Fish Monkey's Writing Stuff

Kill SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-18T11:02:00.002-05:00

Bloody Fabulous Update

2011-11-26T21:46:00.001-05:00

(From Vogue Italia 2009, picturing Nina Ricci's famous heelless shoes)I am currently reading submissions for Bloody Fabulous, and as happens with every new anthology, there is always a new set of issues. To be fair, I anticipated the majority of what is happening this time around: namely, people are trying to fake knowing about fashion. And it shows.

Firstly, fashion is not about labels. There is a reason a person dressed in a bunch of labels without rhyme or reason is called a fashion victim. Fashion is an industry that doesn't sell you beauty or sexiness or any of those things; fashion industry sells you change and the promise of self-reinvention and your new, better self emerging from the ashes; it's a promise of shapeshifting, of drag, of disguise and escape. And every successful fashion house knows it, and their label tells you what they are selling -- which disguise. It's a language, and you can fake it no more than you can fake speaking French. If you just throw a bunch of label names on the page, it looks off -- as if you blurted random foreign words and expected people to understand you. So: what labels your character wears should tell us something about the character. The fewer labels the better, since it allows for a better definition without too much product placement. There is a reason it's called The Devil Wears Prada, and not The Devil Wears Tom Ford's Gucci.

Speaking of: yes, we all saw that movie. So the chances of me accepting a story about a fashion editor who is super mean to her assistant are close to zero. Chances of me accepting more than one of those stories are actually zero.

Secondly, fashion and style are not the same although they are related. Style is all about how a person puts together their guise. To paraphrase Ru Paul, we all wear drag: we put together our clothing in such a way as to tell other people what we envision ourselves to be, what image we want to present to the world. Style is being fluent in this language -- that is, knowing how to put together a persona, as well as being sure of WHAT persona to present, whether to keep it fluid or to develop a uniform. People who do not care about fashion and style are not fluent (and that is fine, not every form of expression is mandatory); they dress for comfort and don't give it a second thought. But when you're writing about fashion, you are talking about people who are at the very least interested in style -- that is, they know which persona they cultivate. And this part is not about labels as much as it is about the lines of clothing and the silhouettes.

So when writing about people who are (or try to be) stylish as well as fashionable, it makes sense to give some thought about how image is put together. Not the labels, but the lines -- is it nipped in, girly, foofy, masculine, androgynous, eclectic, avant guard, approachable, forbidding, tailored, flowy? Knowing what selves your characters present to the world is knowing their aspirational self, or their armor. And if you set up a contrast between the true self and the projected self -- well, that's conflict right there.

And finally, it helps to know how fashion industry works if you choose it as your topic. As in, where do the models come from? Who makes runway samples? What are tailoring vs store samples? Where fabrics are sourced? Who are buyers? etc etc. Of course, not every story is about fashion industry -- there are many about people of personal style, of significant clothing, of disguises. But for all that is sacred, if you write about the fashion industry, do your research in the same way you would research history or science or any other industry -- thoroughly. If you think it's too trivial to research, or that no one will notice, you do your story no favors.

Links a la Mode

2011-11-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

And once again, I find my post among this week's Links a la Mode. Thanks, IFB!

Getting Into The Spirit

Edited by Taylor Davies

Thanksgiving is now officially behind us, so it's time to start looking ahead to the coming holidays and all the fan-fair that comes along with them. From Black Friday shopping to holiday parties to festive DIY projects, there's a lot of inspiration in this week's Links a la Mode selections.
Along with all this inspiration, a few of our bloggers tackled some tough issues, from finding the balance between sexy and frumpy dressing in the workplace, vanity sizing, recession dressing and improving your blog posts. I thought these were important and critical to include for this week's round up, because even as the holiday season gets into full swing, and we're overcome with twinkling lights, festive parties and sequins galore - the same problems and difficulties we face the rest of the year will be here.

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: NOVEMBER 25TH

33 Avenue Miquelon: Has Black Friday Jumped The Shark?
Bon Vivant + A Budget: A Good Sweater Is Hard To Find
Clothes: Pepe Jeans To Launch Tru-Blu Jeans To Sustainable Fashion Market
Cosmolawlitan: Benetton Ads Spark Controversy but Embody Fashion Spirit
Fashion Is Evolution: How To Make A Book Clutch
Fish Monkey's Writing Stuff: Not-Sexy Dressing
Forever Amber: Size Zero, My Ass
In Her Glam: Glam Feature Jill Allison
Koi Story: Hair Tutorial v2: Beehive
Oh To Be A Muse: Make Up and Muses: The Eyes Have It
Oranges & Apples: My Relationship With Make Up
Out Of Order: Easy DIY Bow Belt
Paperdoll Vintage: My Top Ten Online Vintage Shops
Paper + Cloth: 10 Crosby Is Here
Roses et Epines: Is The Most Exciting Industry In The World Turning Boring?
Semi: DIY Fringe Belt
Tansuann: Versace For H&M Timeline
The Style Confessions: Fashion For The Recession
The Window Shopper: Your Christmas Party Survival Guide
Statements in Fashion: How To Write Better Blog Posts

SPONSOR:
Holiday Sale at Shopbop: Rachel Roy, Anya Hindmarch, Rachel Zoe Bags, Coated Denim, Vix, Paige Jeans, Boots, Alexander Wang Purses, Sonia Rykiel, Tory Burch Bags, Vince Tops, Marc Jacobs Bags & Shoes.

PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE
If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine

And on a different note: yesterday I caught some Project Runway reruns (Season 4), and one of the challenges was to revive a hopelessly outdated and "out" trend. Which included fringe, cutouts, poodle skirts, neon, baggy sweaters, underwear as outerwear, dancewear, shoulder pads and seventies silhouettes -- that is, all those things that are all over current runways and stores. And sure, yes, fashion changes, trends come and go, that's obvious. My delight came primarily from watching Nina Garcia and Michael Kors four years ago ridiculing things they are enthusiastically shilling now. So trends don't only come and go, but with them they bring massive paradigm shifts, so that people can see something they used to think was ugly as beautiful, without experiencing cognitive dissonance.

Or is it that social psychologists are right, and extrinsic reward (gobs and gobs of money) is in itself enough to reduce the feelings of the dissonance, and the enthusiasm with which fashion mags offer us seventies silhouettes they thought were HIDEOUS just a few years back is genuine, because they certainly make enough cash to offset the feeling of inner conflict? I sure hope so. But I wonder how do the consumers of fashion -- that is, people who do not get paid -- reduce these feelings. I mean, we are contradicting ourselves, and are doing it for no reward. Is cognitive dissonance the engine that drives the consumption engine? Do we buy stuff to just shut up that dissatisfied voice inside that tries telling us that there is no reason to like stuff now if we hated it last year?

Oh Project Runway. You make me ask so many questions.

FFB: Not-Sexy Dressing

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

This week’s topic for Feminist Fashion Bloggers group post is sexuality, but ofcourse I am going to cheat and talk about something slightly different: theimpossibility for a woman to dress in a sexually neutral manner. We live in thesociety where a guy can put on a pair of slacks, a shirt and a tie, and betotally work-appropriate and professional, without inviting judgment of hissexual life. For a woman, it is not so simple – striving for an attractive orfitted look tends to lower one’s perceived status (sexy secretary, anyone?),and forgoing sexiness in favor of more somber, looser clothes spellsfrumpville. So it’s sexy or frumpy, with a very narrow ledge in between. Thewidth of the ledge varies depending on the workplace, the observer, and thewoman’s age and attractiveness. Talk about running a gauntlet.

And this is the thing: I love clothes. I like being dressedprofessionally and put together at work. What I don’t love is that while Iintend my clothes to be a message about my abilities, being a lady, I cannottake out any perceptions of sex. I really am not interested in seeing people Iinteract with at work as sexual objects; it seems only fair that women as wellas men should be allowed this opportunity. I am here to do my job, and to looklike I can do it well and be awesome while doing it.

What Not To Wear is an interesting case: they often implorewomen to look “sexy”, with Stacy asking emphatically, “What’s wrong with lookingsexy?” And my answer is, of course nothing, if that’s what one wants to looklike. But there ought to be alternatives other than hassled sad woman who gaveup on herself forever, you know?

In academia, one isalready looked down upon if one shows interest in fashion – and part of, it, Ithink is the conflation of fashion with sexualized image of women. It doesn’thave to be, of course, but sadly we live in the world of binaries: sexy orfrumpy, slut or blue stocking, etc etc. So the shortcut goes from well-dressedto fashiony to sexy to vapid. The opposite is of course the stereotypicalfemale academic who takes her work too seriously to spend even a minutethinking about clothing – and those are perceived as sex-hostile and/ormannish. Being respected and perceived as competent becomes almost impossiblewithout personal style becoming a statement of self-denial. And we need thisthird thing.

You know, the thing that men have, the way of dressing thatsays, I am here to be presentable and to do my job, and not to be evaluated interms of my perceived sexuality. The thing that doesn’t make people think, “Gee,she spends so much time/money/effort on dressing, she must be really vapid.”The thing where wearing low heels and masculine clothing doesn’t invite peopleto automatically assume that one’s a lesbian or, at the very least, “has givenup” (whatever that means.) But women as a sex class are denied theseopportunities. We can confine ourselves to different castes of this class, butwe cannot escape it. So we can certainly talk about how women have more choicesthan men when it comes to clothing and workwear, but until these choicesinclude the possibility of presentation entirely outside of the sexual dimension,the variety is not really signifying anything but profits for the fashionindustry.

FFB: Woman in Her Forties

2011-10-19T17:18:00.000-04:00

(This post is for Feminist Fashion Bloggers. This month's theme: Youth and Aging.)(Image: Tilda Swinton wearing Haider Ackerman, in Toronto 2011)My grandmother had a number of weird and funny sayings, as grandmothers do. This is the one I've been remembering lately: "If a woman doesn't look good in her twenties, it is her misfortune. If she doesn't look good in her forties, it is her fault."

I know, I know. Quite a few assumptions here, but what I would like to focus on is the positives: the idea that as we age we not only acquire control over how we present ourselves to the world, but we also get to redefine what "looking good" is. Most of all, with all the built in assumptions, this saying resonates with me because I like getting older.

There was that thing about being young: I was unsure. I was easy to sway, I looked for male approval before female one, I fluctuated in my presentation to the world, I didn't know what I was. It is not uncommon for young people to waver as they try to discover themselves. And the issue of approval is I think germane to how we express ourselves via dressing.

Dressing for men is something women are encouraged to do: we constantly hear women's clothes being criticized as unflattering or unsexy, or what was she thinking, and she should show more skin, show off her waist etc etc. Anything to project an image desirable to a man. This is why I rarely have interest in clothes designed by straight male designers: they too often design for the male gaze, and I'm just not impressed. This is why I crack up at design competitors who break out "I bring a straight male perspective to clothing!" argument. This rare, precious commodity -- the straight male view!

There is another saying about women who dress primarily for other women. This is at least what I hear mentioned by the way of explanation of the harem pant-wearing, waist-concealing, sack-dressing fashion forward individuals. While (some) other women surely can appreciate such styling better than (most) straight men, this isn't all of the story either. Dressing in a way that is pleasing to oneself is important, sure; but so is sending a signal of "I do not dress for men". So that this dressing for other women thing? I think it often gets misconstrued as competitive, trying to impress each other. For me, I take it as a signal of "I do not value male attraction above all else." And as I get older, I see these women, and I want to be friends with them. Dressing for oneself OR for other women is a rebellion, since male gaze is such a default.

Now yes, there are plenty of young women who dress in interesting ways. But age does give one a few advantages in this area: first, there's knowing what you like after four decades of trial and error. Personal style evolves, at least for those of us who are interested in that sort of thing, and any evolution takes time. I know what I like now, and unlike when I was in my twenties, it is hard to persuade me to like things because everyone else does (not that I never change my mind, but.) Then there is an issue of income or at least patience: it is easier for me to save for high quality pieces I want rather than spend it all on shiny disposable trends. I do want to dress as a grown up, which for me translates into tailored, high quality garments. (If I ever have enough of vintage silk blouses and woolen blazers, I'll let you know.)

And finally, there is an issue of visibility. It's an old chestnut that women after forty become invisible in our culture. But invisibility also comes with lessening of the scrutiny female bodies are subjected to. Women over forty are often freer to experiment with personal style -- and many of the most amazing fashion icons, from Irene Apfel to Tilda Swinton to Helen Bonham Carter to Helen Mirren fall into this group. The social penalty for failing to cater to male gaze is lessened, since male gaze glosses right over women of a certain age, and... it's okay. After all, most of us spent most of our lives railing against the patriarchy. Now we get to do it from a different place -- from the place of strength and assurance, where our confidence is supported by a lifetime of achievement unrelated to our physical appearance, where our self-worth is unquestionable.

And I like it here, with the fabulously dressed women and timeless clothing. There is such a joy and freedom in finally knowing who you are, what you want, and what to tell those who don't like it. No longer at the whim of outside influence, we can find peace with ourselves -- and it is our doing.

Fringes

2011-08-18T20:46:00.003-04:00

(Image: December 2008 cover of Russian Vogue)

A few months ago, a fashion blog, Fashionable Academics (which since then seems to have gone private readership) hosted a blog conference called "This is What a Feminist Looks Like". Many fashion bloggers contributed with pictures of themselves in their best Banana Republic business casual (seriously, what's with academic fashion blogs BR shill?), with big smiles on their white attractive faces. The whole point of that (as was pointed out by an anon commenter) is to convince the casual observer that the feminists are not hairy man-hating beasts but actually very nice white middle-class attractive ladies. That is, we take an unfairly maligned category and make it more palatable to the mainstream by distancing ourselves from the fringe (in this case, hairy man-hating beasts). We can call it Gloria Steinem syndrome.

And it struck me recently how much do we do that. Spokespeople for pretty much any cause will present the most mainstream face possible -- and from Bono to Gaga, celebrities often give their face to causes associated with groups that "general public" (whatever that is) might find less relatable than those white celebs. And... I really do have a problem with that.

Recently, that horrid Lifetime show, Russian Dolls aired. As you can guess by the name, it is about Russian immigrants (in Brighton Beach, of course), and something something struggles something weird makeup haha look at how they dress all funny something show. I wrote before of this tendency to diminish the sartorial other; in TV, we have shows like Jerseylicious which really serve little other purpose than ridiculing a group of people for the way they dress, so in that regard Russian Dolls is not terribly surprising. What was surprising is the number of people who asked me if it was really like that.

