Fashion! (Ongoing)

Reposting this from the book thread because it might be of interest to people here:

Roy Batty's Pet Dove Well, I think he does, though a lot of his good poems are long. Oddly I do think he’s a very good visual poet, but for the more complex geometries of nature rather than something nice and simple like triangles. ANything involving Coleridge going outside is great.

He was quite the enlightenment-romanticism character, too (I know there are a lot of arguments arguing the two were the same sides of the same coin) being good friends with Sir Humphry Davy, one of the founders of modern chemistry. The Age of Wonder is a good book about the intersection of art and science at the time and has a lot about them.

In any event I finished Bruce Boyer’s Elegance—I found it very hard to put down for an extended period of time once I got started. The chapters were originally magazine articles, so they were quick, easy to digest, and left one wanting more—the fact that they were arranged alphabetically (from “accoutrement” to “vests”) also meant there wasn’t any sort of narrative flow, so the book never risked getting exhausting. Pick it up, put it down, ehh maybe one more chapter, oops I’m finished. Very light writing in a sort of “poshly lighthearted” style, but a lot of good info nonetheless—some good practical care tips, a lot of fascinating stuff about the origins and manufacture of a lot of clothes and fabrics (visits to the Hebrides and India—lots of our clothing is indebted to India, either pre- or colonial). A wealth of information tying clothes to history, too—can’t imagine reading it in an age before Google image search given how often he references specific, sometimes not all that well known, paintings (makes a very interesting point about the parallel rises of tailoring and humanism—the cut of clothing only starts to accentuate the body in the Renaissance). The only real downside to this book is that it’s the most ridiculously typo-filled one I’ve ever read—over thirty years worth of readers have gone through with pencils adding in little proofreading marks and I even found one they missed!

The other potential flaw—it’s from the beginning of the Reagan era—isn’t really a flaw at all and is actually an interesting place for such a book to be written. It’s at the very beginning of Armani being a thing—he gets mentioned and discussed but that ultra-relaxed cut is still very niche and close to its original purpose (suit jacket as cardigan), The eighties were newly nostalgic (you see this in film, too, with stuff like My Favorite Year), so it tied stuff like suit cuts from the thirties to more contemporary ones. But the early eighties is still recent enough for the JFK era of clothing to remain in recent memory—that stuff’s aged better and more my taste, and it also gets its full space. Even the absolute least useful stuff in the book for a contemporary reader —recommended tailors (also not useful to someone in my income bracket), retailers, and mail-order catalogs—is kind of interesting since you see the origins of things, and how they’ve changed: Banana Republic as a more specialized mail-order-primary company specializing in sort of civilian safari-gear styled clothes stood out.

Anyway I can see why this is still in such demand from the LA Public Library—had to request it, and I won’t be able to renew it because of another request. It’s good enough that I’m considering getting my own used copy or reading one of Boyer’s later books.

No! I've just resigned myself to the fact that my shoes are going to wear out quicker (from wearing them without socks).

From my years in DC, I can tell you that good old fashioned baby powder also does the trick. 

i tuck in the front of some of my shirts.

thusly.....

I've never been a big "dress" person. But in the last ~10 years or so I've been trying to find dresses that look good on me, that I'm comfortable in, to wear when appropriate. I just bought a really cute brightly printed sheath dress from Land's End today, and I think it'll work great for work - can put a cardigan over it, or wear as-is for summer. Plus it'll look great on our cruise next June (yeah ok it's almost a year away but still). 

(Plus it was like 70% off - only $30!)

IT TOTALLY HAS POCKETS! I forgot to mention that!

got me some new summer shoes!



Needed something I could wear casually or dressed up that could go with summer colors better than my sambas

How else am I supposed to keep up my stylish lifestyle as a half tucker.

Business upfront; party in the back.

I think the choice of pants makes a significant difference in how the tucked in look comes off.  

I wear high waisted unisex jeans, which looks unconventional, and wingtip boots or in-style sneakers, and so I don't think that tucking any shirt in along with those produces an aged, dowdy look.  

Every one of those poor little space aliens is going to get his ass kicked while on his resort.

I just spent $20 I shouldn't have spent on this kimono at Forever21. I need to stop spending but ... $20.

For the amount of money they charge, I'm assuming the geese are included?

I still read at TLo, definitely! I love them! Used to read every single post. However, grad school cut down on that big time. I will likely now go back to reading everything over there.

I don't think I saw anything related to Men's collections because most of it posted while I was on vacation and mostly without internet. I will now go look for it!

Edited: Oh, no this one posted this week! As I was typing this, TLo retweeted the link. Wooo!

This one is the clear winner. This clearly the height of modern fashion. Good job, Gucci!