Fashion Roundup
I. I just learned the British term "kipper ties", wide (4 to 5–inch) ties from the 1970s. But the 1970s fashion item that weirdly attracts me more is the pair of white slip-on shoes detective Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) wears with his camel coat on the TV show Life on Mars (UK, 2006), which I'm watching on DVD.
The show follows detective Sam Tyler (John Simm, below, far right) who has a car accident in 2006 and wakes up in 1973.
The show follows detective Sam Tyler (John Simm, below, far right) who has a car accident in 2006 and wakes up in 1973.
II. I was telling bink I'm intrigued with people making or re-making their own clothes these days, and she pointed me to "100 Most Stylish DapperQs 2015."
Dandies are more about bow ties than kipper ties, more Oscar Wilde than Life on Mars, but I did find one pair of white shoes, worn by No. 49, Eli Chi:
^ From Dapper Q, a "queer style and empowerment website specifically for masculine presenting women and trans-identified individuals"
III. Leap-blogging around, looking at hand-stitchery and made-from-scratch clothes, I came across "How to Wear a Flannel Sheet" --an outfit made of "a refashioned ivory flannel sheet and cotton pillow case with curtain lace embellishments," by artist Pat Otto (Pao) of the blog Project Minima:
The thrift store recycles so much cool material--old linens that have a little stain--I want to continue to learn how to make stuff with them.
I am having a sewing get-together this afternoon... I'm working on turning my square of quilted armor into something wearable.
Hey Fresca, thanks for the shout out. I'm in the midst of reading through you blog. So cool. You've even got me thinking about possibly seeing the Mad Max film. I had flatly refused saying, yeah, another white male's fantasy woman in sci-fi. Luv your hand sewn soft armor. It did remind me of Spirit Cloth. I've been working with old tablecloths, turning them into dresses mostly. I just appliqued over any stains or did something "creative" with them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Pao! and for your inspiring work.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in your take on the new Mad Max, if you do see it.
It is, yes, on one hand, "white male's fantasy woman in sci-fi"--the hero is a woman, and she's tough and amazing, but, she's also Charlize Theron.
And it's in the camp of movies that use violence and sex to tell a story about abhoring violence and sexual exploitation.
But it's also thrillingly visually creative,
and since some guys are protesting its "sneaky feminism," I guess I have to accept that even if the hero is a beautiful, sexy model and movie star, it's still radical to have a woman hero in sci-fi (or anywhere).
SAVE THE LINENS!
I'm a fan of the DapperQ stuff, but it also makes me cranky, like I feel body-shamed a bit when I look at it. I'm queer in that I don't identify as a woman at all (at most, perhaps a female, but I prefer "human" unless our conversation is anatomy-specific). I'm also content in my (hourglass, short) body and find the notion that I should change my body to match my identity rather ludicrous--to me, being misgendered by others isn't a challenge of my identity, it's an indication of the shallowness of society. But I was raised with near total acceptance from family of my right to self-identify my gender and to explore how I wanted to express it--I can certainly see how others could feel much more comfortable and able to be themselves by matching their body more closely to what a rigidly gendered society prescribes and I support that totally. For me and for my body, however, dressing to match my identity and my aesthetics would be a huge privilege/luxury--totally bespoke, nearly impossible without physical discomfort.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the dominant dapper dress styles also carry with a bit of the same problems I have with steampunk--glorification (or overthrowing?) of the glory days of rich white man style. I wish that was addressed more broadly--the intersections of gender identity, gender presentation, and all sorts of traditional privilege. I hope that'll shift with broader acceptance across gender, but unfortunately, a lot of the "trans-acceptance" stuff I see lauds parents who are into binary and rigidly gendered roles, but willing to allow their children to choose "the other one" as if that isn't 90% backwards still.
Crank crank crank. Where is the fast progress? When do we get the future?
JULIA: I love how thougt-ful you are!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it seems that while trans stuff is supposed to be about fluidity, it *can* be quite rigid... "Choose what you want, but there are only two choices."
I put this down to the involvement of humans. :)
Hopefully one day when we don't feel so up-against-the-wall, it will become "no big deal."
I don't follow the DapperQ world, so I don't know what the discourse is there, but for me, just seeing women of color in those clothes right away signals that they are transgressing not glorifying the style of rich, white men...
Heh, yes, "total physical discomfort"---this is a main reason I don't care for fashion:
Tight clothes?
Ugh, I can't breath!