I found my reaction interesting: first, there is a legitimate degree of annoyance that people expect the experience of Russian immigrants to be the same, regardless of the time immigration has occurred, whether or not they live in ethnic enclaves a la Brighton Beach, whether their entire families have immigrated with them etc etc. Clearly, individual experiences of individual people will produce vastly different results, and yet the desire to categorize and assume the uniformity of the other is overwhelming, even in intelligent people. The other aspect, however, surprised me: I wanted to distance myself from those Brighton Beach people. I wanted to appear more mainstream, which is a legitimate self-preservation instinct. Yet, I was surprised at the accompanying impulse to downplay those who are flamboyantly not fitting in, those fringe others -- with their blinged-out Versaceism and all that.

This is not to say that I'm suddenly all right with the representations of Russians in contemporary American entertainment -- au contraire. The representation is terribly one-sided and negative. I don't want all Russians on TV to be hookers or criminals; I just want some positive representation. Yet, my own desire to see and to show only the acceptable misses the mark too. The point is, we are people, with a variety of experiences. And unless we start representing the range rather than only one end of the spectrum, there is no hope to actually recognizing the other as legitimately human and deserving of being treated as such, regardless of their sartorial choices, level of attractiveness, or place of residence.

Project Runway: Business Casual for Stilt Walkers

2011-08-13T20:55:00.001-04:00

Yes, I said all sorts of horrible things about Project Runway judges, and how they pander to the lowest common denominator as they imagine it to be. And no, I am not taking this back. Because this week's challenge was great, in theory -- outfits for stilt walkers! Crazy proportions! Circus! Open air runway! Exciting guest judge! (Well, I lied about the last one.)

Instead, designs were criticized for being too costumey. The biggest compliment Michael Kors gave was that the outfit would look just as good on someone not wearing the stilts -- which is the opposite of the point of this challenge! It's like having a couture challenge and then praising the winning design because it would totally fit at Talbot's.

Thankfully, there was plenty of drama. Fallene got bossed around by the baby-faced Bryce who kept hissing at her because her bodice was not cut on grain. Fallene is fragile, so she cried and complained of the black cloud hanging over her.

In fact, the black cloud was the awful tutu Bryce made. See?

So Fallene cried, and we all knew it was over for her, because even though she made a quirky feather fascinator, it was abundantly clear that she is not cut out for reality TV. I hope she opens an Etsy shop real soon, because I do dig her designs. Just not this:

I KNOW.

Then we had Anya and Olivier, who were adorable and made a mediocre but not particularly offensive outfit, and were waved through:

The menswearish bodice had potential, but the outfit was meh. Anya and Olivier actually collaborated though, which is so rare in these team challenges. So thumbs up, carry on with your adorable selves.

In less adorable, there was Viktor, who was a snot, and Bert, who was insufferable. Last week he declared that he has immunity and doesn't care, and sent a half-assed outfit down the runway. This week, he was once again above the challenge but no immunity, so he acted even worse than Viktor. So Viktor discovered Simon Doonan's rule of flattering adjacency. That is, if you want to be a snot and yet come across as a decent human being, stand next to Bert.

No flattering adjacency could save this though:

Actually, I take it back. The guest judge, Kim Kardashian, had this to say about this look: "It reminds me of the movie The Sound of Music, where they had to cut curtains to make their clothes... like something in Marie Antoinette times." Suddenly, the dress looked more refined.

Then there was something for the business casual stilt-walker:

This is by Danielle and Cecilia, both my early picks. They can tailor, and the blouse is actually lovely. The pants are well-made. It's just such a conservative look -- I would totally wear this to work if pants were wool. For a stilt-walker, I expect something with a little pizazz:

This is by Julie and Joshua. The proportion is weird, because of the tiny cape which makes the model look like she has T.rex arms. But really, a bigger cape, and you have a great matador/circus look! Totally appropriate for someone on stilts! The judges hated it for being too costumey. I... don't even.

There was one costumey look they did like:

This was by Kim and Becky. They worked well together -- without drama! They just assessed their strength, split the work, and did it, like actual adults. Kim impressed me with her mad tailoring skills (she made the pants). Becky FINALLY showed what I've seen in her portfolio: sharp tailoring, nice jacket. Nina of course complained about the collar being too circusy. I didn't mind it -- in fact, it channeled Vivienne Westwood and reminded me a tad of Seth Aaron, without being a knockoff of these too. It is possible!

Someone tell Anthony Ryan, because after he knocked off McQueen's collar dress last week, this week he went for Gucci Fall 2011.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B (Gucci):

Nina Garcia politely called him "referential". Still, it won -- actually, he graciously gave the win to Laura, which was sweet.

I'm still pleased with Cecilia and Danielle, really happy that Becky started to show what she can do with tailoring, and now I'm impressed with Kim's sewing. She flew under the radar so far, but this week, I liked her a lot.

Also, next week's challenge? Designing for Nina Garcia! This is one challenge where sharp tailoring will pay off, and taste levels will be questioned. Bryce, Joshua, or Viktor -- who will be aufed?

Searching for a Tailor: An Essay

2011-08-08T13:50:00.002-04:00

(Image via Georgian Index)

Among many significant relationships in my life, one stands slightly apart from the rest: my tailor. Neither friend nor family, a tailor is someone I tend to develop emotional reliance on, and when Angelo retired, I felt lost and a tad bereaved. Angelo is a master, a Burberry-trained pro with a sharp eye, good taste, and understanding of my needs, and and... you get the picture. Before Angelo, there was Silvio -- who was very sweet, offered feedback along the lines of "This makes you look less fat!" and did a beautiful job on pencil skirts. Sadly, he also got older, had to cut down on work, and became increasingly difficult to catch in his atelier. And now that Angelo's gone, I felt lost -- lost, and in need of a new tailor.

It might seem like a trivial thing, but I felt as if I was rushed into finding a new relationship, and I wasn't ready for it. So the search started reluctantly. My local cleaners are great for hemming etc, but not so great for larger stuff (I once took a jacket to them to have a sleeve shortened, and it was returned to me without proper button holes. Now I have a jacket with non-functioning sleeve buttons.) I therefore turned to my local menswear store that offers alterations. A dominant part of my wardrobe is wool -- tailored pants and jackets, since menswear is sort of my thing. Good quality wool is beautiful, comfortable, resilient, and lasts forever. Hence the need for alterations -- as for most humans, my size and shape changes from time to time, and alterations on even old pieces is required. And an upscale menswear store would surely contain a tailor used to working with wool. (Another component of my wardrobe is button up shirts -- something a men's tailor would be able to handle -- and silk, which requires no alterations because it drapes beautifully even if oversized. In fact, especially if oversized.)

The store in question indeed had a tailor -- Leo, who spoke with an Eastern European accent (I cannot really tell which one, and I do not ask people -- I should probably blog about that too). Leo was put to a test. First, I presented him with a skirt that was really fine, although could use maybe 1/2 inch reduction in the hip. Leo made me put it on and contemplated silently, face in hand. "Can't do it," he eventually announced. The skirt in question had a heavy brocade front and thick jersey (almost sweatshirt-like) back.

"Can you put an extra seam in the back?"

Leo contemplated some more. "I don't like it," he finally said. I was pleased to see that Leo had the tailor integrity, even if he was easily discouraged from brocade.

Next, I brought out a pair of wool pants. Leo visibly brightened. "I can do these." He even smiled a little. "Anything." I was growing hopeful. He marked up my pants with a piece of soap (another good sign), and we moved onto the shirts (husband's).

And the last thing I presented Leo with was my favorite woolen dress, which needed a gather in the shoulder. Leo pinned the shoulder down. "No charge."

I think I might have a new tailor. Although I still miss Angelo.

Project Runway: Two Weeks in!

2011-08-05T14:10:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased that my earlier faves -- Danielle, Becky, and Viktor -- are still on, and making clothes I like! Fallene is stumbling, and seems too flighty for this competition. Not decided on Cecilia yet.

Danielle and Becky have competition though: the adorable Olivier (who presented a menswear collection in his pre-show portfolio, so I had nothing to go by) is making very chicly understated clothing. The palette is a bit grey and beige, but I am totally down with that. This week's challenge (unconventional materials from a pet store) allowed him to make an excellent top from a dog bed, and an ombre skirt from hamster bedding. It was a winner! I am excited to see him make more sleek minimalist pieces in pale neutral palettes. Man, I am so there.

Also, Olivier is from Ohio but speaks in a drifty, Britishy accent. People on Twitter were ragging on him about it, but I'm as ok with fake accents as I am with died hair.

Then there is one contestant who surprised me by his strong showing this week: Anthony Ryan. He talks too much smack about other designers to be likable, but his dress this week was very nice. I am rooting against him based on personality alone. He's not over the top enough to be a good villain, and comes across as a bit of an annoyingly arrogant ass instead. (Viktor has a bit of arrogance going as well, but he seems so up and down with it that I haven't yet decided if I dislike him). This is what Anthony made:

Also, Heidi talks more and more with each season. I am happy she is gaining more confidence, but telling one designer that she thought he should've won? Uncool. Let the winners enjoy their wins without slapping them, yeesh.

So who went home? SPOILER! The Mormon accountant Joshua C., who talked about not yet finding the right girl and cried a lot. That was a well-deserved elimination, based on his showing last week and this week. However, sparks were just starting to fly between him and Joshua M., so I am sad to miss out on watching their slowly blooming romance, right girls notwithstanding.

Links a la Mode -- IFB.

2011-07-21T13:38:00.000-04:00

It's an honor to be included again. Thanks, and wee!

Style is what you make it. We are all different and beautiful in our own ways. Many of us have different techniques to display how we want to present ourselves. Some people are very "structured" "prim and proper" and live by a color scheme while others go wild with mixing patterns and have the "unpolished" and "don't care" look. It's all about where you get your inspiration from and your personality in general.

Here are some classic quotes on style:

"Fashion fades, style is eternal." -YSL
"Fashion is not something that exist only in dresses. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening." -Coco Chanel
"'Style' is an expression of individualism mixed with charisma. Fashion is something that comes after style." -John Fairchild

Links à la Mode: July 21st

a tout le monde: When You Smile, I Smile
Adventures in Refashioning: FFB: Fashion, Social Class, and the Ethics of Thrifting
Angela Osborn: Considering Color
Beyond Fabric: Pea(k)ocking
Blogging for Bucks: Why I Don’t Just Blog “For Me”
Castle Fashion: Fashion Blogging…In This Economy?
fashioned by love: Seaside glamour
Fish Monkey’s Writing Stuff: Project Runway returns
Forever Amber: Blogging for Bucks
i am sugar-stoned.: What’s Inside My 11’ Cambridge Satchel
Independent Fashion Bloggers: A Guide to Using Your DSLR for Bloggers
Leia’s Delights: Sunday Musings: Why Outfit Posts?
Kirstin Marie: DIY Floral Mary Janes
LAW OF FASHION: i wore this…to work [cocktail dress + marni coat]
Lifestyles of the Thrifty and Shameless: Can You Handle Me the Way I’m Are?
Lily Pepper: Figure Templates
{morbid glamour}: One Shot: Olsen Twins
QQueen of Hearts: Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty
Sugar and Spice: Style Inspiration from Kate Middleton’s shoe rack
The Fashion Igloo: Geishas like Sushi (Part 1)
TheStylishButterfly: How Becky Bloomwood’s Wardrobe ended up on my side bar

SPONSOR:

Bikini Sale at Shopbop: Parker bikinis, Tori Praver, Salt Swimwear, OndadeMar, Naelie, Zimmerman, Juicy Couture, Rosa Cha, Vix, Tyler Rose, & Brette Sandler

PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE

If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine

Project Runway returns

2011-07-15T00:04:00.000-04:00

And yes, I'm super-excited! Lifetime released the portfolios of its 20 (!) designers. There's also Facebook "Like" button, which only teaches us that being named Gunnar Deatherage will win every popularity contest.

Since I am a nerd, I did look at the portfolios though. So here are some designs that struck me as interesting. At this point, it's pretty much impossible to gauge anyone's chances, but here're some clothes that seemed cool. All pictures are from Lifetime website, disclaimer disclaimer.

First, Becky.

She lists Vivienne Westwood as one of her favorite designers. I can tell, and also thumbs up! I'll be rooting for you, Becky.

Then we have Danielle, whose online portfolio shows many nice outfits with sharp tailoring. Go look, because none of my faves were available to grab in the Photos section. But this gives you some idea:

As many others, she listed McQueen as her favorite designer. Approve!

Cecilia, who likes Nirvana and Adele:

Some nice tailoring and inventive cuts.

Fallene. OK, while I don't love all of her designs, this one is my favorite from the bunch. Love the styling, the whole thing:

Adorable and interesting! Thumbs up.

Finally, there's Viktor, who likes Comme des Garcons, and it shows:

Could he be the avant garde guy who complains a lot about being misunderstood and is then eliminated in episode 4 because the tortured artist thing has played out? We can only hope.

So here are my early favorites. What are yours?

FFB: Fashion and Class and Copyright

2011-07-13T23:51:00.000-04:00

(Image via The Shophound; the top row is Forever 21; the bottom -- Trovata).

This is a part of Feminist Fashion Bloggers monthly themed post; the roundup is here.

So sure, I wrote about copyright and how horrible current intellectual property laws are before. And now the Congress is considering a bill that will push the whole ridiculousness further: fashion designs will be considered copyrightable, and explicitly prohibit “deliberate copies that are substantially identical to the protected designs”.

There are many reasons why it's a horrible idea: copying, after all, is how trends are created, disseminated, and abandoned -- that is, this is the process driving fashion innovation forward. Secondly, what "substantially identical" actually means is of course subject to debate. Placement of a ruffle? Color? Overall silhouette? The court will decide!

But I want to get off the anti-copyright thing for a while, and talk about the strong undercurrent of class contempt permeating the discussion. First we have the trend-setters, the original designers, the luxe goods crowd -- Chanels, Vuittons, Lanvins, etc. I can understand their annoyance at copying of logos. I mean, when I see someone with a Chanel bag, I just assume it's a fake. So this brand devaluation has to be upsetting even though it increases brand recognition and doesn't actually cut into sales. (It's not like if you deprive people from fake double C's they'll start feverishly saving every penny to afford the real $3,000 bag.) But I get the logo thing.

