Match Game

Some people take matching seriously. Mr. Hunting Creek and I were cruising through Old Town Alexandria last Saturday, when I spied this car/house combo..  "Look!, Her car matches her house!"  Mr. Hunting Creek looked, then willingly drove around the block again so that I could take a picture. (Normally he doesn't approve of backtracking.) This car matches her house, the doors and shutters. Do you suppose she has that parking pace reserved? I say she, because what Red-blooded American Man, even in liberal Alexandria Virginia, would have a pink car and a matching pink house? No man I know.

I like matching, but lately tie fashion is to Not Match. It actually bothers me to see models wearing black hose and white shoes. Perish the thought! That combination will never be seen on my legs. I don't think necessarily that shoes must match purses must match belts, but I do like it when they harmonize. When I choose fabrics to go together, I like then to have something in common to talk about.I don't want my top and pants or skirt to sit together like two deaf mutes at a funeral. 
I may be too conservative here, but it is difficult to change after a life time of matching. That's why we so often see old ladies with hairstyles from their youth, frozen in time. ( I always wonder, don't those ladies have daughters? Their daughters are slacking! My daughter would march me right to her favorite hair stylist and say firmly, "Fix This.")
What do you think about modern matching, or the lack thereof? Do you mix it up? Would you wear black tights with white shoes? Discuss.

Occupy Retail

When it comes to stickin' it to the man, of course I am all in favor. I am cheered by the Occupy Wall Street Protesters. Who doesn't dislike greedy plutocrats? I'm surprised that no one has shown up with flaming torches and pitchforks yet.
Last night while Mr. Hunting Creek was watching yet more football, I had an epiphany.
What women needed to do, I realized, was go on strike and occupy something. Why, people are still talking about those feminists who burned bras, although as I recall, no actual bras were burned. But it's a vivid image, and one that people remember having happened. Women on strike is not a new idea, of course. From Ancient Greece on down, poets and playwrights have fantasized about women on strike. But I wasn't thinking of going on strike like Lysistrata (although being anti-war is an excellent reason to go on strike). I was looking at fashion on my Steve Jobs memorial handheld device (thank you, Steve Jobs!) and wishing that the technological changes that have improved our lives might be applied to fashion.
If you were to ask any women, tall, short, thin, curvy, woman of any size, almost all of them would tell you that they have a horrible time finding clothes.
Of the women that sew, they will say that they sew because they can't find anything that fits, or that the workmanship is horrible on RTW, or that they like to customize what they wear to suit themselves. In the business-computer-land, where I work, we customize workstations to each individual user. But fashion has not embraced this possibility. There are hundreds - maybe thousands of designers, but it seems like they are almost all designing for some imaginary woman who is six feet tall and wears a size negative 2. In other words, not me. Not you either, probably. When I see fashion, I'm always mentally raising a neckline or lowering a hemline, always taking away excess fabric here, adding some extra there - customizing the look to fit my preferences. That's why I sew, of course. But in my fantasy, women everywhere occupied the malls and fashion districts and demanded clothes that FIT. Clothes that fit them and their lifestyles. Clothes that came with clearly labeled sizes inside, with dimensions and with different cup sizes. Yes! Standardized sizes! Tops and dresses with cup sizes! Pants that weren't always, eternally a foot too long (my complaint) or too short.
So good luck to my brothers and sisters occupying Wall Street! It's difficult to start a movement without backing from huge moneyed interests. Well done bringing attention to the plight of the millions of unemployed.(Some of whom could be making clothes that fit and beautiful fabric right here in the USA if those afore-mentioned moneyed interests hadn't shipped all of the jobs overseas to sweatshops and near-slave labor, but I digress). And if you can spare a few moments, can you make room for my sisters who want clothes that fit?

The Clothes Police are Real

Once again, I am grateful that I live in the United States, where we are free to wear what we please (for now anyway), even if it is in bad taste.

A real life example of the Clothes Police:
MEULABOH, Indonesia – Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia's Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday.

The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh district.

Islamic police will determine whether a woman's clothing violates the dress code, he said.

The Clothes Police everywhere are always very worried about how women are dressed, I have noticed. Not so much men.

Tesco Implements a Dress Code

Striking a blow towards preserving Civilization As We Know It, Tesco, a British grocery chain, implements a dress code:
After receiving many customer complaints of other shoppers in their night clothes, the supermarket, Tesco, has implemented a dress code for its Cardiff, South Wales store.
Shoppers at the Tesco supermarket are now warned by the new dress code signs:
"To avoid causing offence or embarrassment to others, we ask that our customers are appropriately dressed when visiting our store (footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted)."
A Tesco spokeswoman stated:
"We're not a nightclub with a strict dress code, and jeans and trainers are of course more than welcome. We do, however, request that customers do not shop in their PJs or nightgowns. This is in response to other customers. We would never dictate to people, but we have listened to customer feedback that it makes them uncomfortable and embarrassed."

My favorite comment on this:
Sky News presenter, Colin Brazier, wrote:
If you can't be bothered to change out of your night-clothes, it's not likely you possess any of the aptitudes which make the world around us a better place; stoical parenting, selfless duty to others, or the ability to hold down a job.

Here in the Land Of The Free, we are still free to shop in our jammies.(I particularly admired the Bugs Bunny jammies I saw worn at Wegman's, last time I was there. One of the many reasons why I love America.)
I wonder if they have Clothes Police stationed at the doors at Tesco?
(Thanks to my sister, who sent me the Tesco info. My daughter has actually shopped at Tesco, but not, I am proud to state, in her pajamas.)
Have you ever shopped in your pajamas? Would you?

Not Interested

I saw so many copycat gowns at the Emmy Awards, I decided that the Global Fashion Cabal had infiltrated the League of Hollywood Stylists and enforced their version of a Style irade: "Wear a strapless or one-shoulder gown", their ransom note read, "Or we kill this miniature poodle!"
And after a long and puzzled look at contemporary fashion, I have come to the following conclusion: Fashion is no longer interested in dressing regular people.
For example, does Fashion really think the average working woman will go to office meetings with painted on tattoos and see through skirts? See-through blouses? Tedious floral prints? (Oscar de la Renta, how could you?) Of course the Fashion Apologists (they have also been infiltrated by the Global Fashion Cabal, don't listen to them) say, "Oh those designs are for the runway only! They look totally different when they get to the stores!" To which I reply, after hearing this reply for 30 years, "Bah Humbug", or as the kid said, "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it!"
The Global Fashion Cabal has made it abundantly clear that they are not even remotely interested in dressing women over 18. Even though we all know that women 12-30 can only afford to shop at H&M unless their daddy is Tommy Hilfiger.
Of course we read in the NY Times and elsewhere that women and their pocketbooks (last year's pocketbook, could not afford a new one this year) are staying away from stores in droves. It is like a big game of Chicken: the Fashion Cabalistas get more and more outrageous, and the buying public buys less and less. We all know who is going to win this game- except the Fashion Cabalistas are still in the Denial Stage of the BreakUp.(I know she still loves me! She's just busy, that's all. She didn't get my message!) Most women have enough clothes in their closets to last them until the Rapture, and as long as it is culturally acceptable to wear last year's fashions, and there are no cool new things to buy, they will continue to stay out of the stores. The Global Fashion Cabal thought that their little "Fashion's Night Out" event would tempt. Yawn. Or as Miranda Priestly might say, "Bore someone else with your fashions."