Showing posts with label fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fashion. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

July 5 2023 - Fashion Alert - More than just sleeves too long

 

I haven't looked at fashion trends for a while, and took a look at Vogue's trends for Spring 2023 - what people would be wearing now.  

I don't see a correlation between Vogue and real life.  There's some kind of relationship between the prices in the Vogue article and what is on the racks at our retail stores but I haven't guessed it. 

What got me by surprise was the numerous excessive length-of-sleeve tops.  One might think this is a good thing for older women with arms no longer fashionably show-worthy.  This is the opposite results - where overlong sleeves "turn a person into a child".  There is much made about long sleeves looking childish. Humorous childish long sleeve t-shirts are witness to this.  And then headlines asking how to solve a three year old who refuses to wear long sleeves.


Here's what this fashion magazine.com article says of the style:

"Though they hint at destitution, excessive sleeves also convey its opposite, which is the hands-free existence of the ultra-leisured class. The very well heeled have never opened their own doors or carried their own shopping bags, so what does it matter if they cannot? But there is a more pernicious and, dare I say, even sinister interpretation of the trend for those who do use their hands on occasion: It hobbles the wearer. Oversized clothes and sleeves turn a person into a child. One burrows into clothes that are too big; one hides in them. Long sleeves conceal multitudes from the public eye: a knife, a con artist’s ace of spades, a self-harmer’s scars. And prolonged sleeves, which are buckled together like a straitjacket, signify helplessness—the utmost loss of control."

These are the thoughts of fashion critics.  Let's turn to psychologists.  The good therapy.orgarticle on the link between clothing choices and emotional states is HERE.  Their study found that there is a strong link between clothing and mood state.  There's a lot made of jeans being an indication of a negative mood.

“The study mentions that happy clothes include well-cut, figure-enhancing items made from bright and beautiful fabrics,” Heathman said.

If I apply that to the fashion industry, I would conclude that its social and mental state is one of depression and anxiety. Fashion models appear to be younger than adults - teenagers who look sullen and pouty.  The clothing styles are wild and strange - perhaps like cartoons, animated movies and computer games.  

Or perhaps the fashion industry manifests the current social state.  Dress scholars Mary Ellen Roach and Joanne Eicher find that dress is one of the main ways to send social signals - what we wear shows our identity.

It could be that our fashion industry is signalling that there are serious social problems.  While the Atlantic has weighed saying that fashion has abandoned human taste, perhaps it isn't that simple.

What got me wondering about all of this were the images in Grazia  -  some of the sleeves reach the ground and some of the outfits don't seem to be "clothes." You can click through then slide show by clicking at the first image HERE.   But then I've extracted a few for you here.  The long sleeves are particularly obviously long. 
 



Here's a nice walk in the woods.

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Monday, July 23, 2018

What Age are you wearing?

Can we tell the age of a person by simply looking carefully at what they are wearing? That's my theory - the style and colours tell the story.  This seems to me to be a sociological study rather than a google search.

On the other hand, I found this article in everydayhealth.com.  What makes it remarkable is that it identifies ages such as 30 as being too old to wear various styles.  It is clearly addressed to women.  There are some articles for men, but fashion is targeted primarily to women.
 

Top 10 items you're too old to wear

1. Message t-Shirts (retail retirement age: 30)
2. Too-trendy denim (retail retirement age: 35)
3. Costume shoes (retail retirement age: mid-40s)
4. Micro-mini skirts (retail retirement age: 40)
5. Anything showing excessive cleavage (retail retirement age: 50)
6. White, ribbed cotton tank tops (retail retirement age: 40)
7. Hair gadgets (retail retirement age: 30)
8. Oversized, overly-decorated hobo bags (retail retirement age: 50)
9. Cheap, unflattering underwear (retail retirement age: 40)
10. Loud accessories (retail retirement age: 35)
11. Visible or coloured bra straps (a throw-in without age)

Here's the concluding platitude:  “But what you’re striving for isn’t to look youthful – it’s to look ageless,” DeMartino says. “This way, you’re going to look more fabulous because the look is appropriate for you.”  It is followed by a referral to Charla Krupp’s How Not to Look Old  (Grand Central Life & Style).

There are lots more top ten lists on what to do/not do:  the AARP entertains us with their concluding four items:
  • Gold chains with your name on them.
  • Gold chains with anyone's name on them.
  • Gold chains.
  • Chains.
We had lots of rain in the garden yesterday, so I took a few shots of the rain drops.