What ARE you wearing?

I was out on Saturday night and noticed two women were looking at me and talking to each other. I wouldn't have thought much of it, but they were right behind my friends, so I kept seeing them out of the corner of my eye. Now, I think there are a lots of interesting people to look at in New York and I wouldn't assume I'd be one of the top choices. (This is New York City and there are loads of people who make their living by being interesting to look at!!) Still, it did seem like they were commenting on my outfit and that works with this story, so I'm going with that.

I didn't mind much because I happened to like what I was wearing (black shiny leggings, over the knee black boots and a black minidress with a bunch of snaps on the straps and hem). And I happened not to like what they were wearing. I remember high-waisted jeans, feathered hair, and sweater vests over blouses. Though to be honest, I think that's not actually what they looked like, just a flash back to junior high school when you'd expect two girls talking to each other about your outfit to look like that (if you're my generation anyway). It was a dark bar, it was late, I'd had a cocktail or two..ish...

Anyhow, I know it's common belief that women dress for each other and not for men, but this struck me as another nail in the coffin of that cliche. I wasn't dressing for them, certainly not! And I don't think other women dress for other women, either. Sure, junior high school girls probably do dress for each other because most of them aren't comfortable enough to stand out and express their individuality. But I believe adult women dress for themselves. Though on further reflection, I have to add that that's within a certain context, though that context can be broad. Most of us who work and interact with people on a regular basis don't walk around like Little Edie in Grey Gardens with a sweater on our heads and pinned together pants as a skirt (as an example...).

I met a friend of a friend recently who mentioned something in passing that gave me such a great visual image. He was the creative director at Vogue in the '80s and told me that, despite the short hair and long sleeved polo he was wearing when I met him, he, his wife, and his friends used to wear the whole aggro '80s leather fashion gear when hanging out in the East Village and going to clubs. Leather jumpsuits in daytime, whatever. I did come to New York in the '80s a few times, but I never saw anything like that in the audience at Cats or in the Met, so the cultural references that popped into my head were Desperately Seeking Susan and the scene from National Lampoon's European Vacation when they went shopping in Milan and came out in these crazy outfits.

Anyway, his little story prompts me to ask who he was dressing for - was the leather jumpsuit for his wife, as a sign that he was in a certain crowd, or purely because he liked it? The men I have shopped with or for have pretty definite ideas about what they like and don't like, so I don't believe you all throw on any old thing (unless that's your look). So, who do you dress for? Women? Men? As an identification badge showing your place in society? Yourselves? or all of the above? Have you thought about it? (do you care?)

harem-pff

My sister, Megan, recently showed me a photo of harem pants in an Anthropologie catalog and joked about their comeback over the last couple years. Back in the day, when she and I were a little fashion mad and frustrated with the conservative clothes available in Winston-Salem, we decided that we would sew our own harem pants. I think we might have been the only two people in town who wore them, unless there were some MC Hammer wannabes around. But we didn’t meet them. I don’t remember (or have blocked the memory of) any weird looks when I wore them volunteering at the contemporary art museum in town, but my sister said her fellow classmates at Wiley Middle School didn’t really get it. Good for her for trying, though! 13 year olds are tough critics, as I learned a few years earlier when I tried to wear what I saw in Seventeen and heard was cool in New York: jumpsuits, purple Gloria Vanderbilt corduroys, and knickers (in case you’re English, I don’t mean underpants, though of course I wore them, but not as outer-wear. I think you all call them knickerbockers..?)

Anyhow, she and I had this great idea that we’d make our own fashion label. Our range was pretty small, consisting of the above-mentioned harem pants and a couple graphic tee shirts which we painstakingly painted by hand (over several days!) We wore them too, also to limited success. Needless to say, no one was clamoring for our look, so we dropped it, went to college and studied practical things like Art History (me) and American Studies (Megan).

Winston-Salem has changed, and now there’s shopping on-line, so girls in North Carolina no longer have to sew their own harem pants, but can buy them at Anthropologie. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. The ones I saw looked like what a rice farmer in India might wear. I mean, maybe they’re comfortable in hot weather, but if I’m going to dress like I’m in a harem, I wouldn’t want to look like I’m in a rice farmer’s harem!

I want the full 9 yards (and I do think that’s about how much fabric they require). I’d want to look like Barbara Carrera in Never Say Never Again, the unsanctioned James Bond movie (though it did have Sean Connery and very good villians and Bond girls – Carrera, plus Klaus Maria Brandauer and Kim Basinger, so nothing to sneeze at!). She was totally over the top glamorous and evil. So great. (I couldn't find a better photo, but trust me, those pants are harem.) I still love her clothes in that movie. Actually, I think she had some pretty sharp shoulders, too… They were all over the spring shows. I wonder if Riccardo Tisci and Marc Jacobs have been watching it, too? Those shoulders were pretty visible at Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. What other fashion might be salvageable from Never Say Never? American Apparel is already all over the ‘80s aerobics leotard fashion, are we going to see bad toupees, too?



