(Vogue 8685) - Maybe I've read too many style books that I've nailed my look so well only I take exception to the assumptions made throughout this book. Just in this paragraph alone - I do not have a closet packed with clothing. I don't look thin day in and day out. I'm not feeling fat. In fact, I've rarely thought about my weight in the past four years since I decided enough was enough. The odd time it comes up but mainly, I'm okay with how I look. Awful title aside, I picked up the book because I was curious. What to wear - and therefore what not to wear - is one of my favourite subjects.
(Vogue 8665) - The author claims that the typical figure type groupings are too complicated for most women. That's an interesting point of view. I wondered if it was justification for the book's topic since the groupings have never seemed too complicated to me. I've always been either a pear or a triangle and have found that concept easy enough to work with. I do know that you need a new twist when you're trying to sell a book to a publisher - hence the wondering.
(McCalls 5523) - Instead of figure types, the goal of the book is to simplify fashion by categorizing clothing as either high fat, low fat, and no fat for your particular issue whether that's a thick neck or wide hips. Many issues are not covered while some are combined that may not be combinations on your body. IMHO, if you can't figure out your figure type, you're going to struggle determining how fat your clothes are although it's a comfort to know - now that I've read the book - that it's not me, it's my clothes - LOL.
(McCalls 3830) - No matter the method of categorizing, the end results of what I should wear were exactly the same style lines that have been shown in any other styling book. No surprises. At the end of the book, there's a list of the 100 most fattening things you could wear. The only surprise? I don't wear any of these items which leads me to the other thought I've been processing lately - the style rut.
(Butterick 4470) - It's not a new to me topic. I've mentioned before how my friend Caroline and I had a good talk about being in a style rut a few years ago when she was visiting. We know our own style and the other's style so well that we can shop for each other. I just mailed her a necklace for her birthday and when she phoned to thank me she said it was "so her". I knew that. Since our discussion, I've revisited the topic off and on because am I in a style rut and how do I feel about that and what can I do about it is equally as fascinating as what styles suit my figure type. They're like two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other.
(McCalls 6035) - Last week, in her posting Style Rut, Catherine Daze wrote, are style ruts really so bad? Maybe we get stuck in them for a reason. She concludes the posting with the desire to embrace her style rut preferring to call it a style groove instead which does sound a lot better - to be in the groove. My comment was something along the lines of it's nice to know your "rut" but it can also get boring. I think that's when we start to play with adding details, embellishments, interior lines, new textures, and interesting colors or color combinations. Something to shake it up.
(OOP McCalls 5592) - Barbara of Sewing On The Edge wrote a posting on a similar topic the other day. In it, she talked about a presentation she made to a group of sewists about fashion. Following the talk, one woman commented that "sewers tend to forget about fashion" - a comment I found as fascinating as Barbara did. It resonates in that I'm not as concerned about what's in style as I am about what styles work for me. Although I find it hard to express, my feelings toward fashion have to do with comfort and confidence and an exterior that matches my interior. Barbara's feelings toward fashion were around being alive, here, living in the moment. How do you feel about...
... fashion
... about personal style
... about "high fat, low, fat, no fat" clothing
... about living in the moment
... about style ruts?
Do you find this as fascinating a conversation as I do? How does it affect what you sew?
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - for my husband and prayers for a safe journey to, through, and back from Guatemala. He left this morning.
P.S. These patterns reflect my "rut" styles and my favourite style book is still Nothing To Wear by Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo.
I've often thought that someone should write a style book for sewists i.e. one that includes the appropriate patterns for sewists to make depending on what they're trying to accomplish (and taking into account skill level). I realize that it would have an exceedingly small market, in the scheme of things, but that would be totally useful!
ReplyDeleteHi Myrna, long time reader, first time comment. It's funny that you talk about a rut, becuase I just ran across a "how to" article called "how to dresss like Audrey Hepburn". The key point of that article was that Audrey knew what looked best on her, and stuck with it through all types of fashion trends. And I applaud that you know your style and stick to it. Instead of style rut, perhaps a better term is "style phase"? Personally, I stay in a phase for a few years, because it fits me at that phase of my life. But as I age, or take a new job, my phase may shift. Do you think the same could be true for you?
ReplyDeleteFashion is a fleeting thing...I think style is the goal women should attain. Style defines who you are...what interests you...how you move through the world. Fashion is about what someone else thinks is hot, new and trendy.
ReplyDeleteI have a style that I like to mix fashionable pieces and/or colors in and out of so that I look au currant.
But that was an interesting statement about sewers tend to forget about fashion...has this person been on the internet lately? Visited sewing blogs or forums?
Sewers sometimes forget about fashion? Speaking for a few projects I'd like to forget I wore in public, I think sometimes it's possible to get so caught up in creating a vision, or working with a specific fabric/pattern/style, that I've forgotten to make sure something really worked for my body. My newer, wiser end-of-project mantra is "Would I buy this if I tried it on in a store?" I'm much more ruthless about admitting sewing failures now, or turning to plan B as needed.
ReplyDeleteBut as for using the term "Fat" in regards to clothing, forget about it. Why deal in the negative? I'd far rather someone come out with a line of patterns that said [And Delivered]: "This will make you look like a goddess." Yeah, give me some of that.
I call it "my style" when I like it. It becomes a "style rut" when it starts feeling off - like I have moved on and my clothes haven't.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book on the subject is The Triumph of Individual Style because it goes a lot more in-depth than any other book. It doesn't just consider your coloring and basic body shape (and how exactly is this concept too complicated??), but also whether the body is muscular/bony/fleshy, front/back shape differences, lines and movement in the face, and other details.