey Hepburn photographed with her dog Mr. Famous and pet deer Ip. Technically, Ip (full name Pippin) was not Hepburn's full-time pet. Hepburn worked with Pippin on the set of Green Mansions and the director requested that Audrey take the deer home and bond with it so Pippin would learn to follow her. For a brief period the two were nearly inseparable as she even took Ip shopping with her.
Madame Gres
Gres is one French haute couture house that I desperately wish was up and running today. We get to see Chanel and Dior get re-worked by different creative heads, but for every line that survives there are dozens that fall into obscurity. Gres is one such line often forgotten by the average fashionista of today--however her unique approach to design was groundbreaking and still influencing designers today. Personally, I just dream of owning something as gorgeous as one of her Grecian-draped dresses.
Gres, was officially launched in 1942 by Alix Barton. She was formally trained as a sculptor but began her work in the fashion industry as a milliner. She worked largely with silk jersey and one dress could use from 42 to 68 feet. Her pleats echoed classical Greek scultpture and she said herself that she was a sculptor who worked with fabric. Bill Blass stated, "[fashion] only becomes art in the hands of Madame Grès." She also was one of the first designers to use cutouts in her work, but she used them strategically to display skin through windows of fabric in place of jewelry. Simplicity of line is at war with the difficulty and detailed construction of each piece, which stands alone as a work of art that both flatters and enhances the female form. This appreciation for shape often came from working directly on the body--draping on live models, contouring to their natural forms. She even encouraged her designs to be worn without underwear; directly against the skin (which is notable when you consider the highly restrictive and forceful undergarments popular in the 1940s-50s).
Although she worked into the 1980s, her house was always about classical style and she was not swayed by the fads of fashion. Her style (pardon the pun) was set in stone from the early days of her career. The house is largely considered extinct now, although the name was sold to a Japanese company and designer Koji Tatsuno serves as creative director of the line.
Gres, was officially launched in 1942 by Alix Barton. She was formally trained as a sculptor but began her work in the fashion industry as a milliner. She worked largely with silk jersey and one dress could use from 42 to 68 feet. Her pleats echoed classical Greek scultpture and she said herself that she was a sculptor who worked with fabric. Bill Blass stated, "[fashion] only becomes art in the hands of Madame Grès." She also was one of the first designers to use cutouts in her work, but she used them strategically to display skin through windows of fabric in place of jewelry. Simplicity of line is at war with the difficulty and detailed construction of each piece, which stands alone as a work of art that both flatters and enhances the female form. This appreciation for shape often came from working directly on the body--draping on live models, contouring to their natural forms. She even encouraged her designs to be worn without underwear; directly against the skin (which is notable when you consider the highly restrictive and forceful undergarments popular in the 1940s-50s).
Although she worked into the 1980s, her house was always about classical style and she was not swayed by the fads of fashion. Her style (pardon the pun) was set in stone from the early days of her career. The house is largely considered extinct now, although the name was sold to a Japanese company and designer Koji Tatsuno serves as creative director of the line.
Against Effortlessness
When did we become too cool for effort? It's a common underlining thought I keep coming across as I research style icon after style icon. Originally it could have been a rebellion from the strict fashion rules that pervaded earlier periods--from the requirement of wearing a corset to the need to match your shoes to your purse in the 1950s fashion was often restrictive. However, nowadays the trend isn't so much that it's cool to wear tees and cutoffs, but to act as if you haven't considered your basic wardrobe choices. You can look like you tried, but please don't admit that you actually planned your accessories--such coordination and effort is decidedly uncool.
From Jane Birkin to Debbie Harry, nearly every interview with oft-recognized fashion trend-setters on style leads to them sharing that they never intended to be fashionable--it was quite an accident. Debbie Harry said in an interview with Style, "I would just get dressed like a blind fool and somehow I guess that's how people started thinking that I was fashionable and that I really knew what I was doing. I really don't, you know." Even modern icons like Alexa Chung want to emphasize that it's all about fun and not taking fashion too seriously.
What I take away from the quotes is not a disdain of fashion exactly, but a desire to be read as more casual and effortless. It's cool to not try, you know? To just "accidentally" end up with designer friends, vintage Chanel, and that perfectly winged eyeliner...Sure you can enjoy spending hours browsing racks of secondhand and vintage or even shopping high street brands, but when you roll out of bed you roll through a pile of babydoll dresses and wind up with the perfect pair of abused leather flats and shrunken denim jacket to pair it with quite on accident. It's not to say that I don't think you should be ashamed of chipped nails or casual days when it is too much work to think about a cute outfit--it didn't even bother me in college when students showed up to class in their pajamas (hey, stuff happens). I just don't understand why people deny they are trying; that they do care about how they present themselves to the world.
I wish more people would say they put thought and effort into their outfit, and hey maybe that it was fun? I promise, I'll still think you're cool even if you admit you're putting effort in. I've always liked Dita von Teese's daywear for the precise reason that it looks so intentional--you can tell she's obviously trying (and succeeding). Just look at how excited she gets about trying on Dior; it makes me like her so much more. She knows it is a privilege to wear beautiful clothes and she doesn't seem to take it for granted.
