Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 26 Oct 09 - 08:52 PM just what a woman needed to know in the middle of WW1! Tho the author does say in her intro that she "does not advocate the preening of her feathers as woman's sole occupation, much less at this crisis in the making of world history ... " Irene Castle modelling costumes for the book thanks for the fascinating link, Susan sandra (alas, not always a decorative contribution to a setting) |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Oct 09 - 11:11 AM Librivox to the rescue! See http://librivox.org/woman-as-decoration-by-emily-burbank/ I haven't audio-read it yet, but I expect it will either be hilarious, helpful, or infuriating-- probably all 3 depending on one's viewpoint. (It's read for Librivox by women, at least.) The TOC below is pasted exactly as it appears at Project Gutenberg, where there are illustrations. (Link at Librivox.) CONTENTS I A Few Hints for the Novice who Would Plan Her Costumes 1 Rules having economic value while aiming at decorativeness.—Lines and colouring emphasised or modified by costuming.—Temperaments affect carriage of the body.—Line of body affects costume.—Technique of controlling the physique.—The highly sensitised woman.—Costuming an art.—Studying types.—Starring one's own good points.—Beauty not so fleeting as is supposed if costume is adapted to its changing aspects.—Masters in art of costuming often discover and star previously unrecognised beauty.—Establishing the habit of those lines and colours in gowns, hats, gloves, parasols, sticks, fans and jewels which are your own.—The intelligent purchaser.—The best dressed women.—Value of understanding one's background.—Learning the art of understanding one's background.—Learning the art of costuming from masters of the art.—How to proceed with this study.—Successful costuming not dependent upon amount of money spent upon it.—An example II The Laws Underlying All Costuming of Woman 23 Appropriateness keynote of costuming to-day.—Five salient points to be borne in mind when planning a costume.—Where English, French, and American women excel in art of costuming.—Feeling for line.—To make our points clear constant reference to the stage is necessary.—Bakst and Poiret.—Turning to the Orient for line and colour.—Keeping costume in same key as its settings.—How to know your period; its line, colours and characteristic details.—Studying costumes in Gothic illuminations III How to Dress Your Type 46 A Few Points Applying to all Costumes.—Background.—Line and colour of costumes to bring out the individuality of wearer.—The chic woman defined.—Intelligent expressing of self in mise-en-scène.—Selecting one's colour scheme IV The Psychology of Clothes 54 Effect of clothes upon manners.—The natural instinct for costuming, "clothes sense."—Costuming affecting psychology of wearer.—Clothes may liberate or shackle the spirit of women, be a tyrant or magician's wand.—Follow colour instinct in clothes as well as housefurnishings V Establish Habits of Carriage Which Create Good Line 66 Woman's line result of habits of a mind controlled by observations, conventions, experiences and attitudes which make her personality.—Training lines of physique from childhood; an example.—A knowledge of how to dress appropriately leads to efficiency VI Colour In Woman's Costume 74 Colour hall-mark of to-day.—Bakst, Rheinhardt and Granville Barker, teachers of the new colour vocabulary.—PORTABLE BACKGROUNDS VII Footwear 85 Importance of carefully considering extremities.—What constitutes a costume.—Importance of learning how to buy, put on and wear each detail of costume if one would be a decorative picture.—Spats.—Stockings.—Slippers.—Buckles VIII Jewelry as Decoration 94 Considered as colour and line not with regard to intrinsic worth.—To complete a costume or furnish keynote upon which to build a costume.—Distinguished jewels with historic associations worn artistically; examples.—Know what jewels are your affair as to colour, size, and shape.—To know what one can and cannot wear in all departments of costuming prepares one to grasp and make use of expert suggestions. How fashions come into being.—One of the rules as to how jewels should be worn.—Gems and paste IX Woman Decorative in Her Boudoir 111 Negligée or tea-gown belongs to this intimate setting.—Fortuny the artist designer of tea-gowns.—Sibyl Sanderson.—The decorative value of a long string of beads.—Beauty which is the result of conscious effort.—Bien soiné a hall-mark of our period X Woman Decorative in Her Sun-Room 116 Since a winter sun-room is planned to give the illusion of summer, one's costuming for it should carry out the same idea.—The sun-room provides a means for using up last summer's costumes.—The hat, if worn, should suggest repose, not action.—The age and habits of those occupying a sun-room dictate the exact type of costume to be worn.—Colour scheme XI I. Woman Decorative in Her Garden 124 In the garden the costume should have a decorative outline but simple colour scheme which harmonises with background of flowers.—White, grey, or one note of colour preferable.—The flowers furnish variety and colour.—Lady de Bathe (Mrs. Langtry) in her garden at Newmarket, England II. Woman Decorative on the Lawn One may be a flower or a bunch of flowers for colour against the unbroken sweep of green underfoot and background of shrubs and trees.—Chic outline and interesting detail, as well as colour, of distinct value in a costume for lawn.—How to cultivate an unerring instinct for what is a successful costume for any given occasion III. Woman Decorative on the Beach If one would be a contribution to the picture, figure as white or vivid colour on beach, deck of steamer or yacht XII Woman As Decoration When Skating 134 Line of the body all important.—The necessity of mastering form to gain efficiency in any line; examples.—The traditional skating costume has the lead XIII Woman Decorative in Her Motor Car 145 The colour of one's car inside and out important factor in effect produced by one's carefully chosen costume XIV How To Go About Planning A Period Costume 154 Period.—Background.—Outline.—Materials.—Colour scheme.—Detail with meaning.—Authorities.—Consulting portraits by great masters.—Geraldine Farrar.—Distinguished collection of costume plates.—One result of planning period costumes is the opening up of vistas in history.