Comments on: FASHION 101 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/ Making The Most of MidLife--Together Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:56:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: theodicy http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3994 theodicy Thu, 17 Nov 2005 03:53:22 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3994 <p>a thought!</p> a thought!

]]> By: writerwench http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3993 writerwench Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:59:11 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3993 <p>Ah, many and many and various are the books that have been/could be/should be written on the dichotomy of Fashion Dressers -v- The Rest of Womankind... the polarisation of young women between those who can and do dress fashionably, and The Others. It is a huge and rarely-bridged gulf. As a social phenomenon, one could study the reasons for whether or not a person dresses fashionably - is it only figure, is it upbringing, is it an innate sense (as posted above) of when dressing fashionably will bring the accusation of Mutton Dressed As Lamb? And why does it matter, who MINDS if a girl is fashionable or not? 'Clueless' is my immediate frame of reference. Image. Social ranking. Conformity to group pressure. The transformation from Geek to Chick in 'Grease'. Image conveying sexual availability. </p> <p>I could go on... but as it's 1am and I've been writing all day and my eyes are out on STILTS, I won't. </p> <p>I'd love to do a longer article on the socially equalizing effects of ageing on female society, but what magazine would buy it? Nothing that relies upon advertising revenue from fashion retailers, that's for sure! </p> Ah, many and many and various are the books that have been/could be/should be written on the dichotomy of Fashion Dressers -v- The Rest of Womankind… the polarisation of young women between those who can and do dress fashionably, and The Others. It is a huge and rarely-bridged gulf. As a social phenomenon, one could study the reasons for whether or not a person dresses fashionably – is it only figure, is it upbringing, is it an innate sense (as posted above) of when dressing fashionably will bring the accusation of Mutton Dressed As Lamb? And why does it matter, who MINDS if a girl is fashionable or not? ‘Clueless’ is my immediate frame of reference. Image. Social ranking. Conformity to group pressure. The transformation from Geek to Chick in ‘Grease’. Image conveying sexual availability.

I could go on… but as it’s 1am and I’ve been writing all day and my eyes are out on STILTS, I won’t.

I’d love to do a longer article on the socially equalizing effects of ageing on female society, but what magazine would buy it? Nothing that relies upon advertising revenue from fashion retailers, that’s for sure!

]]> By: byjane http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3992 byjane Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:18:22 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3992 <p>brilliant--my journalist's nose says: where can we sell this dialogue????</p> brilliant–my journalist’s nose says: where can we sell this dialogue????

]]> By: writerwench http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3991 writerwench Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:11:38 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3991 <p>Yes... perhaps there are benefits to never, EVER having been thin enough and bold enough to wear anything remotely fashionable, to having had a lifetime of Sensible Clothes and only a modest plunge to the top to display the enbonpoint without too obviously indicating the belly below? </p> <p>Alas for you fashionistas, formerly slim and taut-thighed ones... this is the age when your larger sisters, they who were objects of pity and derision in high school as they sweated through summer in pants because their thighs were too heavy for skirts, as they plodded invisibly along the school corridors in baggy T-shirts and thick sweaters, in the miserable certainty that no boys worth adoring would ever give them a second glance, with the Pretty Girls fluttering in the spotlight ahead... this is the age when the Sensible Larger Women stride out, comfortable as ever in Sensible clothes, finally no longer the invisible underclass of female. We are equal at last.</p> <p>Oh what I'd have given to just have one summer of being able to go into a fashion store and select a few outfits, in the happy certainty that they would fit. Being Too Large (not particularly fat, just Large) for fashion clothes was acid on the seventeen-year-old soul. </p> <p>No, I do feel pity for the no-longer-able-to-be-fashionable women. I do, really. You've lost something I never had, but that doesn't mean I don't understand. The pain of having had and then lost must be worse than the pain of never having had at all.</p> Yes… perhaps there are benefits to never, EVER having been thin enough and bold enough to wear anything remotely fashionable, to having had a lifetime of Sensible Clothes and only a modest plunge to the top to display the enbonpoint without too obviously indicating the belly below?

Alas for you fashionistas, formerly slim and taut-thighed ones… this is the age when your larger sisters, they who were objects of pity and derision in high school as they sweated through summer in pants because their thighs were too heavy for skirts, as they plodded invisibly along the school corridors in baggy T-shirts and thick sweaters, in the miserable certainty that no boys worth adoring would ever give them a second glance, with the Pretty Girls fluttering in the spotlight ahead… this is the age when the Sensible Larger Women stride out, comfortable as ever in Sensible clothes, finally no longer the invisible underclass of female. We are equal at last.

Oh what I’d have given to just have one summer of being able to go into a fashion store and select a few outfits, in the happy certainty that they would fit. Being Too Large (not particularly fat, just Large) for fashion clothes was acid on the seventeen-year-old soul.

No, I do feel pity for the no-longer-able-to-be-fashionable women. I do, really. You’ve lost something I never had, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand. The pain of having had and then lost must be worse than the pain of never having had at all.

]]> By: byjane http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3990 byjane Tue, 15 Nov 2005 09:03:32 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3990 <p>I too ha[d]ve yoga intentions. Perhaps we should go together...</p> I too ha[d]ve yoga intentions. Perhaps we should go together…

]]> By: theodicy http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/comment-page-1/#comment-3989 theodicy Tue, 15 Nov 2005 07:04:13 +0000 http://midlifebloggers.com/2005/11/14/fashion-101/#comment-3989 <p>This woman remembers a brief interlude in her early-to-mid-thirties when she was excruciatingly thin. She wore shortshortshort skirts and when her mom asked why, she said, "Because soon enough, I will never be able to wear this stuff again."</p> <p>I hear tell yoga helps. I have a vague recollection of going, before acid indigestion wrecked my entire schedule.</p> This woman remembers a brief interlude in her early-to-mid-thirties when she was excruciatingly thin. She wore shortshortshort skirts and when her mom asked why, she said, “Because soon enough, I will never be able to wear this stuff again.”

I hear tell yoga helps. I have a vague recollection of going, before acid indigestion wrecked my entire schedule.

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