Moreover, fake branding betrays aspirational mindset: because really, one can get a great quality vintage leather quilted bag on a chain without the double C's for a fraction of a price on Etsy or ebay. And it will last longer and look better than anything sold by street vendors. All you have to do is to let go of your aspiration to a luxe brand, and the esthetics can be yours.

Well, not if the new bill can help it. If it passes, no more nice unbranded cheap bags. Because really, do we want the plebs to wear stuff that looks identical to the latest runway?
There are of course plenty of reasons to not shop at Forever 21 and H&M and other fast fashion places. Knockoffs isn't one of them.

Luxury designers too are finding themselves in a bind: quality is slipping due to their increasing reliance on dubious labor practices and weakening of unions, the economic downturn is forcing people to bargain-shop, and the internet with its blogs and instant dissemination is certainly doing away with the whiff of exclusivity and special access of fashion shows. The very phrase "democratization of fashion" has an undercurrent of regret about it, so it's no wonder that many are willing to find ways to restrict access and enforce the boundaries of who is allowed into fashion and who is not.

But what does it all have to do with feminism? I often complain that capitalism made citizens into consumers, that voting with our wallets is the only sort of influence we're allowed to have (and we should not be satisfied with it); fashion is the demand for consumption targeted mostly at women. And we expand feminism to include intersectionality of oppression, if we allow ourselves to talk not only about the patriarchy but racial oppression and unfair labor practices, the power differential between different groups, then we have to recognize that the new bill will do nothing to limit the injustices of the world; it will only enforce aspirational consumption, without the no-brand-name loophole. Will it make Forever 21 go away? No; it will only make the difference between the luxe and the cheap more obvious. It won't reduce the unfair labor practices; it will only make visual class ID easier.

So ultimately the bill isn't about the protection of IP: Chanel and Forever 21 have ridiculously different consumer bases, so claims of financial harm are at best exaggerated. It's about keeping consumers in their place -- preoccupied with consumption. And of course about being able to see who has latest runway access.

Historical Nerdery: Heart of Iron, Part 4

2011-07-05T22:58:00.000-04:00

Religion

Religion is one of those things one is not supposed to talk about in polite company, but thankfully books have no such obligation. Heart of Iron is not specifically about religion, but religion does play a role. The Crimean War is interesting to me because in it a Christian nation (England) allied with the Ottoman Empire against another Christian nation (Russia). Alliances and wars are drawn and fought along religious lines more often than not, so that seemed like a curious case, perhaps signaling that in the modernized world, politics and economic interest would overrule old-fashioned superstitions. On the other hand, considering the number of foreign invasions Russia had undergone, it apparently was considered sufficiently alien -- and while I don't want to go into the whole Byzantium vs Rome thing, Eastern Orthodoxies seemed to have been a direct opposition to Romanized west.

Anyway. Since in Heart of Iron Russia is undergoing rapid industrialization, it seemed reasonable that religion would be pushed back a bit, and the Orthodox Church would have a little less political prominence. So Sasha is religious but not terribly devout, and she isn't the type of person to question her religious upbringing much. I mean, cross-dressing and university seemed unconventional enough; making her an apostate on top of it would've been a bit much.

On the other hand, I could not abandon religion entirely, since the Taiping rebellion features prominently, and it was based on Christian heterodoxy: Hong Xiquan believed himself to be Jesus' younger brother. In the bibliography section, there's a link to Hong's biography, God's Chinese Son -- a fascinating book of a fascinating life. And as far as I was concerned while writing Heart of Iron, the fact that the Taiping were Christians created as much of a barrier as a facilitation in making their (fictional) alliance with Russia. After all, shared religions can be quite helpful in finding common ground; and yet common religion differing in some details (as in pretty much any Christian branch) can be profoundly dividing.

Additionally, I feel that the fact that Hong claimed to be God's son (and thus the younger brother of Jesus) was especially tainted by no small amount of racism: while self-proclaimed prophets and messiahs are not uncommon, those who are critiqued the harshest are the ones who are perceived as having the least right to such claims. With doctrines of racial superiority quite dominant in Europe at the time, I suspect that the idea of God having a non-white son was particularly scandalous.

Of course, I couldn't be satisfied with a mere conflict between Anglicans, Russian Orthodox and Taiping Christianity. I enjoy diverse religious landscapes, and so in the book you will hear from a variety of viewpoints - from traditional Chinese religions, to some Norse beliefs, to downright heresies. Cornet Volzhenko, for one, is the follower of the charismatic Rotmistr Ivankov. Not to give too much away, but there is one Hussar regiment in the book which does as much (or more) philosophizing as fighting, and they are as liberal with their religious influences as I am with history.

So here's a teaser:

“Valhalla,” the rotmistr said and sobered up visibly. “Not because of what you think, Menshov—not just weapons or the flying wenches . . . whatever they are called.”
“Valkyrie,” Petrovsky offered in a reverential tone, his eyes glistening. I guessed that he harbored some ideas of his own as well.
“Right,” the Rotmistr said, nodding. He pulled a wine bottle from under the bench where it fit for easy storage, and topped off the mugs of both cornets. He handed the bottle with the leftovers to me, and I guessed that I was to drink directly from it. “But flying wenches or no, this is not why. You know that in the great hall, in Odin’s hall—and Odin is the one who takes the warriors fallen in battle—they drink and then they fight, and whoever falls in that battle wakes up whole again, so he can drink and fight and die again. In Valhalla, it’s not like heaven, where you get to stay alive forever and play some lute or harp . . . there, the world is destroyed every day, and then rebuilt anew, so nothing is ever old, ever stale.”
I took a cautious sip of the wine. “But everyone gets resurrected and they’re still the same.”
The rotmistr wagged his thick, calloused finger at me, dirt around his fingernail black as gunpowder, and I suspected that it had become incorporated into his skin and could never be washed out. “No one is the same after resurrection. Read the classics, Menshov. Cannot step twice in the same river, and everything changes even if you go away from home for a week. What do you think happens to everything, to the world, if you daily destroy and rebuild it? It changes, because nothing can ever be recreated perfectly.”
“So what do you want with it?” I asked, wine making me bolder. “You want to be killed and resurrected too?”
He shook his head, sly. “No no. I’d sit in the corner and watch and take notes, on how everything becomes different from day to day to day. I would keep track of all the small alterations, of all the tiny fault lines and cracks that appear from one resurrection to the next. And I will be there when everything finally crumbles to dust.”

And here you have it. This book is by no means a study in religion, but I hope that I sketched in enough of it to give depth and verisimilitude to people and their beliefs.

Notes from the Road and Heart of Iron news

2011-06-06T08:34:00.000-04:00

(Image above: North River Terminal, Moscow)

Well, not the road -- I'm comfortably installed in my parents' apartment in Moscow. We've returned from a river boat trip to Uglich -- a town north of Moscow, a part of so-called Golden Ring. Uglich is tiny, and is primarily famous as the site of Tsarevich Dmitry's murder in 17th century (he was second in line for succession). But there're a few churches and other historical sites:

(Images above: Uglich, taken June 4 2011, by me. More photos from this trip are posted on my Facebook, here.)

The trip takes three days by the very comfy river boat, with pleny of sight seeing, reflection and sunbathing along the way. It was really a great chace to catch up with my sister and my parents.

So now we're back in the city, where thankfully there is plenty to do: parks, walks, and opera.

I do however check my email, and so I just learned that Heart of Iron received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which I'm deliriously happy about. Here's the review (as well as the final cover, yay! If you look closely, you'll see the amazing blurb by Jesse Bullington, whose The Enterprise of Death everyone should read:

Heart of Iron
Ekaterina Sedia. Prime, $14.95 trade paper (312p) ISBN 978-1-60701-257-3

Sedia (The Alchemy of Stone) superbly blends novel of manners, alternate history, and le Carré–style espionage with a dash of superheroes and steampunk. In a Russia in which the Decembrist revolution succeeded and Constantine never abdicated, 18-year-old Sasha is unexpectedly enrolled at university thanks to a challenge her aunt Eugenia issues to Constantine. Her initial concerns about sexism fade to the background once she realizes that Chinese students are vanishing. After a visiting British student named Jack, who has strange powers, helps Sasha prevent a kidnapping, she learns of a plot that could lead Russia into war with China, England, or both. Sedia assembles a nice list of supporting characters--the forceful Eugenia, the Russian soldiers and Chinese fur traders Sasha befriends, sinister spymaster Florence Nightingale--and Sasha's often frustrated but always practical narrative voice smoothly carries the novel to its satisfying conclusion. (Aug.)

Steampunk World's Fair

2011-05-23T22:55:00.002-04:00

It was pretty great! Highlights included a shared reading with Genevieve Valentine, meeting a co-editor of The Steampunk Bible SJ Chambers and some of the contributors -- Margaret Killjoy and Jake von Slatt, as well as reconnecting again with Ay-leen the Peacemaker of Beyond Victoriana and Jaymee Goh. Steampunk Bible panel went well, and was well attended. After our reading, I was happy to meet AC Wise, one of the Bewere the Night contributors. Was also very glad to see Tempest Bradford, who is so cool that I feel cooler just by being in her proximity.

We spent some of time helping Stephen Segal and his dad sell books in the same room where the readings were held, which was super convenient! Less convenient was the fact that the room was also designated as a gaming room, and reading to an attentive audience in front of you while trying to ignore gaming going on just behind them was... surreal. We also avoided hotel food by taking brisk hikes along grassy (and pebbly) medians of New Jersey (sidewalks are so overrated) to a Ruby Tuesday just 0.6 miles from the hotel. The dinner hike was taken in the dark, with brave brave SJ and Genevieve (who is a New Yorker, so she can walk anywhere and in anything), and it was surreal and exciting and we felt like hobbits on a quest (for food, which is the right kind of a hobbit quest.)

We also briefly participated in Pro-Union Labor Flash Mob! People in Victorian garb chanting "What's disgusting?" - "Union busting!" was pretty awesome. It really needs to happen a lot more. And the roundtable discussion about envisioning a better steam society was stimulating, and brought up a lot of good points (except the British guilt, which, very much like white guilt, is not the issue here.)

And here's some picspam! I rarely post photos of myself, but here I attempt some steampunk attire, all using my regular wardrobe.

Me, while selling books. Bottles behind me are fake. Tempest took the picture with her fancy tablet.

Me and Jake von Slatt. Total fangirl moment.

More fangirling, with O.M. Grey:

Envisioning a better steam society roundtable, participants:

After The Steampunk Bible panel:

(Photo by K. Tempest Bradford, using a fancy filter)

With Stephen Segal, also by Tempest. Twice, since we refused to smile simultaneously:

And finally, Ay-leen in her gorgeous gorgeous dress.

Other People's Books

2011-05-14T13:46:00.001-04:00

Grades are all turned in, so I can finally blog about books!

1)

The long awaited Steampunk Bible is here! I got my copy, and it is lovely. I won't lie -- I was pleased to be mentioned as well as quoted extensively, so yay. Here's a page on which I'm mentioned along with Cherie Priest:

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous book. It was also reviewed here and here.

2)

Genevieve Valentine's Mechanique is out. It is a remarkable book: the prose is beautiful yet spare, and the world of the circus is drawn with great detail and psychological precision, showing remarkable insight into how people work (physically as well as psychologically). In contrast, the outside world is barely suggested, and because of this intentional obliqueness it seems vaster, more alive with possibilities -- like a line drawing, in which a tree is suggested by only a few lines, the world of Tresaulti relies on the reader's mind to recognize the fullness of familiar shapes in a mere suggestion. It is a beautiful book, and if you at all like circuses, intense drama, damaged protagonists and mechanical people, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

3)

Nick Mamatas' Sensation and Starve Better are out. Both are really good books -- the first is a novel about parasitic control and its role in shaping human history, and the latter is a compilation of actually helpful advice on writing short stories. Both are short, and remarkably refreshing. To get a taste of Nick's brand of advice, check out his Booklife articles on Professionalism, Craft, and Story.

4) Finally, Jeff VanderMeer had a very interesting series of posts on Finnish SF. Two Amazon blog entries are here and here. I'm always thrilled to see some recognition for non-Anglophone SF.

FFB: Fashion, Feminism, and Finance

2011-04-13T23:58:00.000-04:00

(Made Van Krimpen for L'Officiel Ukraine April 2011, via FGR)

And today is another Feminist Fashion Bloggers event! This time, finance, and once again I find that I already said many of the things I wanted to say on this issue. So here's another links roundup, with a bonus thought: financial independence is important.

1. Why boycotting Target misses the mark -- unfair labor practices and consumerism.

2. Lanvin for H&M -- more on labor practices, and the link between fast fashion and increased consumerism.

3. Ethical and affordable wardrobe -- you don't have to sell your soul to dress nicely. Well, maybe just a little.

4. And finally, Schmatta -- the relationship between fashion, labor unions, and fair labor practices.

Izumi Hongo, A/W 2012

2011-04-10T21:31:00.003-04:00

I blogged about Izumi Hongo last year, and gushed quite a bit. It is unusual to find such subdued yet unique esthetic, and I'm greatly pleased that these features not only persisted but developed in the new collection, Salonniere. Last year, I talked about the overall sense of 'delicate', of the way her fabrics work with the body and how she does interesting things with textures.

Here we see that the Dutch art inspiration still persists, in the form of a stylized bonnet. It is combined with a sleek silk blouse and velvet-looking pant in a thoroughly current coupling of unusual color combination and subtle play with texture. Last year's woolly boucle is only hinted at in this textural contrast.

(This is not to imply any lack of richly textured, nubby knits -- there're quite a few of them, repeating or contrasting the cropped, uneven shape of other tops in this collection.)

More velvet; I usually dislike it because it tends to get stuffy and overly formal, and skews into cheap or costumey way too easily; here however a rich yet subdued golden mustard color and fluid drape, plus the uneven hem and what looks like quite an unusual sleeve make velvet interesting and anything but stuffy. It suggests tactile richness, and the draped but sleek skirt and low-contrast, classic shoe create the silhouette I would describe as ladylike if it wasn't so modern.