I'd consider joining Phi's harem...



















want to touch this? (not the pattern we used, by the way...

Hair shirts and bursting dikes

In the past couple days, I read a quote from some financial expert in some financial media that said (I'm paraphrasing) "Americans like to spend money and any drop in consumer spending and increase in savings rate is likely to be short lived".

Well, that may be news to J Crew and Estee Lauder, who just announced layoffs, apparently, but it makes sense to me! Hair shirts just aren't much fun to wear, unless it's the hair of a sable. (Oh no, PETA - it was just a joke!).

As I've mentioned before, I've been holding the purse strings tight, but I am just aching to go to Paris - and with the Euro where it is now vs the dollar, it's killing me. It will take one friend - one - to say they'll meet me there, and over I go. And out the window goes my budget. That's the problem with building up a dike to hold back spending (or any fun behavior, really) - the pressure builds and if you don't release it and Hans Brinker isn't around with his helpful finger (that sounds bad, I know, but it's not a dirty story and if you took it that way, it's not my problem), it will come bursting out. As you can see in the picture, even he doesn't seem able to hold it back...

Americans may not be shopping, but as I'm not the only one to say, they don't seem to be holding back on spending on other things that are fun. Not in New York, at least. Every bar, restaurant, and party I've been to all year has been packed. The non-shopping fun stuff has definitely kept up my spirits. The question is: for those of us who are a bit materialistic (and I fully admit that I am, as flawed as that makes me)..how long do you/can you hold back from loosening the reins a bit?

Well, I think the answer for me is about another 3-4 weeks. That's not an arbitrary date; that's when the pressure will be the greatest for me as my friends will be having their sample sales. I see no point in resisting, it will only hurt more later. I don't even know what I want, aside from aggressive shoes (which are always what I want) and then there's that unexplained annual urge to buy a striped sailor shirt in the spring. (What is that urge? Freudian? Jungian? Gap ads?) Anyway, I always do, then never wear them. So maybe I won't this year.

But I know I'll hit the sample sales where I'll see friends and have fun and leave with great stuff. And I'll probably leave, as I always do, feeling excited by the fabulous new clothes I'm taking home, and maybe a little guilty for spending more than I should have. I'll try to leave out the guilt this year, though. It's a wasteful emotion and really.. what for? In the March Vogue, Anna Wintour implores us to spend, writing that slashing our shopping budgets isn't necessarily virtuous, since it decimates the fashion industry. Instead, people should spend wisely, considering where their money is going. I think that's quite fair. And I'd like to mention to any employees of hedge funds or mutual funds who are reading this: trading in Scandinavian equities with a nice little Swedish bank is VERY virtuous... and wise!










Hair shirt? Not for spring!




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Nights in white sneakers

A friend visited recently and packed impress- ively light, but from a going out in New York City standpoint, had it all wrong. To be fair, he knew that, but that's the point. My parents are visiting soon and I know they'll ask themselves too: how do I pack so I'm comfortable walking around the city, but don't look like I've just come from the gym or a midwestern college campus? How do you not look like the Griswolds in Paris or the throngs in I "heart" NY t-shirts around Rockefeller Center? Well, here's a tip and the truth, and (because it's me) a bit more chatter.

The tip? It sure isn't white sneakers. Sure your feet may be comfortable, but the rest of you won't be. You might be able to get away with it in daytime, but if you go anyplace in the dark, that gleaming white rubber will draw attention like a beacon. Even in hipster dives you'll get funny looks because, as far as anyone is aware, white sneakers have never successfully been worn ironically.

And here's the truth: If you want to fit in, you don't wear comfortable shoes in New York. New Yorkers don't wear comfortable shoes in New York. Every woman I know spends at least 12 hours a day, 5 days a week (plus a number of evenings) in ridiculously high shoes they don't even sell in other American cities. You think we all walk quickly because we're in a hurry? No, we're trying to get where we're going before the pain sets in. You wonder why there's a cocktail culture? Anesthetic, sweetheart!!

Of course, every city has its own packing issues... London: what summery clothes do I have that are good for 50 degree temperatures, waterproof, and won't block me from getting into clubs? Paris: what do I want to wear the first day I get there that's easy to take off and put back on, since I'm going to hit 50 stores as I shop for the wardrobe I'll wear for the rest of the trip? Germany: What shoes and coat go with a dirndl? (just kidding). Beach: is there anything in my wardrobe that will make me look tan? (yeah, kidding again. you got me!)

I've learned all this the hard way and still get things completely wrong. (Word to the wise - Thailand without some kind of water shoe makes you look VERY high maintenance when you're walking in the water, even if you're not!)... And there's often a trade-off (sometimes swapping sneakers for cute flats also brings back spasms). But just tossing in one or two of those things that aren't designed for walking all day, but that you know you can handle in your life at home (like platform sandals and high boots) will make you feel like the world is your oyster. And no, I'm not going to make some cheesy analogy about blisters and pearls being formed by irritation. But I will strongly recommend also tossing in a bunch of band-aids and some anti blister stick. Maybe also some socks.