—Every detail of a period costume has its fascinating story worth the knowing.—Brief historic outline to serve as key to the rich storehouse of important volumes on costumes and the distinguished textless books of costume plates.—Period of fashions in costumes developing without nationality.—Nationality declared in artistry of workmanship and the modification or exaggeration of an essential detail according to national or individual temperament.—Evolution of woman's costume.—Assyria.—Egypt.—Byzantium.—Greece.—Rome.—Gothic Europe.—Europe of the Renaissance,—seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century through Mid-Victorian period.—Cord tied about waist origin of costumes for women and men XV The Story Of Period Costumes A Résumé 172 Woman as seen in Egyptian sculpture-relief; on Greek vase; in Gothic stained glass; carved stone; tapestry; stucco; and painting of the Renaissance; eighteenth and nineteenth century portraits.—Art throughout the ages reflects woman in every rôle; as companion, ruler, slave, saint, plaything, teacher, and voluntary worker.—Evolution of outline of woman's costume, including change in neck; shoulder; evolution of sleeve; girdle; hair; head-dress; waist line; petticoat.—Gradual disappearance of long, flowing lines characteristic of Greek and Gothic periods.—Demoralisation of Nature's shoulder and hip-line culminates in the Velasquez edition of Spanish fashion and the Marie Antoinette extravaganzas XVI Development Of Gothic Costume 192 Gothic outline first seen as early as fourth century.—Costume of Roman-Christian women.—Ninth century.—The Gothic cape of twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries made familiar on the Virgin and saints in sacred art.—The tunic.—Restraint in line, colour, and detail gradually disappear with increased circulation of wealth until in fifteenth century we see humanity over-weighted with rich brocades, laces, massive jewels, etc. The Virgin in Art Late Middle Ages.—Sovereignty of the Virgin as explained in "The Cathedrals of Mont St. Michel and Chartres," by Henry Adams.—Woman as the Virgin dominates art of twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.—The girdle.—The round neck.—The necklace, etc. XVII The Renaissance Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries 214 Pointed and other head-dresses with floating veils.—Neck low off shoulders.—Skirts part as waist-line over petticoat.—Wealth of Roman Empire through new trade channels had led to importation of richly coloured Oriental stuffs.—Same wealth led to establishing looms in Europe.—Clothes of man like his over-ornate furniture show debauched and vulgar taste.—The good Gothic lines live on in costumes of nuns and priests.—The Davanzati Palace collection, Florence, Italy.—Long pointed shoes of the Middle Ages give way to broad square ones.—Gorgeous materials.—Hats.—Hair.—Sleeves.—Skirts.—Crinolines.—Coats.—Overskirts draped to develop into panniers of Marie Antoinette's time.—Directoire reaction to simple lines and materials XVIII Eighteenth Century 233 Political upheavals.—Scientific discoveries.—Mechanical inventions.—Chemical achievements.—Chintz or stamped linens of Jouy near Versailles.—Painted wall-papers after the Chinese.—Simplicity in costuming of woman and man XIX Woman In The Victorian Period 241 First seventy years of nineteenth century.—"Historic Dress in America" by Elizabeth McClellan.—Hoops, wigs, absurdly furbished head-dresses, paper-soled shoes, bonnets enormous, laces of cobweb, shawls from India, rouge and hair-grease, patches and powder, laced waists, and "vapours."—Man still decorative XX Sex In Costuming 244 "European dress."—Progenitor of costume worn by modern men.—The time when no distinction was made between materials used for man and woman.—Velvets, silks, satins, laces, elaborate cuffs and collars, embroidery, jewels and plumes as much his as hers XXI Line And Colour Of Costumes In Hungary 252 In a sense colour a sign of virility.—Examples.—Studying line and colour in Magyar Land.—In Krakau, Poland,—A highly decorative Polish peasant and her setting XXII Studying Line and Colour in Russia 265 Kiev our headquarters.—Slav temperament an integral part of Russian nature expressed in costuming as well as folk songs and dances of the people.—Russian woman of the fashionable world.—The Russian pilgrims as we saw them tramping over the frozen roads to the shrines of Kiev, the Holy City and ancient capital of Russia at the close of the Lenten season.—Their costumes and their psychology XXIII Mark Twain's Love of Colour in all Costuming 276 Wrapped in a crimson silk dressing-gown on a balcony of his Italian villa in Connecticut, Mark Twain dilated on the value of brilliant colour in man's costuming.—His creative, picturing-making mind in action.—Other themes followed XXIV The Artist And His Costume 283 A God-given sense of the beautiful.—The artist nature has always assumed poetic license in the matter of dress.—Many so-called affectations have raison d'être.—Responding to texture, colour and line as some do to music and scenery.—How Japanese actors train themselves to act women's parts by wearing woman's costumes off the stage.—This cultivates the required feeling for the costumes.—The woman devotee to sports when costumed.—Richard Wagner's responsiveness to colour and texture.—Clyde Fitch's sensitiveness to the same.—The wearing of jewels by men.—King Edward VII.—A remarkable topaz worn by a Spaniard.—Its undoing as a decorative object through its resetting XXV Idiosyncrasies in Costume 292 Fashions in dress all powerful because they seize upon the public mind.—They become the symbol of manners and affect human psychology.—Affectations of the youth of Athens.—Les Merveilleux, Les Encroyables, the Illuminati.—Schiller during the Storm and Stress Period.—Venetian belles of the sixteenth century.—The Cavalier Servente of the seventeenth century.—Mme. Récamier scandalised London in eighteenth century by appearing costumed à la Greque.—Mme. Jerome Bonaparte, a Baltimore belle, followed suit in Philadelphia.—Hour-glass waist-line and attendant "vapours" were thought to be in the rôle of a high-born Victorian miss.—Appropriateness the contribution of our day to the story of woman's costuming XXVI Nationality In Costume 296 When seen with perspective the costumes of various periods appear as distinct types though to the man or woman of any particular period the variations of the type are bewildering and misleading.