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Thursday, July 9, 2015

A Brief Treatise on Fashion

"Clothes make a man. 
Naked people have very little 
or no influence on society. "
                              – Mark Twain


It is the pride and joy of our modern day world to glory in the freedom that woman has attained in her mode of dress. Woman has freed herself from the constraints of free-flowing gowns and thrust herself into the liberty of tight pants. She is now her own person, wondrously indistinguishable from the male sex, and thus able to embrace her true potential.
            Obviously, as I am sure you can tell from my tone, I disagree. It’s not that I disapprove of pants: I do in fact sustain an intimate relationship with jeans, which were first sown in heaven, if we are to believe the ancient legends. 
However, I can not and will not assert that our mode of dress heightens the dignity of woman in any way.
            When we take a look at the ancient modes of dress, we find that both men and women wore tunics. Pants were a development that did not take place in the western world until around the 14th century, at which time our ancestors decided that pants were a good idea for men, but not necessarily for women. Why was that? Probably because women did not wish to attire themselves in something that was actually, at the time, pretty ugly.   
Trousers were certainly not as attractive as a dress. It wasn’t until the late eighteen hundreds that men’s pants became, consistently, the loose trousers we have now.


       





Women wore dresses not because they were a slave to fashion or convention, but because it was generally accepted that dresses were the most flattering attire, and since women are the most beautiful of God’s creatures, it stands to reason that they be clad in the most beautiful of clothing.
   




That which is beautiful is hidden behind a veil. The woman’s body is the most beautiful in all creation, and in reverence for that beauty it is veiled behind beautiful, flattering folds of fabric.

            















Throughout history, women’s clothes have taken on different forms: 












Some universally and agelessly beautiful,  





some debatable,  






and some downright ugly.     
Image result for 17th century woman


















For certainly, it is not true that dresses were always the prime example of beautiful fashion. Take France in the 18th century. Get a load of that hair! And I am certainly not arguing that corsets should be brought back into fashion. Taste and moderation should be practiced in everything - even dresses!

However, it is certainly true that there are fashions of dresses and skirts which are, and have been, extremely flattering for many years. Yet, we seem to have a paranoid fear of being forced back into skirts - as if they were somehow unwomanly and unflattering. I know that I grew up in mortal dread of the jean jumper, afraid of appearing frumpy and too casual. Yet, nowadays, we seem to have no problem being frumpy in society so long as it is with the liberty of pants, and is in fashion.
love all the styles i find at Colors of Aurora. this outfit is awesome fake leather blog adriana gastelum zara knit jumper sweater biker two-toned jacket ripped jeans marc jacobs clutch suede booties
Just remember: just because it's in fashion, doesn't mean it's tasteful - or attractive. (See 18th century French Fashion above)

High-low cocktail outfit. Chambray and a maxi.    Natalie Holbrook of natthefatrat.com and her Mighty Closet at mightygirl.com.Red hot! Taylor carried what little belongings she needed in a little red purse slung over her shoulder, which matched her bright red lipstickPants are great, comfy, and can be pulled off with definite flair,  but don't write off dresses. After all, when all's said and done, all pros and cons considered, dresses are more attractive than pants any day! You are woman, and you are beautiful.
tiered pattened maxi dress with jean jacket#Modest doesn’t mean frumpy. #fashion #style www.ColleenHammond.com www.TotalimageInstitute.com

2 comments:

  1. I was specifically addressing woman's fashion, and I think men's is a whole other ballpark, but if you want to - go ahead! I think it takes a man very confident in his masculinity to pull that off.

    ReplyDelete