Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Style or Comfort?

I have been thinking about this the past couple of days after seeing this ad at Shopbop for cropped pants for Fall of all things.


Yes, just what I want is an icy breeze swirling around my exposed ankles!

So what are we willing to put ourselves through to look stylish? I for one I am not some silly Regency maiden wandering around in dampened muslin getting consumption. In Winter and Fall I want clothes to keep me warm. No flimsy tees and cropped pants or sandals. I want cozy sweaters, warm boots and pants that actually cover my legs! On the other extreme is clothing that is painful.


Alexander McQueen showed off 12 inch heels on the runway that looked like raptor claws. They may be art, but there is no way they were comfortable or wearable.

I like pretty shoes. Maybe a bit more than like. However, I am not putting up with blisters or bunions or hammertoes because of tight or ill fitting shoes. No way. I love my feet too much to do that to them.



Too tight jeans or tops are other items fraught with danger.

I like jeans as much as the next person. The news I am hearing about the super tight, super skinny jeans is a bit scary though. A lot of women have had paralysis of the nerve in the leg so that after wearing them they can not walk temporarily! Wow, that would scare me half to death if it happened to me. I make sure now that my jeans are not too tight. I am not willing to have that happen.



I have worn tight corsets to the Renaissance faires and I can say that I do not want to deal with that pain in real life.

I have seen pretty, corseted tops and you can get ones that are not tight, really! Breathe, ladies. We need to breathe! So while I might wear a pretty corset like this over a white blouse like it was a vest, no tight lacing for me!

So tell me. Are you willing to suffer for fashion?

Pel

4 comments:

  1. Pain and extremism are ridiculous when it comes to fashion. I don't understand the point trying to be proven with either one.
    Of course, I wear some items that others might consider uncomfortable, particularly if they're used to flopping about with no structure or tailoring.
    My newly-thrifted pencil/wiggle skirt certainly doesn't allow me to move any which way. It requires me to be aware of my body, sit a certain way, walk and bend a certain way, but that, to me, is not discomfort. It's posture.
    Likewise with my waist cincher. It does allow me to breathe, but it also trims me, & creates a nice smoothe line for certain garments. While wearing it I cannot slouch around as if I'm slumming in sweatpants, but seeing as that's an image I don't care to present, even when home alone, it's fine with me.
    Shoes (glorious shoes!) are available in so many, many styles that combine beauty with comfort, there's no reason to feel forced into clunking about in those extreme runway bricks like a wobbly newborn colt.
    While fashion shows are definitely entertaining, and sometimes inspiring, the last thing they're about is actually dressing a real life woman.
    So, style - yes; comfort - yes; posture - yes; pain - no; slobbiness - no.

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  2. I must say, I love a mildly painful corset! But only on a special night out, once a year or so. I wouldn't want to be wearing them all the time. As for the jeans, I wore them that tight in high school!

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  3. Well, you know I wore sandals to my own wedding. ;) So that tells you pretty much how much discomfort I'm willing to put up with. :)

    -Krista

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  4. I agree with grrl. It is one thing to wear a style that causes you to pay attention to posture, or modify your movements slighty. But real, down to the nitty gritty pain? I am too old to put up with that nonsense. As for exposing myself in skimpy clothes in the Winter. Nah, not doing it.

    Wendy, we all did such things in high school, LOL! I put it down to hormones and brainwashing by advertisers.

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