—Having followed the evolution of the costume of woman of fashion which comes under the general head of European dress, before closing we turn to quite another field, that of national costumes.—Progress levels national differences, therefore the student must make the most of opportunities to observe.—Experiences in Hungary XXVII Models 306 Historical interest attaches to fashions in woman's costuming.—One of the missions of art is to make subtle the obvious.—Examples as seen in 1917 XXVIII Woman Costumed for Her War Job 313 The Pageant of Life shows that woman has played opposite man with consistency and success throughout the ages.—Apropos of this, we quote from Philadelphia Public Ledger, for March 25, 1917, an impression of a woman of to-day costumed appropriately to get efficiency in her war work In Conclusion 324 A brief review of the chief points to be kept in mind by those interested in the costuming of woman so that she figures as a decorative contribution to any setting |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Liz the Squeak Date: 31 Jan 08 - 06:31 AM I bought a new coat... it wasn't red, but the scarf I bought last year is. In my defence, the coat was pre-loved and leather. I still wear the same comfortable stuff underneath. LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Rowan Date: 30 Jan 08 - 08:47 PM A friend of mine, who works in a part of his (and my) workplace that services several others, was seconded to another position for six months or so. The new task required him to interview heads of various departments and offer them assistance that would enable them to meet their KPIs. My friend told the story that he made the appointments and interviewed them all and made the offers and was universally ignored; he wore his usual workplace clobber, which was neat trousers, collar and tie, but a woollen jumper over the top. It was winter in Oz, at the time so the jumper (what Americans would call a sweater) was appropriate. He then repeated the exercise, wearing a dark "power dressing" suit; this time they all listened and accepted his (identical) offers. Because I'm on call as a volunteer firefighter I wear no artifical fibres and the nature of my work means such clothing is desirable and I tend to dress "down" rather than "up"; various people around my workplace have realised that it is in their interest to take notice of what I say, irrespective of their perception(s) of relative status or dress, so I don't use a polyester life. I think I can still find a tie if I look hard. Then again, my daughters insist that what I regard as a perfectly adequate personal style (of dress) is most definitely déclassé. Cheers, Rowan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 30 Jan 08 - 10:19 AM Mr. UPSman (we have a regular driver here who is male) is out back now, picking up the deferred-billing items he brought Monday for me to try on. This one is a first-- not a thing fit or looked as nice as it had in the catalog, so I sent it ALL back. It had been over the free-shipping amount, so there was no cost to get it, and the return shipping is less than I'd have paid in gasoline to drive an hour north to discover one of my favorite stores is now closed. It's too bad-- that's where I learned to ask the saleslady to just bring one of any item in my size range, to the dressing room, for me to try on. Oh well! I can do that all at home now! ~S~ |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Oct 07 - 01:25 PM HANDBAGS The essentials travel in a cloth, zippered makeup pouch. For everyday, I have three larger, pouch-shaped shoulder bags the makeup pouch fits into. One denim, one black leather, one beige tapestry print. Each was under $8, new. In each of these also travels a generic, long strand of costume-jewelry-quality beads ("Oops, it's dressier here than I anticipated"), a pair of hair clips, a headband ("Oops, I need to get my hair out the way!"), and a pair if nylon knee-highs ("Oops!"). Coordinating shoes are good-quality, leather, supportive walking shoes. For dressier occasions, I have smaller leather and woven-cord shoulder bags in colors that match coordinating dress shoes. Each was under $7, gently used. They all have long strap handles to pull them out from under banquet tables, at which I seem to be making regular appearances at formal dinners and at conferences. Poor Hardi won't have to crawl under these anymore to pull out my clutch-style makeup pouch! An item to keep an eye out for in thrift shops is little stationery/ card cases for leaving nice little notes behind or collecting get-well wishes for people "back home" on the prayer list. We keep a set in the car but it turned out I need a flat case in the handbag, too. TO JEAN, OR NOT TO JEAN? Mindful of the recent thread about uniform trousers, I found all-cotton stretch trous that fit like jeans but are stitched like trousers, for those long drives downstate to business events. Twills and denims. Toss on a business-dressy jacket in my mix-n-match separates inventory, those beads and hair clips, and viola! Wow, "dressy" in this clergy-rich atmosphere I move in now requires a very particular "style" that is hard to describe. I finally think I have it, though! ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Sep 07 - 10:18 AM Yes.... I think I may be related to Judy. :~) Last time we were doing the "search process" interviewing at parishes for a new position, I just left the garment bag of "show clothes" permanently packed. All the contents were wrinkle-proof items. It got unpacked at the dry cleaners, and repacked back into it at the dry cleaners. I had standard "undie packs" to swap in, and the toiletries, dress shoes, and hair dryer never DID get out of that bag for a long time. I have so much ministry travel in this year's fall season that I think I'm going to have to go back to that approach. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Charley Noble Date: 18 Sep 07 - 10:10 AM Susan- I value guests. That's the only time we stand a chance of clearing the decks here. Of course as soon as they depart, all the stuff comes trickling out of the closets, corners, from under tables, and redeposits itself onto every available surface. It's a good thing that I have an appreciation of gravity and the process of sedimentation. Judy's back from her conference and her previously empty duffle bag appears pregnant. The large garment bag is lurking in the kitchen awaiting an opportunity to spew its contents, while the smaller bag has already exploded! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Sep 07 - 03:17 PM Hm... I hesitate to tell you this, but the living room was only tied up thus, here, for 2 days. With Hardi's help, it's all upstairs now. But if my maw in law weren't due in a coupla weeks, I bet it would all still be down here! :~) ~S~ |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Charley Noble Date: 17 Sep 07 - 02:35 PM Susan- We used to have a front livingroom until my wife began sorting her clothes there, season by season, a process which evidently has no end! In her defense, she's packed up a van full of clothes that were now too big for her (she lost 40 pounds in the last 3 years) and I've dropped them off at the local Good Will store. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Sep 07 - 08:58 PM He has his own much-smaller closet for off-duty wear, but of course he has a large area at church for all the work garb. We have more closet space upstairs, but it's the downstairs where we shower and dress to go out, and where the laundry happens, so we use all available downstairs closets as our main closets. The upsatirs ones aren't that big anyhow-- old farmhouses seldom had much closet space and ours actually has much more than usual, both upstairs and down. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Sep 07 - 07:59 PM Susan- How much closet space is needed for your husband's wardrobe? I would guess a whole lot less but then men have it much easier in our society. We're not expected to dress differently from one day to another. Life is unfair! Or are men deprived?? I do have a wardrobe that I select from when I am appearing as a nautical singer. Seldom do I get to select the blue blazer with the bright brass anchor buttons, the wicked sharp cheese cutter hat, and the white silk muffler, but they're there if called for. Most of the time I get to go in a striped shirt, Greek fishing cap, and jeans. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Sep 07 - 03:22 PM A new tip that has worked GREAT: Twice a year I get a couple of gift checks that add up to a decent amount. The amounts are quite reliable. So twice a year, about 2 months before the checks arrive I make a humongous catalog purchase on DEFERRED BILLING, billed to my debit card. I order things I HOPE will fit in at least two different sizes, as well as anything I am not sure I will like that I MIGHT like (that fits my wardrobe needs). When the order arrives, I try it all on just like I would at the store. Obviously, I have a good idea which size to start with, so often the duplicate items are never even opened. I used to work at a western-wear shop so I am pretty good at refolding and rebagging (and the catalog people know the items will for sure be tried on). I keep only what I know these anticipated gift checks will cover, and send back all the rest using the handy UPS return label that's included. I add up the total I will owe, and start saving it up out of grocery bucks just in case. When the holiday or birthday checks arrive, the saved money becomes my fund for my own Christmas/birthday shopping. I worry so much about being able to cover the debit when the deferred billing kicks in, that I always have about twice as much as I need! UPDATE It's seasonal switchover time and my closet is stuffed. Out it all came, from the storage drawer upstairs I'd used for offseason, from the main closet downstairs, from the hanging rack where the latest 5 new shirts had been hung up while I de-sleeved them, from the several overnight cases and garment bags I had not unpacked promptly..... Fortunately I had a couple of standing racks and nearby slatted doors, to sort it and to work on it all. I'd just added some new items, plus I'd gotten a bag of dresses-converted-to skirts back from my current seamstress. And a bunch of inexpensive shirt hangers-- I'd never hung it all UP at the same time before. When I was done, I had to add an over-the-door rack to the main closet door to hold a season's worth of skirts in the best light that unlit closet has, so I can SEE the pretty prints clearly when the door is open into the well-lit hallway. The skirt choice determines the whole color palette: from the skirt I can find a jacket and shell (or shirt) in that main closet, plus the accessories, shoes, and bags. There are 7-8 skirts per half-year-- fall/winter and spring/summer. I actually have enough blazers/jackets now to have a warm weather set and a cold weather set. The newer jackets are heavier and dontcha know, the colors and textures are darker and fall/wintery. The warm weather set includes two in a linen blend and two in cotton jerseys-- both comfy on a hot day in town, or on a cooler day up at one of the more mountainous parishes. I had not known I had enough to do that until I fetched them all out at once! For awhile yesterday the whole rack was jackets being put onto newly-made hangers. I used old pool noodles to pad the hanger-shoulders for better shape and non-slippage. The result is that they take up a lot more closet space-- but also I can see what color they are better. There's more fabric showing on those padded hangers. The shells and shirts I consider fair game all year round, so I know I will have enough and there will be a huge variety of colors to spice up the outfits in endless combinations. So they are taking up a little more than half the main closet's main hanging rod. And they leave room only for a few jackets. (I can't hang a second, lower rod-- everything is too long for the height of closet I have to work with.) All the offseason skirts and jackets are going upstairs until the next seasonal changeover. The temp rack is going up to hold them. When I can afford a zippered portacloset I'll get one; till then each item is plastic-wrapped. When I wear an item that's been in storage, I toss it in the dryer with a wet softener sheet to dewrinkle it and freshen it up. At that time I also do any mending needed, lint removal, etc., the night before. Also due to the lack of main closet space I jettisoned another whole category of my wardrobe to go live upstairs with the off-season items. That is, the equivalent of the Basic Black items that, since they are separates, provide BOTH the funeral and the semi-formal