And here the textures are reversed, while preserving the cropped asymmetrical cut of the top and the fluid drape of velvet. And there you have it: the intentionality of the simple, minimal silhouette, the restrained colors, the texturally interesting fabrics (I'm dying to touch all of these pieces, seriously), the unexpected little hats, great tailoring -- all of this comes together in such a lovely study of modern classics (or timeless edginess, if you will), that it is impossible not to admire Izumi's collection. It is rare that a designer's esthetic feels so congruent with my tastes; and it's especially thrilling to see it develop and grow with each new collection. I cannot wait to see more from her (and hopefully, in a store near me!)

(All images are from Izumi Hongo's website)

Historical Nerdery, Part 1.

2011-04-05T12:01:00.003-04:00

Heart of Iron, my next book, is an alternative history. History in question is Russian and Chinese, and it was suggested to me that it might be a good idea to talk about some of the events that happen in the book, and how they relate to actual history. I will also link to these blog posts from Heart of Iron's novel page, for easy reference. I'm linking to English-language sources, mostly Wikipedia, since most of my research was done in Russian and thus the sources are a lot less accessible. There are also some pictures of historical parks and museums in Moscow, because why not?

First up: The Decembrists. Even though the book starts in 1852, the central conceit is that the Decembrists' revolt was successful, and Constantine never abdicated the throne. He became the Tsar-Emperor, serfs were freed in 1826 rather than 1861, and Russia became fairly industrialized by 1850's because hey, surplus labor to build railroads. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

(The Decembrist Revolt, by Vasily Timm)

The Decembrists are as iconic as any historical figure may get. The painting above depicts their stand on the Senate Square of St. Petersburg. The rebellion was led by several officers, most of who were veterans of Napoleonic war of 1812. The Decembrists were members of two secret societies: The Southern Society (led by the fairly radical Colonel Pestel) and the moderate Northern Society, led by officer Muraviev, and Princes Obolensky and Trubetskoy. The Southern society was invested in abolition of serfdom, and in getting rid of monarchy altogether and installing a republic, plus redistribution of land (half to the state, half to the peasants.) Northern society wanted a British-style constitutional monarchy, with abolition of serfdom; they were also the ones who organized the rebellion.

Much has been written about the Masonic roots of these societies. What seemed more relevant, however, is that these military men, instead of upholding the order they were meant to protect, became disillusioned with it -- many as the result of Napoleonic Wars, when they had witnessed the cruel treatment soldiers (peasants) were subjected to. Many of the future Decembrists were initially heartened by Tsar Alexander's tendency toward reformism, but he quickly retreated into repressions -- a sad tendency of Russian tsars when faced with any difficulty.

After his death in November 1825, The Decembrists swore loyalty to Alexander's brother Constantine, then governor of Poland, who was supposed to inherit his throne. Constantine, however, abdicated, and Nicholas took the throne. The Northern Society called on its members to not swear loyalty to Nicholas (the youngest of the three brothers), and the Decembrists revolt was the culmination of this decision. They were not very fond of Nicholas, and Constantine, known for his tendency to stand against the wishes of his family, seemed like a better candidate for a reformed government. They took their stand on The Senate Square.

Needless to say, the revolt was suppressed and many of the leaders were executed (Pestel, and three others) and the rest were exiled to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Far East.

Heart of Iron is an alternate history -- so that the historical personages are not quite themselves. Constantine, for example, is a lot less of a tyrant than he was in real life, according to his governing of Poland. (I kept Nicholas unpleasant.) The protagonist, Alexandra Trubetskaya, is the daughter of one of the original Decembrists. Her family's relationship with Tsar Constantine is however fraught, not least because her aunt, Countess Menshova, thinks that the reforms didn't go far enough, and did little to improve the lot of women. Next up: inheritance laws and Anglomania. (No, not Vivienne Westwood's one.)

(Note: Tsar Nicholas I had a difficult relationship with railroads.)

FFB: Food and Feminism and What I Learned

2011-03-30T21:56:00.003-04:00

(Desserts at Nova Albion.)

This is yet another post I'm doing with Fashionable Feminist Bloggers community; roundup post is here.

I want to talk about things I learned about dieting. Body positivity and fat activism have been perceived as feminist issues, and they are. Yet, I often feel dissatisfied with such discussions, partly because of the persistent "everyone is beautiful" nonsense, but partly because they rarely go past the effects of advertising on body image. Sure, yes, advertising does things. But the root of the problem is much more pernicious: since 1950s, we knew what food deprivation does to people (thank you, Minnesota Starvation Study): it, also known as dieting, causes the following symptoms: "[the patients] became nervous, anxious, apathetic, withdrawn, impatient, self-critical with distorted body images and even feeling overweight, moody, emotional and depressed. A few even mutilated themselves, one chopping off three fingers in stress. They lost their ambition and feelings of adequacy, and their cultural and academic interests narrowed. They neglected their appearance, became loners and their social and family relationships suffered. They lost their senses of humor, love and compassion. Instead, they became obsessed with food, thinking, talking and reading about it constantly; developed weird eating rituals; began hoarding things; consumed vast amounts of coffee and tea; and chewed gum incessantly (as many as 40 packages a day)."

Considering that it is primarily women who are encouraged to diet, it seems pretty clear that the agenda behind it is not about health. It's just one more way of exercising control.

And speaking of exercising: time and time again celebrity trainers keep telling us how to get a "dancer's body". Because dancers are tiny. You want to be tiny, don't you? No, don't lift those weights -- you might bulk up! And, god forbid, with increasing strength you might actually stop caring about being thin and start caring about being strong. You won't spend your days calculating how many calories were in that salad dressing in your lunch salad but might instead eat a healthy diet that will allow your body to be strong instead of frail. And if you don't care about being thin, well! What will you do instead?

Emphasis on dieting, of course, does another terrible thing to women's bodies: calorie restrictions cause loss of muscle mass, so every time you lose weight, you lose muscle, and when you stop dieting and gain back the weight, you will gain more because there's less muscle. Loss of muscle mass is one of the very few ways of altering set point of a person's weight, and dieting next time around will be harder and less effective, but still you'll lose more muscle mass. So dieting is not only a way of control, it's a way of perpetual control, designed to keep you in that wheel forever, away from things that matter. To keep you physically weaker. To keep you hating yourself because your body cannot live on 800 calories a day.

I was lucky in that I never dieted: recently I made some changes to the way I eat (more vegetables, more protein, less starch), but I was mindful to not make any changes I couldn't sustain forever. Moreover, weight lifting being is my preferred activity. And for me, being strong is an acceptable alternative to being thin.

It is remarkable how talking about this to other women elucidates the overall patterns: the confluence of marketing pushes, of the diet industry, of the patriarchal media machine that wants us weak and insecure and obsessed with carbs. And how getting stronger changes our perspective: time and time again, I hear about women picking up exercise. Sometimes they lose weight, sometimes they don't, but making yourself stronger, giving yourself higher endurance always changes the way you perceive your body -- from esthetic to functional. And food too changes from enemy to sustenance. And most importantly, ditching the culturally-mandated obsession really does free up a lot of time.

Updatery and Appearances

2011-03-21T00:36:00.002-04:00

Next week, I'll be attending Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition in Santa Clara, CA. If you're around, please say hello. I'll be participating in a panel on Victorian modesty and body image, doing a signing, and generally hanging out. Also, Heart of Iron ARCs will be available there. I will have very limited quantities, but this is the only way to get this book before its release in July. Come to the signing if you want one!

(There also might be impromptu readings at the bar. Consider yourselves warned.)

What Would a Feminist Wear?

2011-03-16T10:43:00.004-04:00

(Main post here, with links to other participants.)

Such a seemingly simple question, such an impossible answer. Not to say that there is no relationship between feminist beliefs and clothes, but rather that relationship is fairly complex, indirect, and impossible to elucidate in a few words. So please don't hate me because my answer will include a bunch of links to old posts.

1. For me, ethical fashion is a necessary attribute of feminist fashion. That is, if we believe in equality, we must also believe in fair labor practices (it's not a coincidence that so much of early women's movement and unionization were tied with the garment industry).

2. Also, I believe that personal style is there to be manipulated in order to project a desired effect. I wrote a little back about the male gaze and ubiquity of it, the fact that women are always judged based on what they wear. Opting out is impossible, and catering to expectations is not always wise (although occasionally one might choose to); however, creating a desired effect with intention is the best option there is. I wear heels a lot because at 5'4" I appreciate the extra height as it helps me to project a little more authority. I wear a lot of tailored clothes because I like the play with proportion they offer.

3. Recognizing that femininity as well as masculinity are social constructs rather than inherent qualities is also a necessity for a feminist, since the very notion of equality is predicated on rejection of biological determinism. As such, a dress or a three piece suit say nothing about me as a person, just about my sartorial choices -- and that I am not committed to performing a specific gender. I think there is value in that.

4. Finally, "flattering dressing" -- that is, dressing to create an idealized female shape -- has its place. But it is only one of many options. So I will happily wear sack dresses as well as dresses tailored to accentuate my waistline, long skinny pants or slouchy cropped pants with pleats, heels or flat oxfords, based on what particular image I want to project. Clothes have meaning, sure; so learning these meanings and using them to bolster oneself rather than mindlessly perform gender in a way one is expected to seems to be important.

5. And here're some of my favorite clothes, from on of my favorite designers. Because well-tailored jackets are important.

Links a la Mode -- IFB

2011-03-11T23:42:00.000-05:00

A very interesting Links a la Mode this week! Great range of topics:

Making it Your Own

Edited by Vahni of Grit & Glamour

Wow...I'm a Links à la Mode editor...can you believe it?! So thrilled to have the opportunity to discover new blogs and compelling posts to share with all of you. That said, give me two minutes in the pulpit, and my "better blog" sermon starts welling up, totally involuntarily. So allow me a moment to share what I am looking for when I review submissions. It's pretty simple: Be creative and original, tie your post into beauty or fashion, use proper grammar and punctuation (spellcheck and proofread before publishing), and credit your photo sources. Always.

And on to the list...bloggers were in deep thought this week, pondering ethical fashion and feminism, male gaze and Marthettes. But in case you need to escape the heavy stuff, there is: denim! Happy reading, and as you peruse and comment on this week's posts, why stop there? For every comment you leave, why not check out the blog of the person who commented above you and comment there too? It's a great way to expand your mind—and your readership.

Links à la Mode: March 10th

ALinetoZ: An Open Letter to High-Waisted Jeans
Arash Mazinani: How ethical are you when it comes to fashion? A look at the hypocrisy often involved in being ethical in fashion.
Beyond Fabric: Men's daily essentials—inside one man's bag holdall.
Corinne Monique: Cellissimo: a music-meets-fashion photoshoot inspired by high fashion ad campaigns.
Dress With Courage: Are you more likely to buy something if the model looks like you?
Designed By Ann: Reading glasses are suddenly fashionable—so here are makeup tips for girls who wear glasses.
Free Honey: On moving to wordress.org: 5 must-know tips for new bloggers.
Fishmonkey: On The Man Repeller, the male gaze, and its role in shaping fashion choices.
Grit & Glamour: Klout: What it is and Why it Matters
Holier than Now: Spring's Most Beautiful Lace Looks—5 Ways for < $50

In Her Stilettos: How to organize your jewelry while traveling—cheaply and stylishly.

Made-to-Travel: Asos Africa—the incredible ethical makers of this gorgeous line—oh! and it's on sale!

Melina Bee: Life and style tips inspired by Sophia Loren.

Obsessive Coolness: On the relationship—or surprising lack thereof—between talent and success in fashion blogging.

Oranges And Apples: Thoughts on Marthettes, blogging about 'feminine' stuff, and perfection.

Pretty Shiny Sparkly: A chic and easy way to wear the double denim trend.

Sidewalk Chic: Six ways to showcase accessories in outfit photos.

Sugar and Spice: Natalie Portman is effortlessly eco-chic at an Oscars after-party—in an inexpensive dress that hits H&M next month.

Trés Awesome: The weather may be crappy but that didn't stop people from being out and about with their bright and beautiful umbrellas.

Try It On Me: The resurgence of the denim shirt—not just for cowboys!

SPONSOR:

Shopbop Jeans: Citizen's, Seven's, Juicy, Joe's, Hudsons, Paige, James Jeans, Vince, True Religion, J Brand, & Siwy

The Man Repeller and the Male Gaze

2011-03-08T13:55:00.001-05:00

(Source)

This is the second of a number of group posts from the Fashionable Feminist Bloggers community. This group, begun a few weeks ago by a number of fascinating bloggers, examines the intersection of fashion and feminism. If you're interested in becoming part of the group, request an invitation at the Google group linked above. This week, no topic!

So I assume you all know about The Man Repeller, an often funny and always incisive look at high fashion as something that is emphatically not designed to get male attention. The Man Repeller posits that proper high fashion will actually be abhorrent to hetero men, due to its affinity for things like harem pants (check), athletic socks with high heeled sandals (check) and jewelry that looks like weapons (double check). In fact, many designers make clothes that are definitely not about showcasing female sexiness.

The Man Repeller was widely mentioned as a feminist blog, and there was a debate on Jezebel some weeks ago about whether the blog is indeed feminist -- the author is clearly wealthy enough to afford some awesome designer duds, so the class criticism was raised. Another thing that was mentioned was the idea that subverting the male gaze is essentially the same as catering to it, because both modalities make the clothes about the male gaze. To which I have to say, hold your horses, ladies. We LIVE in the world of male gaze. Pretending it doesn't exist and we live in the environment where it's all about individual choice and all choices have equal consequences, is naive.

Male gaze is so pervasive that the female body itself, naked or half-naked stands in for sex -- that is, in order to suggest sex, advertisers insert female bodies into their commercials, and we are programmed to read female bodies as inherently sexual (even Lady Gaga is frequently mentioned as a sex symbol -- no pants is being read as sexualized, even though she might be smeared in blood). I would argue, however, that subverting this sexiness (like The Man Repeller and Gaga both do, like Isabella Blow and every fashion icon worth her salt used to do) is an act both rebellious and necessary. Ignoring the female objectification in hopes that it will go away and pretending that wearing a corset with a mini skirt or a pair of harem pants with several layered sweaters are essentially the same in terms of choice is, in a word, foolish.