From Jane Birkin to Debbie Harry, nearly every interview with oft-recognized fashion trend-setters on style leads to them sharing that they never intended to be fashionable--it was quite an accident. Debbie Harry said in an interview with Style, "I would just get dressed like a blind fool and somehow I guess that's how people started thinking that I was fashionable and that I really knew what I was doing. I really don't, you know." Even modern icons like Alexa Chung want to emphasize that it's all about fun and not taking fashion too seriously.
What I take away from the quotes is not a disdain of fashion exactly, but a desire to be read as more casual and effortless. It's cool to not try, you know? To just "accidentally" end up with designer friends, vintage Chanel, and that perfectly winged eyeliner...Sure you can enjoy spending hours browsing racks of secondhand and vintage or even shopping high street brands, but when you roll out of bed you roll through a pile of babydoll dresses and wind up with the perfect pair of abused leather flats and shrunken denim jacket to pair it with quite on accident. It's not to say that I don't think you should be ashamed of chipped nails or casual days when it is too much work to think about a cute outfit--it didn't even bother me in college when students showed up to class in their pajamas (hey, stuff happens). I just don't understand why people deny they are trying; that they do care about how they present themselves to the world.
I wish more people would say they put thought and effort into their outfit, and hey maybe that it was fun? I promise, I'll still think you're cool even if you admit you're putting effort in. I've always liked Dita von Teese's daywear for the precise reason that it looks so intentional--you can tell she's obviously trying (and succeeding). Just look at how excited she gets about trying on Dior; it makes me like her so much more. She knows it is a privilege to wear beautiful clothes and she doesn't seem to take it for granted.
Dressing For A Revolution
Countess Constance Georgine Markievicz (an Irish revolutionary nationalist and suffragette) is famous for having given the following fashion advice, "Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank, and buy a revolver." This idea of dressing for a revolution has been running through my head lately. However, clothing as preparing for battle very rarely involves literal chain-mail and weaponry. Instead one thing that is interesting how in every decade that we see women take strides towards freedom skirts have become shorter--at first it wasn't an indication of sexual liberty but pure practicality. Shorter skirts give people a greater range of movement, they are physically liberating.
An argument emerged when Naoko Takeuchi started work on her now famous anime Sailor Moon; her protagonists (teenage girls) were drawn in extremely short skirts (and tall boots, I might add), male producers of the anime requested a longer skirt for the characters because the the length was seen as suggestive, but Naoko insisted that they stay short. From a female perspective the skirt was seen as "cute" and practical. Shorter hems are not inherently sexual and are often not worn with the intent of being alluring--let's also recall that the amount of skin considered appropriate differs drastically by era, an ankle in the 1800s would have been seen as incredibly sexual. So our relationship with skin and suggestion is highly influenced by culture. Naoko fought for the skirt length and wardrobe choice didn't limit Sailor Moon from being a hero. Of course, this isn't supposed to devolve into a conversation about hem-length. It's just one factor in dressing radically and being prepared for anything.
So I suppose this all brings me back to the idea of dressing for a revolution. Dressing for a revolution or to fight in some fictitious battle often requires a change in the standard wardrobe of the day. Revolutionary battles call for revolutionary clothes. Then there's the thought of how clothes are our every day armor against an insensitive and overstimulating world. Even when we're not dressing to fight a battle we're choosing clothes to help us belong in our job, or feel more comfortable when we're awkward and shy. To me it's more than clothes being used to provoke a response, but actually dressing in such a way that you are better able to achieve your goals. Just some thoughts germinating in my head lately...
*comic by madeleineishere
An argument emerged when Naoko Takeuchi started work on her now famous anime Sailor Moon; her protagonists (teenage girls) were drawn in extremely short skirts (and tall boots, I might add), male producers of the anime requested a longer skirt for the characters because the the length was seen as suggestive, but Naoko insisted that they stay short. From a female perspective the skirt was seen as "cute" and practical. Shorter hems are not inherently sexual and are often not worn with the intent of being alluring--let's also recall that the amount of skin considered appropriate differs drastically by era, an ankle in the 1800s would have been seen as incredibly sexual. So our relationship with skin and suggestion is highly influenced by culture. Naoko fought for the skirt length and wardrobe choice didn't limit Sailor Moon from being a hero. Of course, this isn't supposed to devolve into a conversation about hem-length. It's just one factor in dressing radically and being prepared for anything.
So I suppose this all brings me back to the idea of dressing for a revolution. Dressing for a revolution or to fight in some fictitious battle often requires a change in the standard wardrobe of the day. Revolutionary battles call for revolutionary clothes. Then there's the thought of how clothes are our every day armor against an insensitive and overstimulating world. Even when we're not dressing to fight a battle we're choosing clothes to help us belong in our job, or feel more comfortable when we're awkward and shy. To me it's more than clothes being used to provoke a response, but actually dressing in such a way that you are better able to achieve your goals. Just some thoughts germinating in my head lately...
*comic by madeleineishere
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