Not Another Fashion Blog!

Well yes, actually.  But this one has a twinned focus: fashion and literature.  I'm not just interested in what Jane Austen wore (although I am researching that for an upcoming post), I'm fascinated by all the winsome ways these two passions interlace.  What would one wear to a literary salon?  How can I channel the essence of Nancy Drew?  Is there anything hotter than a saucy librarian with glasses on a chain?

(The answer is no).

At the very least I promise you a Look and a Book.  I'll post a pic of one fashionable individual - whether from history, the imagination or the catfood aisle at Coles - and one textual work.  They may combine.  They may contrast.  They'll hopefully inspire.

To start proceedings, today's

LOOK:

Thanks to fashionising.com

Although the man in the middle is rocking the round sunnies that are so trending right now, and I'm curious to try one of the 'Giant Killers' advertised above their heads (they just don't make ice-cream like they used to!), I am completely in love with the woman on the left.  The baggy pants are so 90s era Gwen Stefani, and completely fuck with the come-hither femininity of the white cropped halter top.  Add to this the effortlessly coordinated saddles shoes that accentuate her limber dancer's pose and you just know this woman could swing dance the night away and still have the energy to bust out some machinery for the war effort tomorrow.  Perhaps even wearing those trendy glasses again:

Thanks, Wiki!

Anyway, she looks like a strong, sexy woman with a secret or two and I salute her.  Lest we forget.

The 40s were a particularly fascinating time for fashion, as the austerity measures taken to preserve rations during the war fundamentally changed fashion in ways we are still benefiting from today.  These measures meant that heels were limited in height, fabrics were rationed, and the concept of 'separates' was developed in order for women to create a larger pool of outfits from a limited wardrobe.  Even Vogue had a "Make do and Mend" campaign - gasp!  I will write a longer post on 1940s fashion shortly - it really was almost as exciting and transformative a time for clothes as it was for society.

Sidebar: I couldn't help but giggle at Sportsgirl's April campaign this year of the same name.  "Make do and Mend" is not an optimal slogan if one wants to encourage the purchase of brand new clothes!

Thanks Tiffany at thepleasureisallmine.com

Maybe the wool is for sale??  Maybe one is supposed to team new stock with their older Sportsgirl purchases? Maybe I'll take you at your word, go home and customise that old pair of jeans I got from Vinnies?  Which I did.

These were genuine Versace jeans from what must have been the 80s, judging by the terrible cut of it's jib.  Think stirrup pants without the stirrup.  Although I remember loving stirrup pants and ballet flats as a 9 year old, and look how popular ballet flats are... maybe we're due for a stirrup revival.  I also suspect that the 'value' of high-end brands lies in keeping it in good nick, not taking to it with a pair of scissors.  But I am pretty confident about spotting legit brands, and determining them from the counterfeits.  It is a difficult and inexact process, but there are a few clues to origin that I gleaned while working for recycled fashion chain "U-Turn" that I would be very happy to share in an upcoming post.

Oh, my 'book' for the day, I almost forgot!  I meandered so delightfully off track I nearly committed what my friend Tristan calls 'tangenicide' (tangent + suicide), but allow me to draw your attention back to today's

BOOK:

Ian McEwan blows me away.  As someone who over-thinks everything (or maybe I don't think enough...??), I love a novelist who explores their characters' interior worlds, like Jonathan Franzen and Zadie Smith.  McEwan throws down the gauntlet to even those inner-world aficionados, managing to devote most of the book to the private musings of his characters whilst somehow also packing it with action.  There are explosions!  Horrifying injuries!  Rather than falling into melodrama, however, disaster and redemption are all handled with a deft and delicate touch, and the reader is set to their own musings by a magnificently ambiguous ending.  

If you thought I was going to plait the literary back into the sartorial by mentioning Keira Knightly's famous green dress in the film adaptation...

Thanks The Glam Guide at

getglamorous.blogspot.com

... you can forget it.  I think the dress ill-fitting and over-rated, despite loving the emerald green fabric.  True, I am no fan of Knightley - or what my friend Robyne calls her 'perpetual blow job face' - but I genuinely find the garment underwhelming.  Her a-cups are no excuse for the lack of tailoring around the bust - she's got a catwalk model's slight frame so her dressmaker should be quite practiced at fitting this shape.  The spaghetti straps suggest a cheap polyester nightie rather than an evening gown, and there's an awkward bunchiness above the waist, like she's bought a size up because it was on sale and there were none in her size.  I know I'm being snarky, but it is altogether inappropriate for my imagined Cecelia.  I love Cee too much to see her walking around like this!  In my mind (and McEwan's) "the silk dress she wore seemed to worship every curve and dip of her lithe body..." making her feel "sleekly impregnable".  Psh.  

I intend to devote many posts to the clothing of characters, and how they can be realised in the real world.  With my help, you can look like the dreamy Lisbon sisters in Jeffery Eugenides' "The Virgin Suicides", or channel the artsy, funky Claudia Kishi of Ann M Martin's Babysitters Club series.  Stay tuned and together we can show Keira how it's done!