The Fashion as the Art
Manolo says, the Manolo he loves it when the internet friends of the Manolo, they approach the fashion as more than the negligible consideration, when they honor it with the serious intellectual consideration that it deserves. (Yes, one may take this too far, but in the general, the opposite it is true, in the general the fashion it incorrectly relegated to the arena of the frippery.)
Of the course, it does not hurt that at the same of the time the internet friends they are thinking about the fashion in the intellectual ways, they are also praising the Manolo.
April 19th, 2005 at 9:21 am
If the hasn’t already do so, The Manolo he should check out the blog of the Virginia Postrel (http://www.dynamist.com/weblog) and her book The Substance of Style. Although not a commentator about the fashion per se, the Virginia she defends the inherent worth of aesthetically pleasing consumer goods and the explosion of choices we now have thanks to technology and the internet.
April 19th, 2005 at 9:45 am
It was Virginia Postrel’s site that led me to Manolo. What better recommendation!
April 19th, 2005 at 10:48 am
The Manolo he is most happy to count the Virginia Postrel as one of the Manolo closest internet friends, someone who’s views on luxury, consumption and the importance of style the Manolo he has long admired.
As the Manolo has said before, she is the very smart lady.
http://manoloshoes.blogspot.com/2005/01/blogads.html
April 19th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
Greetings from Down Under! Can’t rbr how I found this blog, but I simply have to leave a comment. I love shoes and I love your blog. It’s so stylish, fresh … and ohhh sooo inspiring!!! Keep it up. I am an Indian who has recently relocated to Sydney … still taking in the sights and sounds. Anyways … it always mortifies me everytime I see thongs ( in all kinds of prints and colours ) worn with casual wear. It must be the sun and surf culture. In India, they are commonly known as “Bata rubber chappals” or “bathroom chappals” therefore, not worthy enough to wear on the street or even seen in acceptable social circles. I know two girlfriends who, attending uni here on a scholarship, discarded their thongs once they got back to college in India coz they wouldn’t be caught wearing them to class. What’s the Manolo take on thongs? Cheers !!!
April 19th, 2005 at 8:25 pm
I tip my hat to the Manolo once over, this time in thanks.
-Trey Givens
April 20th, 2005 at 12:01 am
The Mimi she has for many years considered dressing well to be an artform. There will always be those among us whose dress and grooming are reminiscent of the pictures of the dogs playing the card game and the Elvis paintings on velvet or, even worse, no art at all. And then there are those who have thought out, down to the minutest detail, all the aspects of their dress and grooming to make sure each part is consistent with the other parts (and with who they are), and they make sure that the overall effect is harmonious and balanced as well. The Mimi, how she loves the blog of the Manolo!
April 20th, 2005 at 2:57 pm
The Reginleif, she sometimes love to dress to kill, especially when the hottie he is dropping by, or for work. She frown at people like the imbecile who wear jeans and a T-shirt to the wedding of the relative.
However, oftentimes the Reginleif she goes out in public in an old T-shirt, raggedy-ass sweatpants, and sneakers. Oh, and she does not always comb herself the hair, either.
It’s all about the context.
April 20th, 2005 at 5:17 pm
The best fashion advice I ever got comes from (of all people) P J O’Rourke, in his book “Republican Party Reptile.” He was in Beirut in 1986 and a group of American hostages was brought to the Summerland Hotel for dinner by their captors (!). P J saw them and described them (I’m quoting from memory) as follows:
“They looked terrible. I don’t mean that they had been abused. I mean that they looked like American tourists everywhere - elastic-waist loaf-around slacks, T-shirts with stupid slogans on them, enormous running shoes on noodle legs. These people were caught in a crisis of international proportions and frankly, they weren’t dressed for it.”
To which end I have determined never to go out dressed in a way which would embarrass my loved ones if (God forbid) I were ever taken hostage. And if you think that doesn’t make a difference, well, think of that now-famous photo of Daniel Pearl held captive in Pakistan. And imagine if he had been wearing a Bart Simpson T-shirt.
April 21st, 2005 at 9:50 am
Dressing well, it is l’art mineur, but it is the art nonetheless, and it adds beauty to the day, not only for the artist, but for all who behold her (or him). It takes the discipline and the intelligence, as well as the imagination and the money; and the less there is of the money, the more there needs to be of the intelligence and imagination! It also takes the knowledge of oneself, so that the garments and accessories, they flatter the wearer, rather than illustrate the delusions as to, perhaps, the age, or the size!
The Annalucia, she brings up a very important point. La BellaDonna, who has always tried to be meticulous in her dressing, she was actually greatly impressed by the film Beetlejuice; the movie, it presented the supposition that the deceased, they spent eternity wearing the clothes in which they had died. La BellaDonna has always tried, since then, to avoid the clothes she would not be caught dead in; she has tried to make the choices, whether for work, or for casual, or for other, that she would not be unhappy if she had to spend eternity in what she was wearing.
April 21st, 2005 at 10:51 am
La BellaDonna, the Mimi she could not agree with you more.
April 21st, 2005 at 11:19 am
Annalucia, the Mimi did not mean to exclue your thought; she completely agrees with you as well.
April 21st, 2005 at 12:40 pm
Ah! And just in case, La BellaDonna, she also did not mean to exclude the Mimi (Hola, Mimi!); in fact, she thought the Mimi’s statement stood remarkably well on its own. Merely, as the Annalucia brought up something which had had the profound influence upon her, La BellaDonna mentioned something she found influential as well.
La BellaDonna salutes all the ladies, and the gentlemen, who dress each day as if it might be for eternity!
(and she salutes the Manolo as well, for giving us a place where we can feel at home!)