Choice is difficult under the patriarchy: first, some choices are rewarded (having family, raising children) while others are vilified (working in technical fields, wearing grandpa trousers); second, as much as we would like to fall back on the preference and choice thing ("But if I CHOOSE to wear fifties silhouette, than it's perfectly feminist!"), preferences are not shaped in a vacuum. In fact, they are probably shaped in large part by the whole patriarchal reward-punishment system. It is always interesting to observe discussions on the internet, and how male commenters often frame their remarks in term of their sexual preference ("I don't think Gaga is sexy" or "I like clothes that make women look sexy, and this is why Tom Ford is awesome") -- it does not occur to them to interpret female behavior or dress outside of this context of trying to get male approval; and they bestow their approval or criticism whether unasked, because implicit is the assumption that male approval is important. When women blind themselves to this pervasive context, they are putting themselves at disadvantage.

I mean, I get it -- I know why one might consciously decide to appease the patriarchal norm. When one lives in an oppressive system, it is exhausting to rail against it all the time; it helps to have means and influence to do so (Daphne Guinness, Lady Gaga, and, to a lesser extent, The Man Repeller). For those of us who have to fit in, capitulation is often necessary. But let's not pretend that it's a choice freely made: I like my pencil skirts and I love my grandpa trousers, but I know when wearing the latter would be counterproductive. So I make my choices, uneasily at times, all the while glad that there are women out there who don't have to -- and who don't pretend that male gaze doesn't exist.

Anyway. Remember that Star Trek episode where there was a planet inhabited only by women, wearing short skirts and go-go boots? Yes, exactly.

New Anthology

2011-03-03T20:09:00.001-05:00

(Picture from "Alexander McQueen -- The Savage Beauty" editorial)

I'm editing another anthology for Prime, and am now open for submissions.

"Bloody Fabulous:

Lace. Leather coats. Open collars over exquisite collarbones. A single red drop on paper-white cuffs. Each fiction genre has its sartorial signifiers, and urban fantasy is no exception – from the brocade extravagance of the Unseelie courts to the ubiquitous leather of supernatural detectives to the old-fashioned good taste of wealthy vampires, we are as familiar with them as we are with the supernatural attributes of the protagonists. However, despite the prominence of clothing in urban fantasy, fashion is usually a supporting actor. In this anthology, we want to give it a center stage (or a runway). Let the tales of tormented designers and well-dressed vampires strut into the light, and finally get the attention they deserve. BLOODY FABULOUS is a collection of urban fantasy tales, featuring vampires as well as other supernatural creatures, but focusing on the world of fashion and its intersection with the uncanny. Get ready, get set, get fabulous!"

Now, to the specifics: just like last year, I will be making my selections in December, so there is a good chance that I might be sitting on your story until December 2011 -- keep that in mind if submitting early. The official deadline for submissions is December 1st 2011. I always want reprints (1c/word) and originals (5c/word); please feel free to suggest reprints by other people, if you think of something that fits the theme. 1,000-7,500 words is the strongly preferred range.

Some other particulars: for this antho, you should probably know something about or have interest in fashion. I don't want stories about anorexic models -- generally, body snarking is not welcome. Cliches are best avoided; satire is generally tricky. If you do satire, make sure that you do know a LOT about fashion industry. Submissions should be sent to my contact address: katsedia at hotmail. Queries are not necessary. If you have questions, read this.

Feminist Fashion Bloggers roundup

2011-03-03T09:28:00.006-05:00

I was amazed by the variety of fashion icons represented in these posts -- I am still reading through them. I'm very pleased to participate in this blogging effort, and am excited for next Wednesday.

Christine Lagarde– Rags Against the Machine

Cindy Sherman - Mrs Bossa Does the Do

Claude Cahun - Cervixosaurus

Diane Von Furstenberg – For Those About to Shop

Elizabeth Smith Miller – Techie Style

Ellen Page – SK{ru}SH

Frida Kahlo - La Historiadora de Moda from Fashionable Academics

Frida Kahlo – Knitting Up the Ravelled Sleeve of Care

Gloria Steinem – Ef for Effort

Gloria Steinem - What If No-One’s Watching?

Gloria Trevi - Feministified

Grandmother – The House in the Clouds

Griselda Pollock - Magic Square Foundation

Hedy Lamarr - Adventures in Refashioning

Marjane Satrapi - Jean of all Trades

Joan of Arc – Interrobangs Anonymous

Julia de Burgos – Mad Dress Game

Margaret Cho – What Are Years?

Oroma Elewa - Fishmonkey

Rachel Carson – Aly en France

Siouxsie Sioux - Yo Ladies

Sydney Fox - My Illustrative Life

Vivienne Westwood - Seamstress Stories

Oroma Elewa -- Feminist Fashion Icon

2011-03-02T14:22:00.004-05:00

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(Photo of Ataui Deng by Oroma Elewa)

This is the first of a number of group posts from the Fashionable Feminist Bloggers community. This group, begun a few weeks ago by a number of fascinating bloggers, examines the intersection of fashion and feminism. If you're interested in becoming part of the group, request an invitation at the Google group linked above. Our first topic is on Fashionable Feminist icons: each of us was asked to write about a woman who, to us, is a personal feminist/fashion icon (which could be, for example a feminist with great style, a fashion person who also works on behalf of women).

I love fashion editors: Diana Vreeland, who was the subject I first intended to write about, was a fashion icon and a free spirit, a person of contradiction and taste. But there's much written about Vreeland and her rouged earlobes, so instead I wanted to talk about a much younger, newer editor: Oroma Elewa of Pop'Africana. I was super excited about this magazine because of the representations of Africa in the West are severely lacking. In the world of fashion industry, they are either non-existent or limited to shameless appropriation of "tribal" esthetics (and boy, I can talk a lot about the awful "tribal" trend and its ontological cousin, the animal print - so African! So exotic!)

Thankfully Pop'Africana has an online presence, and it is edited by a woman of Nigerian extraction, who not only edits but blogs eloquently about her world in fashion and her personal history: "When my mother is happy or playing with me, she calls me by my full name - O r o m a m a y a t u n a h i a - it means my mother's home cannot be bought in the market. My grandmother, her mother truly gave meaning to this name because her love, her spirit and her home can never be bought Period."

Fashion industry in the West often has an exclusionary air about it -- a shortcoming, I feel, too often shared by Western feminism, when most of the world is ignored, and they're concerns and problems are overlooked. To many westerners, Africa is a large monolith of Third World (a term too problematic in itself) suffering, and they only look to it for "inspiration" -- that is, stealing textiles and esthetic movements, appropriating them without giving back, focusing on how these experiences are beneficial for Westerners' individual growth and enrichment. (I already spoke a bit about one-sidedness of African representations in literature here.) Women's issues are similarly ignored, under the assumption that the generic Western feminism IS about all women, even despite its continuing failure to engage with issues other than those of white and middle-class western women. Meanwhile the role of Africa and African diaspora as movers of fashion and feminism rather than its passive objects is rarely discussed.

Well, Oroma Elewa is editing Pop'Africana to affect a change. Her photography is beautifully idiosyncratic, her articles are incisive, whether she is talking about music or fashion or deconstructs representations of Africa. Her role as an editor of such a forward yet fashion centered magazine assures her role as a fashion icon; but what about feminism?

I believe that the third wave feminism with its focus on intersectionality of oppressions -- that is, the complex and non-linear interactions between gender, class, race, nationality etc. -- was meant to remedy the unfairness of focusing exclusively on Western issues. Voices like Elewa's are necessary, and hers is clear and assured. Rather than speaking for people who can speak perfectly well for themselves, we need to listen and to pay attention. Oh, and buy an issue or two -- Pop'Africana is an amazingly vibrant magazine, with a great editorial hand.

Oh, fashion industry pt. 11,285

2011-02-26T16:17:00.001-05:00

Exhibit A: "Christian Dior has an unequivocal zero-tolerance policy regarding anti-Semitism and racism."

Exhibit B:

I'M JUST SAYING.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

From Johnny Weir and Elise Overland

I hope you have a really lovely one.

Ella Lai -- more clothes, with bonus politics

2011-02-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a recent nudge, I realized that I meant to review some Ella Lai pieces -- since this is where most of my clothing budget for the last few months went. The lapse was entirely due to my failure to actually photograph some of the detailing I meant to talk about, because while some pieces are quite self-explanatory, others require additional deconstruction.

Anyway, I have her white shirt, which is really the most amazing shirt I own -- after all my complaining about the impossibility of finding a good white shirt, Ella made me one. Beautifully tailored, no gaping, stiff collar -- what else can you possibly want in a shirt? Also, the darting on it as such that it is clearly shaped for a female body, and yet avoids that typical fitted nipped-in at the waist look -- it looks like a dress shirt, and fits well.

Also, since I live in cropped wool pants, I got these -- also perfectly fitted, in thin stretchy wool. I love them to death -- also notice that the bottom of the pant leg is lined in black silk, so they can be rolled up and look like you meant it. The leather belt is also fun, and it is tied rather than buckled, giving it unusual (and jaunty!) look.

For more detailed review however, I will talk about three pieces that won me over by unique detailing. First up, this dress.It is very fitted, and what I especially love about it is the high horizontal seam below the bust and open pleat at the bust:

As you can imagine, it makes for a very good fit, without bagging or blousing or being too tight. The dress is fully lined in what feels like blended silk in a very pretty steel-gray color, with a kick pleat in the back -- so it's fitted, and yet plenty comfortable. ALso, notice that my version doesn't have the puffed sleeve. Customization!

Then there are these pants. They are awesomely slouchy, the bottom of the leg is lined in gray silk for nonchalant rolling (and I really do love that, because rolled pants CAN look like the wearer was just too lazy to hem; not so with beautiful silk lining!) Anyway, I love them:

(This is me at a conference in Atlanta, where I was wearing the hell out of these pants.) Not only they look good and are comfy, but they also have the best closure ever: two buttons. No zippers, nothing but two buttons:

Genius!

And last but not least: my favorite jacket. Ella was kind enough to significantly modify a much longer gray jacket, to make mine camel, pure wool, shrunken, and perfect. The collar is lined in shantung silk, and can be worn up or down:

Of course, it is lined in blended silk, and as you can see from seaming and pocket detail, it is really well built. So my wool and silk uniform has been updated with some key pieces, all of which are classic and yet so originally and wittily constructed that they are never boring and really stand apart from all others.

And here's the thing. These pieces all run between $50 and $100, which might seem high if you're used to Target and Old Navy. But these items are designed by someone who cares deeply about her work and takes pride in her craftsmanship -- the attention to detail, the seam quality, the fabric selection (that's some nice wool on that jacket). Not to mention, these are made for your measurements. And considering this, these pieces are not at all expensive. I can email the person who is making them, we can discuss color swatches, she can change length or a sleeve shape or the neckline if I ask her to. The interaction with the person who makes your clothes is important: it gets one thinking about the practices in mass manufactured clothing, and the human rights and environmental abuses become more difficult to ignore.

And I get the usual argument of "$50 bucks will buy me 10 shirts in Walmart/Target/ON", I really do. I'd be a liar if I said that I don't own any ethically suspect pieces myself. And it takes experiences like this for me to realize that I like knowing where my clothes come from. I like knowing that were not made using child labor or that the manufacturer didn't completely ignore local environmental laws. It's the issue of price and cost, really: every cheap piece of clothing has a cost associated with it. Ten bucks is the price, but what is the cost in lost jobs in the US, in the exploited workers overseas, in the environmental damage -- herbicide pollution from cheap cotton production, eutrophication of lakes, desertification, salinization of soils... This is the sort of thing we all are paying for -- be it in increased medical cost, or lost wages, or decreased bargaining power as international conglomerates continue to increase their political influence. They call it externalization: for every sweatshop they build, they are the ones getting the profit, and we are left with splitting the cost and thinking that we somehow got the better of the bargain, because hey, a dress for the price of a latte!

So I'm trying really hard to ditch the mass-produced and stick to thrifted and handmade, with a dash of off-the-rack items from companies and designers who at least claim to care about ethics. And I don't think true quality is possible without it.

I'm on World SF blog

2011-01-31T09:39:00.002-05:00

World SF blog was kind enough to ask me to participate in their brand new "Author week" feature. Basically, each day there's new content -- an interview, the latest book review, a short story reprint, guest post, giveaways... all good stuff. Today we have an interview with me by Charles Tan, and I talk excessively about House of Discarded Dreams and some upcoming projects. It also has a picture of the very mysterious Tait, credited with a large chunk of House of Discarded Dreams.

Since it's the first time they're doing it, I hope it's a success. So please comment, enter giveaways, make scenes. And spread the word, should you feel so inclined.

(Your fashion natterings will resume shortly).

Short story sale!

2011-01-25T15:29:00.002-05:00

"End of White" sold to Shotguns v. Cthulhu, an anthology from brand-new fiction imprint of Pelgrane, Stone Skin Press.

Here's the beginning: "Coronet Kovalevsky had never expected to find that land was finite. It seemed so abundant to him when he was younger, something you could never possibly run out of – or run off of – that the very suggestion seemed ludicrous. Yet there he was in the summer of 1919, teetering on the precipice of the Crimean peninsula, with very little idea of what to do after the Wrangel's inevitable defeat and his own presumed tumble into the Black Sea. He had decided that he would not join the Bolsheviks – not so much out of any deeply held belief but rather because of his inherent disposition to avoid any large amounts of soul-overhauling work."

Who can guess which Lovecraftian entity manifests here?

Lnks a la Mode

2011-01-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

And once again, Independent Fashion Bloggers' Links a la Mode -- tons of good, fun stuff. Enjoy!

"I have confidence that spring will come again, Besides which you see I have confidence in me"

Edited by Florrie Clarke of Intrinsically Florrie

Within this week's links I kept noticing a resounding honestly in the heartfelt posts. When we blog or choose an outfit we are putting ourselves out there for all to judge, and it's not surprising that doing the activity can have an affect on our confidence for better or for worse, especially when feedback starts coming in.
There's also been a sense of rebellion in the air: from the emergence of the punk style to controversy over Vogue, and in the week that saw the spectacle which is the Golden Globes rises a questioning of what the red carpet is all about.

