To Vogue or not to Vogue

Here's a trailer

Hi there y’all. Here’s a NY Times article about a flick that sounds worthy. {Behind ‘The September Issue,’ a Documentary on the Inner Workings of Vogue}. Admittedly, I haven’t picked up a copy of Vogue magazine in years, but I have some kind of allegiance to it involving how we dress/represent ourselves. I don’t live in that fashion-is-everything world, do you? Seemed like a better idea when I was about 20 years old. These days I’m more inclined to read Time magazine than Vogue. Oh yeah, and that reminds me, here’s an article by Kurt Andersen that calls to me loud and clear, about ‘amateurism.’ {The Avenging Amateur}. Love that Andersen fellow. He wrote a great big novel called Heyday which, okay, may not earn him a Nobel Prize in Most Elegant Letters, but he represents his big ideas so entertainingly; enthusiastically. And then again, I remember liking the book right away because of how carefully Andersen describes the clothing of his characters. Plus the funky cover. Who says you can’t judge a book that way?

Gladiators

Circa 1968.

Firstly, thanks Scott for this groovy picture of you, your brother, and your teeny tiny sister, all dressed up in your school uniforms! I’d say your school was definately Mod, not Rocker.

Secondly: The fashion industry digs itself into a hole when it insists, with penny wisdom and pound foolishness, we must wear what is “of the moment.” Soon my favorite garments will make me look old and frumpy; decidedly un-hip; cash-poor; and so on, if they aren’t brand-spanking new. I try to evade this problem by wearing clothing, not fashion—I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has reacted this way to the industry’s commercial peer pressure, given how the industry is constantly in a state of panic that no one’s buying. But I love design, so, what clothing? Land’s End? It’d be like I’m a painter and although I’d like to express something luminously in oils, I’ll just use magic markers.

Recently someone decided that a safe manufacturing bet will be Gladiator Sandals. So here’s John Fluevog’s version. I love it; I love the proportions, and that it’s magenta. But I won’t buy a pair (at least I think I won’t!), because while I’d love to express to the world the beauty of magenta, I suspect that’s not the only thing I’d communicate.

Thirdly, I just loved these photographs: Redesigning Women.

Uniforms are anything but.

Every day I get up in the morning, and pick out my uniform. No, not a plaid skirt, knee socks, a white button-down shirt. That’s kind of too girly-raunchy for me. It’s different nearly every day, but in the end it’s a dialogue, it’s what’s on my mind. That’s the constant.

I don’t like the idea of school uniforms. The argument in favor has something to do with them being “equalizers” and diminishing superficial distractions in an academic setting, but I’d rather teach my children to curate their daily uniform than leave it to the low priority of a school administrator.

I don’t find contemplating one’s appearance—presentation—to be something negative.

I remember seeing a video about Jacqueline Kennedy, who said something to the effect that dressing her best and carefully “decorating” the White House was a way to tell people she liked them. It’s worth a try.

Here’s a website someone made to document her quest to wear one dress in as many ways as possible.
The Uniform Project

Pretty cool.