The Next Carnivale of the Couture
Manolo says, the next Carnivale of the Couture, it will be held at the blog of the super fantastic Fashionable Kiffen. Here is the topic she has suggested, it is the good one.
What item/style/look do you wish would become a trend? Or what trend from the past would you like to resurrect?Personally, I think that hats are an under-rated accessory. Not baseball caps, or trucker hats (god, no), but fedoras, big floppy straw hats, newsboy caps, etc. A hat can take a boring outfit and elevate to instant chic – plus it will cover up a bad hair day!
Go forth and blog!
I am by no means a fashion plate. But, if Iwere to have a vote, I would ask to bring back the styles, especially for men, that were seen in the 40′s and early 50′s. I like the idea of real hats, too.
The Annalucia, she would also be pleased with the return of the hat. If enough people wore them every day, then perhaps the manufacturers, they would make a ladies’ hat big enough for the Annalucia. She has a hat size of the seven and one half (that is to say, the Men’s Extra Large) and believe her, the One Size Fits All of the standard ladies’ hat does not even come close.
As for fashions, the Annalucia would like to see the return of the Thirties styles, at least for the ladies. She admires the bias cut and the gentle draping displayed therein; it is kind to her figure, as few other styles (before or since) have been.
Annalucia, I am sympathetic to your desire for bias cut clothing. I am the proud owner of two bias cut skirts, and wish I had more things cut this way. Personally, I would like to see more (young) women wearing stockings/pantyhose. I am young, and I started wearing them because my mother does almost as soon as I graduated from little-girl tights. They make one’s shoes fit better, provide some protection for the shoe from the feet-stink and perspiration, and make one’s legs look better, all in one package. I realize some women find them uncomfortable, but most of us can get used to the feeling. I am sick of seeing young women displaying their pasty legs (like mine–most especially in winter) or tanning them into an unnatural color. Put on some nylons, ladies!
I wish for garments tailored for a narrow waist. Must the drape of a shirt or the midriff of a dress hide the least lewd and finest asset of my figure? True, when I am older and bringing spawn into the world has granted me a ring of tummy fat, I will not want this but for the time being only a fitted cheongsam doesn’t cover me like a tent.
The other thing I crave is alluring modest clothing. It seems like you can either show everything or wear some sort of baggy parody of the Maoist pyjama. Uggh, not everyone wants to wear the Pentecostal muumuus either.
JaneC, I could not disagree more! I think that lovely, smooth, legs are perfect on their own. There is no reason a lady with alabaster legs should feel she has to cover them up! I prefer the look and feel of bare legs, definitely.
Mmm. Mens fashion from the 20s and 40s….with the Fedora, of course!
For women…this is harder. I can tell you what I’d like to see go away!!! But I think also the 40s were a good decade for women’s fashion and hairstyles. I LOVE it!
StyleGraduate, the problem is that not all ladies have lovely, smooth legs. Pale skin and thick, dark hair means that even my newly-shaven legs have little black flecks all over them, which is Not Attractive.
Perhaps I should restate my original complaint. I’ve had girls my age tell me I look like an old lady because I wear nylons, so that I can show off my pleasantly-shaped legs without displaying my skin’s imperfections. If you have lovely skin on your legs, by all means, go bare! But I’d like to see more young women wear nylons just so that I don’t get rude comments about looking old-ladyish because I wear them. It hurts when you are 16 (first comment) or 21 (most recently) to be told that you look like someone’s grandma because you wear nylons.
The Annalucia, she is sorry to hear that the JaneC is afflicted with such boorish acquaintances. The lightweight nylon upon the slender leg, and encased in the pretty shoe, is a most attractive sight. and she hopes that the Jane will meet more people blessed with good taste and discernment in these matters.
What does indeed look “grannyish” (in the opinion of the Annalucia) are the knee-high stockings worn with the too-short dress, or worse, the stocking of any length which has been rolled down to the ankle, leaving a spare-tire of nylon with the pasty-white calves visible above. From this one can only avert the eyes, and shudder.
I like pale legs and think nylons look weird. But that’s just me, I only like black stockings or bare skin.
JaneC, well, it is inexcusably rude for someone to tell you you look like and old lady, merely for wearing stockings! I too have pale skin and thick, dark hair. I find that exfoliating well before shaving helps, and waxing helps even more. But regardless, I think ladies’ legs are things of beauty, and we should revel in them as we feel best. I feel best showing off skin untouched by stockings, so I do. :)
Hey Manolo! You should check out my friend’s website that is all about fashion trends and also has videos from Fashion Week in LA this year. I guess I found someone who loves fashion as much as I do!
Chloe
La BellaDonna salutes the JaneC for resisting the impulse, when told by the boors of her acquaintance that she looks like an old lady, to respond, “Well, that’s better than looking like you!” with the appropriate contemptuous flick of the eyes at the legs of said boor. Speaking as a Person of Pallor, La BellaDonna, she wears the nylons for many of the same reasons as the JaneC. La BellaDonna is perfectly comfortable in her glow-in-the-dark skin, but has no need to share quite that much of it with the world. Plus, it is the more comfortable. It protects the shoes AND the feets of La BellaDonna. It reduces the need to buy sunblock from the barrel, to the mere gallon, at the time. La BellaDonna admits that mostly she wears the black tights, because she likes them. And she does not wear that abomination upon the face of the earth, the “control top pantyhose”. La BellaDonna will control her own top, thank you very much. If she wishes to wear the corset, she will wear the corset; she does not care for the leg tourniquet.
La BellaDonna suspects that in addition to being more mannerly, the JaneC looks infinitely better groomed than her rude acquaintance. The number of the ladies who look good without the stockings is far exceeded by the number of the ladies who forego the stockings.
Hola to the Annalucia! La BellaDonna, she is doing her best to bring back the everday wearing of the true hat, singlehandedly if she must. Like the Phia, La BellaDonna looks her best in a fitted waist (the Phia, she visits the Erin at http://www.dressaday.com/dressaday.html, yes?), and La BellaDonna, she too loves the dresses, and the suits, of the thirties, forties and fifties. Oh, for the fitted suits of the late forties, hard upon the heels of Monsieur Dior’s New Look!