Links à la Mode: January 20th

A la Modest Drawing inspiration from Kabukis, Rainbow Brite, Ladytron, and Padmé Amidala while on Tatooine
Antares: Alfa Scorpii Fashion without mercy: do I have to choose between fashion and my beliefs?
By Anika Who gets to label me and my worth? I do! An honest account from this curvy fashionista who fiercely supports all of our rights to label, embrace and love our fashionable selves, what ever our size.
City of Glitter To Cover-up or Not To Cover-up? A post exploring foundation and its role in our self-esteem.
Crimson Rosella Blogging: A Self-confidence booster?
Depict This The challenge of wearing vintage clothing in the real world
Elle Enchanted My take on what bloggers need to consider before accepting a sponsor.
Fashezine Inspired by Jennine Jacob's post on how fashion blogs will evolve in 2011, I thought I'd try my hand at a video.
Fashion Limbo Online Christmas Shopping, the Aftermath - on lost packages, refunds and independent retailers.
Fuyume The demise of the kimono industry.
Fish Monkey's Writing Stuff Why I don't think that red carpets have any relevance to fashion.
Independent Fashion Bloggers: 5 Tips for Taking Better Photos of Yourself
Intrinsically Florrie The fashion show that's made me impatient for summer.
Karma-Style Blog Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj have 'FoF' - Fearlessness of Fashion. Do you?
My Heart Blogged Falling head over flats. My flats collections, and why you don't see me wearing heels.
Scarlet Letter Style Why is the fashion world so critical? I have an idea on how to fix it
The Column of Samantha Tyler Of Punks and their influence on Fashion
The Fashion Pawn The fourth part of The B.O.B Series discusses all "About You:" Tips for your About You Page.
The-Loud Mouth Sometimes, garbage piles up: Fashion blogging isn't just a hobby. For some, it can be an emotional release.
The Taxonomy Of My Wardrobe Three Strikes Vogue - You're Out! Three examples of how the fashion bible is inexcusably out of touch with readers and losing relevance in today's world
The Simply Luxorious Life Why Not . . . Create Your Own Signature Style?

SPONSOR:

New@Shopbop: Bassike, Shakuhachi, Nissa, Minnetonkas, FreePeople, Tibi, AIKO, Bird, Myne, Black Halo, Kova&T, Hanii Y

Why I don't blog about Red Carpets

2011-01-17T23:56:00.003-05:00

A few people asked me why don't I ever say anything about Red Carpet fashion, or celebrity fashion in general; and the reasoning is probably deserving of its own post, since Golden Globes just happened, and we had a thorough media coverage of all the pretty dresses worn by nice enough ladies. And I just don't consider that fashion -- or rather, this is such an explicit shill that I just can't bring myself to care. Basically, there are two issues at play: first, the designers who give away their dresses for free (to some of the very few people who could afford them), in order to make them into walking, occasionally talking, super-expensive billboards (it's not a secret to anyone that actresses do often get paid to wear certain designers, right? Right.) Billboards selling shit to us, people who cannot afford the dresses, in hopes that we'll remember the designer's name shopping for nail polishes, scarves, perfume and other revenue generators for luxury manufacturers. It's the tiny aspirational purchases that drive their profits, and it's the actors who help ignite the aspiring flame in us. So yeah, not interested.

The second aspect is what some call the Joan Rivers effect - the tendency to dress blandly and prettily and in the strictest conformity to heteronormative paradigm in order to avoid ridicule and being placed on worst dressed list and having Guiliana Rancic, as Tina Fey so eloquently put it last year, take a steaming dump on them. (Guiliana Rancic aside: I don't watch her show, so I have no idea of what that was in reference to, but in one of the show's promos, crying Guiliana says something to the effect, "But we're good people! Why are we being punished?!" Disclaimer: I neither wish harm on Guiliana Rancic nor do I believe that anyone is ever 'punished' in some vast cosmic justice sense, or deserves to be. However, a person who made a career out of ridiculing other women's bodies and dedicated herself to most fervent enforcing of patriarchal paradigm is NOT good people. Just saying. Anyway, long aside!)

So. Celebrities are so terrified that any hint of originality, personality or daring self-expression will lead to extensive media mockery (a justified fear, I may add, as Jessica Simpson and so many others well know), that their fashion choices tend toward safe. They hire stylists for fear that some uncontrollable bit of idiosyncratic taste will break through and spoil their otherwise unoffensive look. I mean, stylists only exists because there are so many grown wealthy women who cannot dress themselves, even with all the free designer swag thrown at them because they're worried that Fashion Police will take issue with the size of their earrings or unorthodox shoe choices.

So we're pretty much left with Tilda Swinton (pictured above), who is seemingly the only person left in Hollywood who knows she is awesome enough not to care, and Helena Bonham Carter who has the whole crazy avant-garde look down (her dress choices are routinely described as 'wacky' by people who seem to think it's a bad thing. She also wears Vivienne Westwood a lot, and can I just say how jealous I am?) Both of these actors routinely end up on various fashion faux-pas watchdog lists; I just hope that they will continue not to care. Wake me up when the rest of celebrities stop caring and fire all their stylists; meanwhile, I'll be perusing fashion editorials and street style blogs, because red carpet to fashion is like a burger joint to a petting zoo. Fashion is about self-expression, something that simply doesn't exist here.

New Year Gym

2011-01-10T09:24:00.000-05:00

I never make New Year resolutions. I'm a big believer in fixing a problem as soon as I notice it exists rather than waiting for January; and am generally suspicious of set dates for anything. (Like NaNoWriMo – for me, it makes sense to write when I have a desire to write a novel and not write when I don't.)

I also know that other people aren't me and many DO like set dates – and hey, whatever works; but I can't help but to get all judgey when your New Year resolutions affect my gym time. Like, right now. As every gym rat will be happy to tell you, January is the worst. You have to find new times to work out because there's a gazillion people waiting for an elliptical. Lifting becomes an annoyance since neophytes can't be bothered to read the signs asking everyone to put back the weights and wipe the machines after use, and don't know any better than to sit on a leg extension machine for good half an hour, texting or just spacing out. And all of this would be a lot less annoying if these people were there to stay and gradually learned the etiquette – but they don't. 90% will disappear within 2 weeks, while another 5% will eke it out til Valentine's Day and then disappear too. They will come back next year though, just as clueless.

An additional perk is getting to listen to conversations of those resolutioners. It is shocking to me how many are there to lose weight they gained during the Holidays. How many view physical exercise as a temporary thing, a quick solution to a problem – to exercise 2 weeks and then not do it again until next year. And I am terrified at how the notion of exercise became tied into the whole weight loss industry: instead of exercising consistently because it's the sort of thing that's good for you, REGARDLESS of weight loss, it becomes the means, while the weight loss itself became a signifier of health. That's so backwards it makes my eyes cross.

And this is not just people at the gym, you know: perfectly respectable personal trainers to the stars and Victoria's Secret models advocate only working out with small weights and avoiding resistance on the elliptical because it will make your muscles bigger. But hey, it's all about health! Physical fitness experts sell cleanses which make you lose weight fast (and we all know that starvation diets permanently lower your metabolic rate, but hey, that's an acceptable price for thinness! We mean health.) Jillian Michaels, the terrifying trainer of the Biggest Loser, advocates dehydration and starvation diet as means of quick weight loss for an important event. But hey, she just wants fatties to be healthy. Even on supposedly pro-women internet forums, questions about exercise quickly devolve into weight loss tips. (I especially love the advocates of circuit training – which is awesome, don't get me wrong – making fun of those of us who spend an hour on the elliptical. “It's not necessary,” they say, “circuit training makes you lose weight faster.” Sure, and aerobic training builds endurance and has tons of other health benefits. But silly me, I thought we were talking about health.)

And you know, I understand why people might choose not to exercise. I understand that being healthy might not be a priority, or the opportunities might be lacking, or whatever. But if health is a priority, I'd say ditch the resolutions and a New Year, and start an exercise program when it suits you, with long-term goals in mind rather than viewing it as a quick fix for a month of overeating. After all, health at every size (HAES) means that your weight is not the main factor in your health – thin people need good diet and exercise too. And if you're a regular, I won't give you a stink-eye for hogging the elliptical.

Bewere the Night TOC

2011-01-08T23:33:00.003-05:00

Queries has been addressed, contributors confirmed, and BEWERE THE NIGHT has a ToC. The order might change, but otherwise this is the lineup:

Introduction
“The Thief of Precious Things” A.C. Wise
“Poison Eaters” Holly Black
“Go Home Stranger” Justin Howe
“The Heavy” Cherie Priest
“Tusk and Skin” Marissa Lingen
“A Song to the Moon” Richard Bowes
“In the Seeonee Hills” Erica Hildebrand
“The Sinews of His Heart” Melissa Yuan-Innes
“(Nothing but) Flowers” Nick Mamatas
“The Coldest Game” Maria V. Snyder
“Red on Red” Jen White
“Extra Credit” Seth Cadin
“Thirst” Vandana Singh
“Grotesque Angels” Gwendolyn Clare
“Blue Joe” Stephanie Burgis
“The Werewizard of Oz” Lavie Tidhar
“Seven Year Itch” Leah Cutter
“An Unnatural History of Scarecrows” Mario Milosevic
“The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall” Kaaron Warren
“Snow on Sugar Mountain” Elizabeth Hand
“The Aphotic Ghost” Carlos Hernandez
“The Fowler's Daughter” Michelle Muenzler
“Moonlight and Bleach” Sandra MacDonald
“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” Genevieve Valentine
“Coyotaje” Marie Brennan
“Swear Not by the Moon” Renee Carter Hall
“Infested” Nadia Bulkin
“Watchmen” Aaron Sterns
“And Neither Have I Wings to Fly” Carrie Laben

Preorder at Amazon.

My Life in Clothes by Summer Brenner -- Review

2011-01-07T00:28:00.003-05:00

I came across Summer Brenner's book, My Life in Clothes, due to a usual confluence of events: I blog about fashion a lot and my next anthology will be about fashion. When I mentioned it to Nick Mamatas, he introduced me to a bona fide fashion writer Summer Brenner – she just published her book of short stories with Red Hen Press. Of course, I asked for a review copy, and Summer was gracious enough to send one.

The stories here, strictly speaking, are more vignettes than short stories – if they were paintings, they would be small nature mortes, often built around a single vivid image, and sometimes not expanding past it. They draw from the past and the present, for the narrator's own life and her grandparents, and become fused in one cohesive meditation on history, personal growth, and their sartorial corollaries. In other words, it's a lovely book.

The premise, as the title indicates, is a simple one: each of the stories is built around a sartorial memory – clothes being sometimes central, sometimes peripheral, and memories of them often serving as a metaphorical hook to hang a story on. But they are always vivid, always honest, and story by story, the narrator's (author's) past unfolds, garment by garment: it's almost like helping a friend to sort through their closet and listening to them reminisce about each item. Of course, it's never as simple as that.

“Limping barefoot from the hall, I rested on Elaine's arm, strands of French twist falling, stockings ruined, my cousin's lavender dress stained, the rabbit cape askew. It had been the sweetest night of my life.” (From “The Dancing Shoes”) Not the best – sweetest. Brenner's writing is concise and precise, words like paintbrush strokes, spare and assured. Memories so vivid you can smell them and taste their perfume on the roof of your mouth.

There's also a fair amount of humor in these stories. This is from “My Life in Clothes”: “”I never saw a girl who attracted so many boys.” <...>Edith's voice choked with admiration. She had conceived a blond, willowy wildcard in a gene pool that normally favored short, heavy, and mousy brown.” The gentle poking at relatives, the self-deprecation creates a particular warmth and a gentle counterpoint to the harsher, more revealing moments, because Brenner doesn't shrink away from ruined relationships or family dramas.

Indeed, the dominating feature of the book is its sometimes painful honesty. It ranges from the earnestness of a plain teen (“”Everyone says she'll be beautiful someday.” Someday made it sound like I existed only in the future.” (From “The Red Beret”)) to almost mournful self-revelation of an adult in a failing marriage. Garment by garment, story by story, the author reveals more and more of herself, until you feel like you know her and would recognize her in the streets, if not by face then by her wardrobe.

And what a wardrobe! “On the rack of a hospital charity store, I found the very thing I needed: sheared raccoon. Its ugliness called to me. It cost ten dollars and weighed ten pounds. When real winter fell like an instrument of torture, I was prepared. I wore the coat every day and slept under it at night. It was a lifesaver.

“As the months dragged on, the coat began to fall apart. Pockets ripped, and the rotten lining tore. I left one cuff as a souvenir in New Haven. The other, I flung from the eighteenth floor of a New York Hotel.” (“The Spring Coat”) Well, you get the idea.

Intertwined throughout, are the stories of the author's relatives – grandparents, parents, cousins... “Psychic Shopper” tells a fascinating tale of cousin Peggy, who could select a perfect wardrobe for any client without ever meeting them. This unlikely tale is punctuated with accurate and hilarious observations, that ground it beautifully:

“
Never trust a man to describe a woman accurately
Men's impressions are generally vague
Men and women never agree on what's attractive
If men had their way, a woman would never cut her hair or wear loose pants.”

It is also worth mentioning that this book is not what you would call a fashion or personal style exploration. It is possible to be obsessive about clothing without putting forth any familiar signifiers, such as specific designers or styles. Clothes here are often plain, old, thrifted, borrowed, bought on a whim... their value comes from the associated experience rather than themselves. In that sense, this is the Velveteen Rabbit of fashion books – and well worth spending time with. It's now on sale at Amazon. If you love clothes, memoirs, and family histories, this book will delight you and possibly make you want to go shopping for vintage fur.

Plants of Grenada

2011-01-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

Birds of Grenada

2011-01-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

We returned from a most wonderful vacation at Grenada. I spent most of my time snorkeling and photographing. Here're some bird pics:

Things I've learned from BEWERE THE NIGHT

2011-01-01T13:14:00.000-05:00

And that's a wrap! All the responses went out, so please query if you haven't received yours. I will announce the final ToC as soon as I confirm a couple of contributors, but for now some things I've learned while dealing with an open call anthology. Was it worth it? Yes, considering that less than half of the stories in the antho were solicited. The rest were received over the transom – some from writers familiar to me, others I only heard of, and finally some new ones to me.

In the course of reading 300+ submissions and many more queries, several things struck me as worthy of talking about. Take this list as descriptive of my experience and nothing more.

