Lectura de weekend

„There is great shame in nakedness. Once this shame derived from s*x, from Eve’s primal realisation that she was naked. Now it comes fro the deep anxiety and despair that we do not resemble the perfectly toned, tanned and airbrushed creatures we see in magazines. We are ashamed that we can’t fit into the smallest size of clothes they sell in many shops. We are deeply ashamed that out body are so immense and whale-like. […]

The shame that lies beneath our clothes contaminates everything. Deep inside we feel fat or shrivelled, our boobs are too small or they droop too low, our bellies are distended or they lack the muscles which we see displayed on the front of the magazines like Men’s Health. The flesh beneath the arms waves about in the breeze. The pubic hair spreads rapidly and abundandtly across the thighs. Bunions. Ingrown toenails. Wrinkled necks. Dimpled knees. A withered decolletage.

The flaws in our body, flaws never seen by anyone but ourselves and our very nearest and dearest if we can help it, are considered a kind of disgrace. And are so keenly felt that they are held up to the most intensive scurtiny, which somehow evades the considerable drawbacks in our character – a nasty temper, the tendency to take a drink too often, passivity, lack of courage, laziness, recklessness. The magazines are full of photos sneering at celebrities’ bodies, but far fewer sneering at their bad manners and monomania.”*

Fascinanta perspectiva din ultimul paragraf si cat se poate de adevarata: preferam sa corectam asa-zisele defecte exterioare, ale siluetei, in loc sa lucram la cele de caracter. Pe de alta parte, intotdeauna exista trei variante. Acceptam ceea ce este sau cum suntem/ aratam, lasam lucrurile sa ne complexeze, frustreze, intristeze sau schimbam ceva.  Eu pendulez intre prima varianta si ultima, de asta a rezonat atat de mult cu mine motto-ul cu care am promovat „Fii propria ta stilista”: if you change nothing, nothing will change.

Inainte de a va lasa sa cititi recomandarile acestei saptamani, doua remindere: repet cursul de stil in Bucuresti si in luna noiembrie, in weekendul 23-24, aici aveti toate detaliile; urmatorul Style Conversations este organizat in 9 noiembrie, va rasfat cu o tema generoasa, „Garderoba pentru 4 sezoane”.

And now, on with the show, printese dragi…

The Armani experience – “Mr. Armani is being modest. People who know him well say one of the endearing things about him is that he doesn’t realize how rich he is. He’s not all that interested in art or reading. He doesn’t speak English. ‘He’s quite provincial in a way,’ said a former executive, suggesting this is a positive. ‘He relies on his intuition.’” In NY Times.

Catwalk credentials – “Among stewards of big luxury brands Angela Ahrendts, the boss of Burberry, is probably the geekiest. Her main achievement has been to make the 150-year-old British company the most technologically savvy of its peers. Burberry plans to be the first luxury company that is “fully digital end to end”, she boasts. But what can she do for Apple, which on October 14th said it would poach her to run its retailing operations? Probably the opposite: revive a sense of style at a tech firm that has lately looked a bit dowdy.” In The Economist.

Prices soar as fashion goes to auctions and museums – “When dresses are auctioned off as if they were fine works of art, you could say the thin line between art and fashion has been inarguably breached. Especially at these prices. This week in Paris, for example, a 1968 Yves Saint Laurent long black robe in black chiffon with ostrich feathers around the hips, originally estimated at €15,000 fetched €118,750.” In Forbes.

The sensual and radical designs of Antoni Vaccarello – “Vaccarello’s characteristic mix is sexy and  cerebral. Generally they don’t make easy fashion bedfellows. His golden rule has been  focusing on the former. The intelligence in his designs informs the sexiness, but really these dresses are about cut, and what that cut can do for the body.” In The Independent.

Is fashion e-commerce site Stitch Fix just another gimmick? – “Katrina Lake got into Harvard Business School with an essay detailing the company she dreamed of starting. It would be a fashion e-commerce business that would ship personalized boxes of clothes to women. Clothing picks would marry stylist expertise and data analytics, art and style. Lake impressed Harvard, got accepted, and immediately started planning her business.” In Pando Daily.

How a big retailer learned the tricks of high fashion – „Where the customer used to be king before, the customer is now the master of the universe: and they want what they want, how they want it, when they want it.’ For Woolworths, this shift has been felt most keenly in clothing — an area that along with beauty and home ware makes up 38% of its business in South Africa. In response, over the past two to three years it has made a conscious effort to make its clothing more fashionable, which crucially has involved getting it from the design stage to the shop floor much more quickly.” Pe BBC.

The most lucrative form of flattery – “As with fashion (see ‘Vuitton, Louis’ and ‘Louboutin, Christian’), imitation has become rampant in the cosmetics industry. For a while it seemed as if every company was coming out with loose mineral blushers and powders, in the mold (or not) of the popular line Bare Escentuals. Now ‘baked’ makeup is all the rage.” In NY Times.

*The Thoughtful Dresser, Linda Grant