wardrobe. The reason I can send them upstairs is because the garment bags also are stored upstairs, and these items are for events I usually know about a day or more ahead of time-- I can select and bring them down, garment-bagged, from a cat-hair-free area to the dusty, hairy downstairs. Most of the semi-formal events are Diocesan events that require an overnight stay or at least a costume change after a 3-hour+ drive, so these are items that are gonna get bagged anyhow. Now, the packing will simply start upstairs. In the basic Black department are the older polyester jackets I could not wait to replace (navy and black). And the skirts that go with. For semi-formal: a long black solid, a long rose pink solid, a long aqua solid. For funerals: two shorter black prints skirts and one cornflower/navy/beige skirt. Plus a slipdress (red floral on black background print). All of these are for any season, in different weights, and enough for 4-5 funerals in a week (and that happens sometimes) without having to machine wash or wait for the drycleaner. I LOVE it that the items that used to be my ONLY decent clothes are now the funeral clothes! They stood me in good stead; I was so sure I'd never be able to replace them, that I took really good care of them. They can stand occasional wear and cleaning, and I'll enjoy seeing them as the old friends they are, when I head off to a sad event-- but the rest of the time I'll be wearing the newer, more fun stuff that's in the main closet. I have never had so much "show clothing" (as some folks call it), but then I've never had so many public events of my husband's and my own to attend, either. Nor such a love for our wonderful drycleaner. So I now have 3 closets: Now, Later, and Occasionally. Plus the grunt wear in my bathroom shelves, and there's another funny thing. I have several pairs of medium weight, all-cotton bike shorts. I drive to these faraway events in bike shorts, with a comfy, long men's shirt thrown over them. When I change into the show clothes, the bike shorts stay on as undies, so I am comfy all evening long. I just throw the "show" skirt, shell, and jacket on over them, and I can change anywhere. Thursday I changed in a back porch in Harrisburg because that's what was available before everyone else showed up. Last summer, I changed in a parking garage one day with my husband holding my open overcoat behind me to shield me as I grabbed the dressy items out of the open van door. Because the undies do not have to be changed, there isn't that awkward "step all over the knickers" moment and I am decently covered the whole time! :~) For the long drive home from these, I just shrug of the jacket and skirt at the first gas station we pass, and drive home in my shell and shorts, comfortably! Many times this past year I have left on the run for an event, saying under my breath, "Bless that closet!" and of course that includes the ladies who sewed my way to it. The closet has not let me down, yet! I'd love to have a big walk-in closet, but there isn't a room here I could give up to do that. (Yet.) ~Susan, who grew up a Daddy's Tomboy |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Joe_F Date: 05 May 07 - 09:06 PM I have been very lucky in that I have never had to bother with dress codes. I put on a coat & tie so seldom that it is fun -- putting on a costume & pretending to be grown up, at the age of 69. Most of the time I wear clothes that I have altered to suit my convenience in sartorial engineering. I did have one amusing experience with clothes & class, tho. It was in London in the spring of 1959. I left my hotel, bought a Times, and took it to a park (I forget its name, but it was near London University). Before I could get to a bench, two or three people tried to buy my paper from me. I was wearing jeans, so I had to be a newsboy. When I sat down and started *reading* it, a man at the other end of the bench surveyed the spectacle & solemnly congratulated me on paying attention to the Times Literary Supplement rather than the football pools. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 05 May 07 - 08:48 PM Oh yes, mix and match. Always. No "outfits," all separates. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: GUEST,Scoville Date: 05 May 07 - 08:27 PM I finally had to find "polyester" clothes that more closely approximated my "cotton" ones. Luckily I don't have to wear makeup to work and my hair will not do anything but lie flat in a bob no matter how badly I heat-and-treat it, so there's no point even in trying to make it "big" (as we are wont to do in the South). I get secondhand cashmere turtlenecks cheaply from the Salvation Army in an expensive part of town and try to keep the rest mix-and-matchable and inconspicuous. I save the bright colors and wacky stuff made from vintage patterns for weekends. I have a weakness for calico and 1940's housedresses. I used to wear blue scrubs to my old job, day in and day out. Talk about simplifying. "What shall I wear to day? Navy blue or . . . navy blue?" |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Alice Date: 05 May 07 - 08:02 PM Monday - Friday I wear professional pants, pressed with a sharp crease, black, grey or brown - rayon, polyester or silk blouses. Sometimes a grey vest over the blouse. No pointy heels... feet can't take that anymore, but rather polished black Danskos. Hair is set in curlers each morning. Weekends - jeans (or sometimes just my bathrobe for half the day) whatever comfortable shirt is laying on the back of the chair and Keen clogs or flip flops, depending on the season. May or may not wash my hair on the weekend. Of course, people in public respond differently depending on how I am dressed. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 05 May 07 - 07:54 PM Here we are a year later. (I actually started all this 18 months ago.) My closet is transformed. I think my life is, too. We accept a lot more invitations, now. I have found several clothing sources that are better for me, I have identified what my work "uniform" should be and can be, and I have all-cotton layers next to my skin under any polyester. I have accessories for all occasions, I have shoes and bags that go together, and I have a seasonal rotation that has worked well and added years of wear to favorite items. I cull whatever I am not using. I have not been stuck for a good outfit for any event, even standing in the very formal receiving line that greeted our new Bishop's guests the weekend of his consecration. He had been the Dean of the Washington National Cathedral; Desmond Tutu was in town to preach for his consecration..... FORMAL. My clothes were graced and centerpieced that night with a stunning pink jade necklace a dear soul gave me. Tricks-- Salvation Army ... and better second-hand stores for good quality shoes, bags, scarves-- and jewelry that I remake as needed. If it fits, if it's a classic style, and if it's good quality-- I buy it, because I have learned that I will probably find its mate soon, at another thrift store. Remaking Things Jackets de-collared for a cleaner look. Short choker necklaces disassmebled for parts to make new, custom things that work for me. Uncomfortable dresses I hated to wear, cut down to flowing, comfy skirts to wear with dressy blazers. Colorful "dress" tee shirt sleeves removed to make shells in all colors. I can do all those things myself. The Magic Sewing Kit I started the kit when we were camping last summer, because so many old camping clothes and linens needed quick repairs. Now a second one sits chairside, where I stitch away most evenings to fix or alter things. It's a small plastic pencil box, with everything! :~) Especially a needle-threader and a pair of magnifying specs! Bike Shorts I can sit comfortably for hours at the many receptions we attend on a regular basis, because I have long-leg cotton knit bike shorts under the slinky slip and pretty polyester skirts. No formal knickers for me! Ladies' Garment Bag Found a used one, very pretty, that holds a total change including shoes and accessories, so that when we drive long distances to formal events (3 hours or more sometimes), I can travel comfy but change discreetly when we arrive. All the clergy attending these have to vest for the liturgies that are inviovled, so I vest too, in my formalwear. Seamstress Alterations, difficult repairs, and good pieces copied-- affordably, locally, and reliably. Dry Cleaners Found the right one. They will do a piece same-day if really needed. The Perfect Closet I had a tiny space to work with, next to the shower. It's like a tiny ship's cabin in there now, with every half-inch used to the max. I put a comfy rug in front of it so I can stand there with aching feet when we get home, before the pet hair gets all over what I will take off, air, and hang for re-use. (Most events are only a few hours long). Makeup Kit and Remover I gave up the bathroom for this, because we share one and because my recliner is the comfiest place in the house. I put on and remove, there. Earrings are stored nearby too, that I only wear for occasions, and it's handy to put them on there, too. I never, ever sleep with makeup on, because I know what that does to aging skin. The Uniform There are several, for the various things we go to, and I treat them as such. I can be showered and out the door in 20 minutes, and that's good because often, that's all the time I have. Easy Hairstyle Well, I always had one, really. Slick it back wet, and go. QUick toss with the comb when we get there, and it's dry. The Miracle Coat I didn't know it would be a miracle coat when I bought it; it was just all I could find at the time that fit. It's a textured, almost-metallic gold, lightweight raincoat> It's very long, and very soft. I bought it even bigger than I needed, so I can wear it over anything. It goes on as soon as I am dressed and that keeps the pet hair in the air off the dark clothes on underneath. :~) And I have a half dozen large, colorful print scarves to run under the collar, that make it look FABULOUS no matter what time of year it is. I made a golden rope belt to tie it loose like a trench coat, and I get comments on it everywhere I go. I think it was about $30 new. :~) I hope it never dies. I should be buried/cremated in that coat. :~) I have been known (privately) to wear it to events on occasion with crap clothes underneath, and just not taken it off. :~) Or to wear it into wherever I am going to change into the formalwear after a long drive. The Beauty Parlor What a name! :~) Found the one where I never feel embarrassed, where I can go in at the last minute. Cheap! They can quickly fix just about anything, from facial hair to rough hands and bitten nails, and send me out looking like a conservative lady of leisure going on the town. The Attitude These are all events we really must attend, in my husband's line of work. They can be stiff and uppity, and they can be boring-- but we attend them partly as chances to dress up for each other and sit together, holding hands. Maybe that's a small no-brainer for the rest of you. For a clergy couple, it's not. At all. The other aspect, for us, that I am sure the rest of you don't have to deal with, is that we spend a lot of time at these events giving people good-quality, one-way attention. It's great to be dressed in a socially acceptable fashion and be comfortable physically and emotionally about it, so that we can just relax and listen, and so we can stay focused on being positive and encouraging in the face of the world's ills laid at our feet. (Well-dressed, well-off people have troubles too.) I think some of the folks posting in this thread earlier didn't understand about that, but it's the kind of attention y'all probably have received from someone, at some time, when you needed it, and it's the kind people count on us to be able to offer. I still much PREFER to spend most of most days in loose, comfy cotton, but my life in polyester is actually working well at last, and I have fun with it! ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: jacqui.c Date: 19 Mar 06 - 01:43 PM Liz - I used to counter that by holding the brolly forward. Acted as a battering ram! |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: SINSULL Date: 19 Mar 06 - 10:42 AM You lead an interesting life, Liz! |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Liz the Squeak Date: 19 Mar 06 - 09:49 AM No colour umbrellas make me happy.. at 5'2", I'm the exact height to be stabbed in the eye by the majority of brollies held at an angle over taller people's heads. Had someone whip their brolly round and snatch the glasses off my face before now... I was not amused! LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: SINSULL Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:08 PM Yellow umbrellas always make me happy. Same reason. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: jacqui.c Date: 18 Mar 06 - 01:08 PM Liz - I used to notice that in London - walk to the station on a cold day and there were so many dark colours that the occasional bright one really shone out. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 18 Mar 06 - 10:34 AM My life in Polyester? I've never even been to Polyester, much less lived there. There's a town near here called "Mary Esther". I've been there. Not much to it, just an overgrown strip mall. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Mar 06 - 10:25 AM LF, I was AGREEing with you. You've seen me too-- it ain't power-dressing! ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Liz the Squeak Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:34 AM Kendall - how right you are!!! We had a fire alarm last week. 3000 people all congregating at the evac site, ALL wearing black. It was as if someone had taken my eyesight away.... The one bit of relief was the poor bloke caught in the gym and appeared in a white Tshirt and shorts. As soon as I can afford it, I'm buying a red coat! LTS |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: LilyFestre Date: 17 Mar 06 - 11:25 PM Susan, Of course we all have to dress for some occassions but dressing to impress just isn't for me. You know me. You've seen me. If it's not comfortable, I'm not wearing it. Period. I don't care WHO is in the building! I get dressed up sometimes but it's strictly because I WANT to, NOT to impress someone else. Dressing for work is another story....that's a MUST....and then it's still comfy wear for me. :) Each to their own. If the power dressing thing does it for you, go for it! Michelle |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 17 Mar 06 - 07:03 PM Hear, hear jacqui! I have to dress in "teacher-professional", which I interpret to mean, clothes that are a bit newer, a bit neater, and yet which I can still wear while sitting cross-legged on the floor (which I'm able to do less and less, but I digress...) or jumping around the room as we do creative movement in my music classroom. Still, I shed my "teacher clothes" the minute I get home and pull on comfy fleece, wool, denim, or other "country clothes", the better to lounge on the couch, hike up the hill, or stoke the fire. Festivals, contra dances, and just-when-I-feel-like-it I tend toward the flowy long skirt, cotton tops, bangles, shawls, etc. It's all me! |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: SINSULL Date: 17 Mar 06 - 06:56 PM And the hats at the Salvation Army, Jacqui? Do they reflect the person. I'll leave now. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: jacqui.c Date: 17 Mar 06 - 06:49 PM I have different clothes for different occasions but all my clothes represent me, whether it be jeans abd a tee shirt, basic black top and trousers or skirt or the long blue velvet dress that I wore for our wedding reception at the Getaway. The one thing that they all have in common is that I wear them because I like wearing them and they do not become a uniform that does not reflect the person. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: lady penelope Date: 17 Mar 06 - 05:45 PM I'm with Einstein on this one - well, when it comes to work clothes. I don't want to have think about it. I also cycle to work so I do have change out of the lycra leggings etc. as I no longer wear a lab coat (which hides a multitude of sins.....). However, my job entails unpacking deliveries and sudden adventures in DIY and bucket engineering. So my trousers are slightly stretchy and my tops are just smart t-shirts. But they're all the same style so i don't have to think, just stick it on....... |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: SINSULL Date: 17 Mar 06 - 05:27 PM At IBM, the ultimate put down was the expression "He's and empty suit". Says it all. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: kendall Date: 17 Mar 06 - 03:23 PM I'm reminded of the movie, FATHER GOOSE. Cary Grant was an ex professor who was fired because he refused to wear a neck tie. He said, "I figure what's in a man's head is more important than what's around his neck." |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Kaleea Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:35 PM Music can be the great equalizer. When you go to a Music festival, such as the annual Walnut Valley Music Festival where one may camp & jam for 10 days & nights, most folks are dressed as campers. Some of the "paid performers" may have special "polyestery" stage attire, then don their grubbies & head for the campgrounds & the jams. Campin' & Jammin' can cause those who see only the clothing of the person to be taken aback. Those seedy looking folks over there playing those old, worn out instruments can rip the strings right off your fancy new Taylors & Deerings. Sometimes the seediest looking feller sleeping in an old, worn out tent is some guy from the hoity toity corporate world who goes to spend one week & a half of his year remembering what it's like to be where the only thing that matters is the Music. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: jacqui.c Date: 17 Mar 06 - 11:28 AM Kendall Doesn't! SINS on their computer |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Mar 06 - 11:17 AM Yeah, LF. And-- None of you "anti-dress-up" posters have EVER dressed differently for a special occasion, from how you dress most of the time, and did it in such a way that you felt good about it and expressed who you are on the inside??? Is you going-to-a festival garb the same as what you wear to shovel snow? Same as you'd wear to perform at the same festival? Costume for gigs? New outfit for a photo-shoot for your CD? Makeup for a TV appearance? Wash your hair a day early and put on a new hairclip to meet a pal for coffee? Bought new socks because the old ones, still serviceable, have gotten dingy in the wash? [shocked] SHAME on you if you did, you poseur! :~) ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: LilyFestre Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:59 AM Hm. My husband has long hair, lives in blue jeans, t-shirts and flannel shirts. He also holds a prestigious position at an ivy league university. So much for power dressing. It's not what you wear but what you bring to the table. If you're full of BS, you're still full of BS in a suit. When you are discussing dressing according to standards set by the place of employment, that's an entirely different situation. That's a case of rules and being dictated to. That's not dressing to impress, that's dressing to maintain a job. Big difference. Michelle |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:20 AM LOL! ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: GUEST,Happy Being Myself Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:01 AM Be clean. Be nice. Ugliness (from within) shines through no matter what you wear. The rest is a mind game that you are playing with yourself. People are experts at spotting insincerity and that's what I hear being promoted in this thread. Happy Being Myself |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Moses Date: 17 Mar 06 - 07:49 AM Dressing well is not always about power dressing, its not necessarily about trying to impress. It can be about complimenting the people you are meeting with. It can say, "I took the trouble to try to make myself look presentable/attractive in your eyes because I value your opinion". I think we say as much about how we feel about others when we dress in a particular way as we do about our own self-esteem. When we go on a first date, for example, the way we dress gives clues about us. Shoes clean and heels not worn down? Clothes fresh and well fitting? Hair brushed or artfully mussed? Nail varnish not chipped? It all adds up saying to our date "I care enough about our meeting to make the effort". Dressing well can be just an extension of good manners, of making someone else feel appreciated. I'm not saying it also cannot be "Look at how expensive my wardrobe is compared to yours". Depends on the person I suppose. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Mar 06 - 10:32 PM To dress so that people GET who you actually are, and what you are trying to convey, is not dressing to impress. There is a very large gray area about this that I think a lot of people are not willing to look into.... This does not surprise me :~) in a setting full of independent-thinking, anti-control :~) folkies, but I am suggesting :~) that sometimes what we present does not come across the way we feel, inside, that it ought... and that sometimes we unawarely confuse people we would like to be able to communicate with well, and effectively. Of course :~) that is their fault-- but we can still choose, if we wish to, to do something about it. And sometimes, there is actually a dress code to be followed, with appropriate self-expression measures creatively taken of course. Examples: I'm supposed to be wearing conservatively cut business wear, but that doesn't mean it can't be a bright pink and purple floral skirt, with a purple shell and a bright pink jacket. Or-- I'm supposed to look, in my field, as if I didn't break the bank on clothes, but that doesn't mean I have to wear grandma accessories or shoes. Classic but not trendy does the job, and if I choose a lurid scarf to set off the colors, it's all good and I am not buckling to a stereotype about what I ought to wear. ~Susan |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: jacqui.c Date: 16 Mar 06 - 10:22 PM I'll go along with Liz - I wouldn't want to have to dress to impress any more. If my mode of dress offends then that is the problem of the person who is offended - I prefer to be me, not pretend to be something I'm not. By the way Liz, Kendall says that he wouldn't be surprised if you wore a real boa constrictor. Take that as a compliment! |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: CarolC Date: 16 Mar 06 - 09:53 PM Get Freud to explain it to you, frogprince. ;-) |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: frogprince Date: 16 Mar 06 - 08:54 PM Guess I'm having a dense moment; I guess maybe I've seen someone (usually on the distaff side) wearing just a necktie, just for the heck of it, but it didn't have much to do with power moves. :) |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: CarolC Date: 16 Mar 06 - 08:36 PM That's why most people are uncomfortable naked - no easy way to play 'power games'. LOL Oh, yeah? Where do you think the idea for the neck tie came from? |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 16 Mar 06 - 06:45 PM That's why most people are uncomfortable naked - no easy way to play 'power games'. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: frogprince Date: 16 Mar 06 - 03:04 PM I guess I dress close to...uhh..."homeless chic" a lot, so I can step in my shop and mess with whatever without worrying about trashing good clothes. Time was had to wear a tie to work, but I never really had to "power dress" Last Sunday was "camp Sunday" at our church; promotion of summer camp programs for the youth, and all ages encouraged to dress at camping level. I keep telling my wife we should go in what we wear when camping at our favorite resort, but for some reason she won't go along with that... |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: CarolC Date: 16 Mar 06 - 02:47 PM Now that we live in a beach town in a warm climate, I'm noticing that there are times and places here where "power dressing" consists of wearing flip flops all year long. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: Scoville Date: 16 Mar 06 - 11:29 AM I don't need to "power dress" but I have too look conservative, "normal", and stay warm (cold library setting). I shop at the thrift stores in expensive parts of town--last year I got an orange crate of expensive cashmere, silk, and rayon turtlenecks, a dark wool flannel skirt, and a couple of suits (just in case) for $1 apiece. Clothes I would never buy new. Outside of work, I wear a lot of calico. I've started making more and more of my own clothing since commercial clothes don't fit me well, are usually made by children in Sri Lanka, and are boring. Also--the weekend is my time. If I want to wear the yellow calico 1940's housedress I made from an old pattern, it's nobody's business but mine. |
Subject: RE: BS: Your Life in Polyester From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 Mar 06 - 11:25 AM "...the potential clients dressed in suits at least twice as expensive as his." Well, Bill D, are the guys in the expensive suits still in business, or did they go down in the dot.com crash? IMHO one of the characteristics of a good suit of clothes is that it's paid for. |