Guidelines contain all the information a writer needs. Some guidelines are very detailed and particular – and as a writer I tend to not submit to places which threaten eternal damnation if things aren't formatted just so. For most venues, standard manuscript format is fine. No need to email the editor asking about margins – in fact, I feel that it's counterproductive, since the time I'm spending reading emails asking about my format requirements is the time I'm not spending reading subs. As for definitions of what is and isn't urban fantasy: unless specified, assume it is broad. Same for sex and violence: unless specified, assume there are no restrictions. I want stories, not assignments. I hate themed anthos that only allow for the narrowest possible interpretation of the theme because they end up bland and repetitive. Surprise me.
Addendum: Do not email me with advice – really, I got this. I post my guidelines where I post them because it works for me, and I put all the info I care about into them. If I don't have font specs it's because I don't care.
Cover letters: the time I'm spending reading cover letters is the time I'm not spending reading subs. Keep them short. Chatty covers about nothing in particular work against you. So do summaries of stories in cover letters, more than five credits, explanations of your credits. The last one worth mentioning separately: don't tell the editor in a cover letter of how good/respectable the venues you've sold to are. Because I either heard of them and already have an opinion, or I haven't heard of them, and thus it's irrelevant. Also, don't let your cover letter write the check your story can't cash: if you tell me I'm going to be terrified, it sets up certain expectations.
Blog comments: time I'm spending reading... you get the theme here. Asking about tropes is pointless since if the story is good, tropes are irrelevant, and if it isn't, tropes aren't going to save it. Informing me of the story you plan to write is not particularly helpful, since I won't remember anyway, but not harmful either.
Considering the amount of subs I'm receiving and the fact that I'm just one person with a full-time job and a writing thing of my own, I cannot provide detailed feedback, suggestions, referrals etc. Writers entitled to editor's response but not feedback. Emailing a followup asking what I REALLY thought about your story will likely meet with silence.

So, editors in the audience! Any other helpful tips you can share?

New Favorite Meme

2010-12-17T10:53:00.002-05:00

Thanks to glvalentine, who pointed me to my new favorite meme, based on the Babysitters Club. It originated here. Anyway, Kristy is super-judgey:

I predict that now all my teaching will be done via this meme.

New Review

2010-12-09T14:05:00.002-05:00

Wow, Denver Post likes The House of Discarded Dreams!

""The House of Discarded Dreams" is a beguiling, surrealistic fantasy wonderfully brought to logic-defying life." See? You need this book!

OH TOM FORD NO

2010-12-07T23:07:00.003-05:00

So Tom Ford feels that fat women shouldn't wear clothes. Of course, he disguises it as concern for poor dears, what with the pinching and the squeezing and the sausaging. Not like he would actually, you know, design clothes for fat women that would fit them. I was never a fan of his designs, since his Gucci days -- he tends toward the sexy silhouette and his overall esthetic is so about male gaze it's not funny. So I don't get why people get so excited about his return to women's wear -- don't we have Herve Leger and Bebe (for the not-so-wealthy) already for all your sexpot needs? But generally, I didn't care until he did this:

Oh Tom Ford, must you go ahead and represent everything that is wrong with fashion?

End of the Year

2010-12-06T14:24:00.002-05:00

December seems to be traditionally the time for year-end summaries and talk of accomplishments and hopefulness. 2010 has been a pretty bad year for me, but there were some positives:

The House of Discarded Dreams was published. It's a weird little book and I love it and am glad to see it in print.

Heart of Iron: St Petersburg to Beijing sold and will be published next year. I talk of it as a steampunk book a lot, but really, it's an alternate history novel in which I tried to avoid things I hate in alternate history novels (such as the same historical personages occupying the same roles despite widely divergent histories.) Not so here! Also, I anticipate people complaining that insufficient time is spent on larger conflicts (the prelude to the Crimean War and Taiping rebellion). I probably should start disclaiming that I'm not interested in larger conflicts.

Tin Cans came out in Haunted Legends, and I'm proud of this story. I also wrote another short story, A Handsome Fellow, I really like. Both deal with Russian history, with the latter firmly focused on the Siege of Leningrad.

Running with the Pack saw publication, and Bewere the Night is progressing well. I'm planning another antho after that. Yes, there's a title. And it'll be all about fashion.

I also started compiling a short story collection. Anyone wants to suggest a title?

OK, here are my positives. Not bad!

It's that time of year again!

2010-12-02T10:05:00.002-05:00

Reposting from Dec 5 2009:

Someone recently emailed me asking if I had an Amazon wishlist. While I appreciate the kindness and consideration, I would like to say that I don't need anything. There are, however, people who do -- especially now, since things have been so difficult for many people. Consider this a holiday PSA, but if you have money to spare, donate to charity or to women's and homeless shelters, Habitat for Humanity etc etc. The Hunger Site has a good list of various international charities that accept donations, and where as little as $15 can provide real help to people who need it, while Oxfam focuses on long-term local solutions to poverty and environmental degradation. Please suggest your favorite charities in comments and feel free to repost.

ekaterinasedia.com: The Fashion Show

2010-12-01T15:04:00.002-05:00

This show is my crack. By now, it left Project Runway in the dust, even though Tim Gunn is irreplaceable.
Surprisingly, Calvin is growing on me. David, however, is creepy. This impression is predicated entirely on his weird laugh every time he says "vagina" (and he says it a lot).

Isaac Mizrahi is turning into a nurturer, and Iman is just being herself and awesome. And I like the guest judges! They all have something to do with fashion (unlike, you know, actresses who get dressed by other people. I am totally writing a post about why Red Carpet is not fashion.) Deeta von Teese and Anja Rubik somehow seem
more plugged in than some obscure actress PR has been trotting out for some unfathomable reason.

Anyway, I'm excited to see Johnny Weir and Rachel Zoe as guest judges. Like, literally.
http://ekaterinasedia.com/index.php/2010/12/01/the-fashion-show/
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Links a la Mode -- IFB

2010-11-25T22:38:00.002-05:00

And once again my cranky natterings are included in IFB's weekly roundup. Enjoy many insightful posts!

Giving Thanks

Edited by: Holier than Now

It's Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and many of us are looking forward to the Black Friday sales - oh wait, I mean spending time with our families and friends! But it's wonderful (and kind of weird) that so many of the people that influence and support us on a daily basis won't be gathered around our table; they'll be hanging around our web address, retweeting our (sometimes) witty comments, liking our latest post on Facebook, etc. Whether or not you celebrate turkey day, as a blogger it's hard not to be full of gratitude for the resources we share on a regular basis. This week, Tickle Me Chic helps ban the blogging blues, Previously Owned does your holiday gift shopping for you, and Make the World a Prettier Place sums up the reason so many of us are grateful just to be alive (hello? fashion!) with a visual history.

Links à la Mode: November 25th

Be Fabulous Daily Applying old-school academic standards of original content and citation of sources to fashion blogging
Boheme Noir Best outfits 2010 of style icon Giovanna Battaglia
Fashion Butter: How to DIY Fur Collar with Chains
Fish Monkey's Writing Stuff Lanvin + H&M: Is there a downside?
Frock and Roll A code of ethnics for advertorials on your blog
Grit and Glamour RSS and Sharing for Dummies—and Lazies
Haute Halifax Out of sight, out of mind? A look at the impact of the textile industry in Africa
Holier than Now The Under $50 Gift Guide: Fashion, guy-friendly goods, eco and charitable finds and more
Independent Fashion Bloggers: Are you addicted to blogging?
Make the World a Prettier Place 30 Vogue covers from 1922 to 2005
Mary Van Notes A vintage style post from a tree house
Pancake Stacker Lessons from "Changing Fashion: Internet and Blogging" featuring Liz of Late Afternoon, Yvan Rodic of The Face Hunter, and more
Positively Bleak Tips on staving off the winter blues - with a bonus compilation of free demos and EPs from alternative rock bands!
Previously Owned A carefully selected gift list for the foodie, fashionable, beauty obsessed and generous
The Chic Curve Winter coats for everyBODY. No matter what size or shape, there is a fabulous jacket just for you!
The Coveted: Frock Luxury Vintage: A local NYC discovery
The Fashion Pawn The Business of Blogging: Your Blog Brand
The Lingerie Addict: 5 things Every Woman Should Know About Her Lingerie
The New Professional A bloglover's tips for keeping up with your blog reading
Tickle Me Chic: Get rid of those blogging blues: Tips and links to ban discouragement
Wanderlost 10 things to look forward to this winter

SPONSOR:

Shopbop bags: Burch, Matt & Natt, Minkoff, IRO, Botkier, Gryson, LAMB, Chloe, BE&D, DVF

Lanvin for H&M -- really?

2010-11-22T14:38:00.001-05:00

I’m so ambiguously uneasy about designer collabs with fast fashion chains. On one hand, the democratization of fashion and all that jazz. On the other, there’s this – people who spend $1500 on Lanvin for H&M. People talk about how much they spent, a few commenters point out that they could’ve gotten the real Lanvin for the money, other commenters saying that this IS NOT THE POINT -- $1700 will only buy you one Lanvin thing instead of several. And this, to me, is the most interesting point. Because… $1700 is a lot of money. Something that costs this much is so out of the question for me that I don’t even get tempted. Most designer clothing is like art to me – beautiful, unattainable, and to be admired from afar without ever thinking of ownership.

But fast fashion is all about ownership and consumption – lots and lots, because each single item is so cheap. There’s no admiration component at all. And while every single thing is cheap, the cost adds up. $99-$199 is the cost of most Lanvin for H&M dresses – a tad steep for fast fashion, but very cheap for the designer items. That is, cheap enough to tempt one into buying, and often multiple items.

And this is really the thing: designer-fast fashion collabs end up costing more to many people because even though they would never buy the original designer, they buy the collabs. They are a cunning way of luring so many people to become consumers instead of admirers, of making them spend money on the brand they would never even consider before because it’s so out of their range. So we spend more, and get… what exactly do we get? Polyester, Made in China (and probably nowhere near fair labor practices) that carry a designer tag – a legal knock off, really.

So we can talk about democratization of fashion, but really, doesn’t it simply increase consumerism and exploitation of cheap overseas labor? And is it really different from the more traditional designer diffusion items, like perfume, scarves and sunglasses?

Book day!

2010-11-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

So it looks like The House of Discarded Dreams is available on Amazon. Yay!

BEWERE THE NIGHT update 2

2010-11-14T09:18:00.000-05:00

I've responded to all subs sent before September 10th. If you sent a submission before that date, you should've received either a rejection or a hold request; if you haven't received a response, please query.

Try to get your stories to me before December 1st -- I will be accepting subs until Dec 31st, but since I'll be making most of my selections in December, there's a pretty good chance that the antho will fill up before the deadline. Stragglers beware.

Finally, I'm getting way too many werewolves and not enough other creatures. At this point, wolves are a very very tough sell. As well as Little Red Riding Hood retellings. As well as "victim turns the table" stories. Oh, and bantering paranormal investigators, if they do banter, should be at least amusing.

Orchids

2010-11-11T21:52:00.000-05:00

These are from the greenhouse at my school. Behold the gorgeousness!

The Fashion Show -- Season Two! With spoilers.

2010-11-10T12:11:00.001-05:00

So the Fashion Show, Bravo's response to losing Project Runway, has returned for season two. Kelly Rowland has been replaced by Iman, which was a wise decision. She's a host/judge supermodel, much like Heidi, but better. Oh, so much better!

Overall, what PR has ultimately chose was accessibility and grudging concession to what 'women in the streets' actually wear -- which, in the producing and judging minds, are drab, unimaginative clothes in the mold of Heidi's New Balance line and trickling down boho esthetics, with a dash of Alexander Wang and other 'edgy' but deeply conventional designers. Klum represents this reluctant, nose-holding accessibility very well -- just like many a diffusion line.

The Fashion Show, on the other hand, has Iman and Isaac Mizrahi (ironically, the king of diffusion lines), who seem to be pushing for a much more high fashion, theatrical sensibility. And in my opinion, if one was to make a TV show about fashion, this is the way to go. I know that there's bad blood between Tim Gunn and Isaac Mizrahi -- and please don't make me choose! Gunn is like a long-lost uncle; Mizrahi is hugely entertaining and says terrible things to people. Oh, and another judge is Laura Brown of Elle Magazine.

Now to the show itself. First, all challenges are team challenges - there're two fashion houses, so that creates some interesting dynamics: even though there are individual winners/losers, the emphasis is on creating a cohesive collection and cooperation. I'm curious to see how that will play out.

Then there was the challenge itself: to use Iman as the muse. Cultural hilarity referencing tribal patterns and contrasting Iman's Somalian past with her now being a part of the "modern world" -- all of it by the House of Nami (Iman backward, get it?). The end result was surprisingly good, with mostly white collection with interesting and varied shapes.

The other team (House of Emerald Syx), on the other hand, had Calvin. Calvin was appalled by the idea of having to work with people, and let his displeasure be known. They chose to work with bright colors! They lost because of lack of cohesion. Calvin made a pretty decent saffron yellow draped number, which was deemed 'cheap' and landed him in the bottom two. He stayed however. The girl who made the abominable parasite ruffle dress went home, but not before her and Calvin traded words. (I suspect that they will keep Calvin as long as possible -- he's a one man resentment engine.)

The guest judge was Rachel Roy, who was also a guest judge on Project Runway. Future guest judges will include Rachel Zoe, Johnny Weir, and Dita von Teese -- people who should've been guest judges on PR, but weren't. I was actually dreaming about PR being completely revamped, with the judging panel composed of Simon Doonan, Lynne Yaeger, and Tilda Swinton, with Apfel, Horyn and von Teese guest-judging. Thank you, Fashion Show, for partially fulfilling my dream! Let's hope the rest of the season lives up to the expectations.

The Gentlewoman -- Autumn/Winter 2010

2010-11-07T16:10:00.001-05:00

I finally got a subscription to The Gentlewoman -- I wanted it ever since Susie Bubble waxed poetic about it. Subscriptions to the US aren't cheap, but I broke and got one anyway. I wasn't disappointed.

The magazine doesn't contain a single article on weight loss, diet, exercise routine, or man-pleasing (as one would expect from something named The Gentlewoman, but still, in the world of ladymags, it's a surprise.) Instead, it contains interviews with successful women, profiles of more successful women and cultural icons, age and racial diversity, a delightful article on apples, and several features on fashion and clothes. And it's really great. I don't necessarily demand that all ladymags be deep deep reading; but anything that doesn't assume that I'm an insecure shopaholic blow-up doll is a welcome relief.

So here are some pages snapped with my phone, for the purposes of conveying the experience; I do sincerely hope that some of you decide to subscribe. Ten bucks seems like a lot to drop on a magazine, but this one is hefty and beautiful and treats its readers as people! Anyway, here.

Some ads! With Part I Table of Contents.

And a very nice portrait of Ashley Olsen, who gives a good, thoughtful interview about running Elizabeth and James.

Next up, we have more detailed interviews and profiles of people like British comic Julia Davis (who doesn't really smoke, as the caption helpfully explains):

And Yoko Ono, who is shockingly not at all maligned:

(I KNOW!)

Then there's a profile of Lukwesa Burak:

Then there's a great, great feature on Inez van Lamsweerde (who's also on the cover), and whose photography is just so startling and interesting:

What I really love about magazines as a genre is the random element: there are always articles on some unexpected matters, of which I may have not thought -- but here it is, and it's cool, and I learned something. This time, it's apples!

Beautiful photography and informative text about apple varieties: not the subject I expected, but glad to have encountered.

Then there are fashion photoshoots. I liked a lot that some of the captions included bits of information about the models, not just the clothes they're wearing. Here's a page from their Long Looks feature. This is totally how I dress! Score for Team Highwaisted Pants.

Then there are several more features, on things like shapewear and seasonal clothing. Shot in black and white and unapologetic (yes, this sweater is Lanvin.) I think luxury products such as these can be appreciated as art objects -- and frankly, I prefer that. I love Lanvin, will never be able to afford the clothes, but I still can admire them.

I find admiration for the unreachable much healthier than anxious aspiration of just-out-of-reach things, the insecure grabbing for the almost-affordable. And more inspiring than the perpetual '100 things under 100 bucks you need RIGHT NOW' features popular with Lucky (I do like Lucky) and Marie Claire -- and nowadays, even Vogue is debasing itself with those. Thank you , ladymags, I know what they sell at Target and Old Navy -- show me the beautiful things I wouldn't see otherwise, and forget the social climbing. I'd rather look at pretty things I don't even think about buying than overspend on crap I don't need. Anyway.

Last but not least, Gesticulations!

A really lovely thing about this magazine is it's quality -- good, thick paper, no annoying perfume samples in the creased pages that make the entire magazine artificially stinky... really, what a magazine should be. I'll be renewing. Too bad it only comes out twice a year!

(And since this is shaping up to be a review month... I will be writing about some books I'm reading, as well as Ella Lai's clothes. Yes, again -- she's just that good.)

The Narrator -- Michael Cisco

2010-11-05T15:02:00.002-04:00

Michael Cisco, whose book The Traitor I reviewed here, has another book out! I'm reading it -- slowly, as the time mid-semester is precious and split between editing and everything else I want to do, but I just have to talk about The Narrator.

Short version: please go and buy it. Cisco is one of those writers (lamentably few) who write genuinely unusual things. It's a shame he's not more widely read (although I suspect that many of the folks who insist they want new and unusual really don't), and something that needs to be fixed. So read the book, you won't regret it.

It's a little less aggressively strange than The Traitor, but it drips with the same vivid and visual malaise -- white skies, sick trees, vividly drawn snatches of the landscape otherwise drowned in radiance or fog. The language is half-delirious, and the beginning of the book evokes both Notes From Underground and Felix Krull. Low, the protagonist and a student in the college that prepares Narrators (people who recite events until only words encountering them remain, replacing the actual memory of the event), is not supposed to be drafted -- but he is, due to bureaucratic indifference and incompetence of the college administrators. His panicked efforts to avoid draft reminded me of the desperation with which my high school classmates applied to colleges -- the student status granted the draft deferral, and those who were not lucky enough to get in often faked a variety of psychiatric ailments. Low's efforts brought forth this visceral memory in me, all those boys who didn't want to go to the army because they knew it will forever change them; possibly into people they wouldn't like.

Another piercing recognition came when Low describes the separation of priesthood into white and black -- an Orthodox Christian tradition, where only black priesthood (monks) are allowed to rise to the top of the hierarchy, while the white priesthood (parish priests) are usually married and childed. Cisco takes this separation to the next logical extreme, and Life and Death churches are born, even though the similarity with Orthodox Christianity are quite clear.

Then there's the war itself -- Low as the narrator is supposed to document the story, but he has as much trouble as anyone else guessing the point of it all. The looming unease and the whispered uncertainty of it again reminded me of fear of my classmates of being sent to Afghanistan -- that hushed and unknown conflict fought for no discernible reason. It is always tempting to load the story with perceived meanings of the moment and attribute them to writerly intent -- and frankly, many writers aren't clever enough to hide their intent. Not so in this case, where the intent becomes irrelevant since instead we can have meaning.

And this is really something I love about Cisco's writing -- in all the strangeness, there are always these moments of acute, almost painful recognition and identification. I don't know if yours will be the same as mine, but I'm sure you'll find a few there -- be those in the dreamlike wanderings across strange cities and battles, in the unusual crew Low joins, in the palpable terror of the mysterious Edeks. Cisco writes like no one else, and this book is unlike any other, although filled with echoes of things one remembers and Cisco somehow knows.

Uniforms-in fibers

2010-10-28T23:58:00.002-04:00

I often hear bloggers talk about their uniforms -- outfits they gravitate toward on a daily basis, especially for the office. I'm no different, although I find that my uniforms are defined not so much as pieces but as kinds of fabrics. Fall and winter, for me, mean wool and silk -- with rayon and cupro as acceptable silk substitutes. It is a rare day when I'm not wearing a vintage silk button down with a tweedy jacket or a merino or cashmere sweater, paired with wool pants or skirts (and in some cases, wool shorts and tights -- but that's more casual, for the weekend). There are also silk scarves and silk skirts, and woolen shirts and dresses. So while the pieces may change, the animal fibers remain. There's also some leather and suede in my footwear and jackets.

In the spring and summer, my clothes turn primarily vegan -- mostly cotton with some cupro and rayon, and an occasional silk blend (little real silk though, because silk is pretty high maintenance and I try to avoid sweating on high maintenance pieces; undershirts are usually not an option in heat). Jackets and shoes become cotton broadcloth and canvas. I might even wear denim.

And it seems funny that it took me a while to realize this -- come fall, I start craving wool and tweed and cashmere; I crave seasonal fibers in a way people crave comfort foods.

So, what about you? Do you care more about garments and clothing, or is it all about fabrics? Also, I realize that I'm pretty biased against synthetics. Silly prejudice? (Although I do own a couple of vintage polyester blouses, so here we go).

(Images: Elise Crombez by Hans Feurer for Vogue Turkey October 2010, Mathilde Frachon, Chanel Iman, Edita Vilkeviciute for Vogue China October 2010 via FGR)

Project Runway -- SPOILERS! With bonus conspiracy theory.

2010-10-22T16:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged about PR in a few weeks, because really, Mondo is awesome, Andy is pretty cool, Michael C is very nice, Gretchen is controlling, and there's little else to say.

I do want to mention the episode in which the designers had to design for Heidi's line (Episode 11). And really, there were two problems with that challenge: 1) Heidi's line; 2) Heidi.

The line is awful -- I can find those limp dishrags in any contempo store, but it doesn't mean I like them. Mind you, knits can be fun -- but these shapeless grey things, bastard children of cotton cardigans and sweats, are not. I mean, asking the designers to create something that would fit into the line and the color scheme is like inviting Duff Goldman to have an E-Z oven bakeoff for a five-year-old's birthday party. Or hiring an Frank Lloyd Wright to build an outhouse. In other words, criminal waste.

Speaking of: I suspected that Heidi is maybe not exactly in touch with us commoners; I was shocked at the depth of her contempt for her customers and the vitriol she was dripping while talking to the designers. She is convinced that people who buy her clothes are those legendary middle-Americans found in Walmarts, who live their lives in sweats and cringe at the thought of squeezing their flab into anything remotely tailored. Those people would never ever get dressed before leaving the house, so let's just give them some drab loungewear to cover their unappealing flesh. And the designers! She spoke to them as if they were children: "Do you think a woman could go shopping in that? Hmmmmmm?" (That being a perfectly decent cropped cardigan made by Mondo (Mondo!), whose only crime was lack of shapelessness -- and something I would wear, which I cannot say about Heidi's line). And actually, I wouldn't even talk to children like that -- that mix of condescension and pretend sweetness shouldn't be used on anyone. No wonder Mondo snapped -- and for one, I wholeheartedly supported a designer tantrum.

Last night's episode was a pretty even mix of awesome and terrible. Awesome: Mondo being Mondo, his mom telling the world that Mondo was allowed to play the piano only if he also played baseball, Mondo showing off his piano skills (but not short-stop skills), pretty much everything else. Andy's catfish farm rocked, what with Tim Gunn in rubber boots getting grossed-out and hand-flappy over a catfish. That part was funny and sweet and made me believe that Tim Gunn was my long-lost uncle.

Everything to do with Michael C however was really sad, and his final meltdown was pretty horrific. His family situation is tragic, no doubt, but I also am having a sneaking suspicion that he was a bit set up. Let's face it, he is not the best designer -- he mostly drapes, and makes an ok drapey dress (not my thing, but people who like that sort of dress seem to like his), but no range otherwise. (Malign Gretchen as you will, but she can tailor, and even though I'm not a fan of her esthetic, she makes her clothes well). So throughout the season, I felt that the praise that was heaped on him by the judges was over the top -- just like the dishing he got from fellow designers. But Michael C has advanced past his ability, and I wonder if that was intentional. I mean, he was inspired by the Statue of Liberty and made a drapey dress. Showstopper it wasn't, and it wasn't original either. I keep thinking that the judges built him up intentionally, to dash his hopes at the last moment -- Michael C seemed so childlike at times, so without artifice and cunning, that he would make a perfect mark for something like that. And I wonder if he was set up for the sake of drama.

I feel awful just thinking that, honestly. I hope that the judges are not that cruel; I hope Michale C's uneasy history was not brought in for the sake of drama. But what do you guys think? Is reality TV twisted enough to elevate a really sweet person just to bring them down?

Links a la Mode -- IFB

2010-10-21T20:53:00.002-04:00

So looks like my post on flattering dressing was included in Independent Fashion Bloggers' weekly roundup. I'm pretty happy about it, and there're a quite few cool posts in this week's selections.

The Blogging Diaries- Introspects, insights, and inspirations

Edited by: Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista

As bloggers, we often find ourselves looking to other blogs for inspiration. Sometimes we look to our closets, magazines, or in the mirror. This week's roundup fashions some of the most introspective and insightful posts from bloggers who reach across the blogosphere as they look for ways to build upon, contribute to, and pull inspiration for and from the fashion world.

365 Fashion Rehab: Lessons from a (Reformed) Shopaholic: A beautiful handbag repaired (for free!). One more reason to buy quality over quantity.
Boheme Noir: The first ladies of Vogue - a closer look at the most important editors in chief.
Daisy Dayz: Friend Friday: How to learn from your mistakes and let your blog grow
Devilishly Pleasurable: Reflecting on the evolution of my blog and tips for better blogging!
Fish Monkey: The notion of flattering dressing is oppressive and unnecessary. Rather than conforming, why not chose a different shape?
Hazel Eye Personality: Who has what it takes to be the next big and game changing designer? It takes a lot of time, passion and sanity to make it in the fashion world.
Independent Fashion Bloggers: Work Smarter, Not Harder–3 Ways to Massively (and Permanently) Increase Your Traffic.
Miss Viki: "Love Me" and what is wrong with our beauty ideals, if anything?
No Guilt Fashion: I put on my game face and tried out my biggest fashion trend fear
Passionista Place: qvc, hsn...oh my! find out why home shopping networks have become a bit of an addiction for a modern passionista like me.
Seamstress Stories: Reflections on the role that mirrors play for our body image and self-perception.
Showcase Edge: Indie Fashion Goes Back to the future. A look at designers who hand-make clothing inspired by times of the past
Sidewalk Chalk: I'm a poser, baby: 7 steps for posing naturally in outfit photos
Stylish White Female: Transitioning from vegetarian to vegan: Some things are hard to give up. Fur is not.
Taxonomy of my Wardrobe: Shopping the Wardrobe. My version of this month's Harper's Bazaar Buy Now wear Forever list selected from my own wardrobe.
The Coveted: Three Way With a Long Chiffon Skirt
The Curvy Fashionista: Nordstrom reaches out to plus size fashion bloggers to collaborate on its newest plus size endeavor- Sejour
The Demoiselles: She is not a fashion blogger. She's just a woman, sitting in her bathtub.
The Simply Luxurious Life: In a world that seems to be changing quicker than the seasons, what does it mean to be a lady?
The Wondergirl: retail-me-not: waxing poetic on two interesting happenings of late in the world of specialty retailing.
Vogue Mornings:How not to lose motivation when blogging, a few quick solutions to the problem many bloggers face.

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On Flattering Dressing

2010-10-15T23:48:00.002-04:00

For a while now, I've been noodling over the idea of dressing for your shape, as explained by many style bloggers and fashion gurus, and how that notion fits with two themes I've been talking about quite a bit lately: female shape and patriarchal control.

First, the notion of 'flattering' dressing, as practiced by What Not To Wear and its ilk, is pretty much predicated on the notion that the most desirable silhouette is a tall, slim hourglass. While this is indeed a preferred shape in our society, this is by no means the only shape, and while there are certainly benefits to looking like a tall slim hourglass, a sane person may choose a different silhouette for a variety of reasons.

Now, I'll focus here on the perceived silhouette rather than the esthetic preferences of the wearer -- mostly because the wearer's preferences are often subtly (and not subtly) shaped by reactions they garner. That is, I think it is perfectly possible for someone to like wearing a femme, 50's silhouette -- but at the same time "I just like it" is not entirely true. Clothes cannot be taken from their context, and our preferences have been shaped by other people and their responses, positive and negative, whether we like it or not. So rather than argue why we might like certain shapes, I would like to discuss on why we may choose to project certain shapes to those around us.

The choosing bit is especially important to me here. Because of course, it's possible to treat clothes as nothing but coverings for your body, and thus just go grab the first pair of pants on a rack and a random shirt and call it a day. But this is surrendering control -- that is, your clothes will still be sending messages, you just won't be in dictating it. Which to me seems like a bad thing, since you cannot opt out from the whole nonverbal communication in a patriarchal society thing.

So anyway. Evolutionary psychologists and the rest of the crowd that believes that 1950's in the US were the pinnacle of healthy and natural gender dynamics insist that hourglass silhouette is the one that men find visually pleasing (blah blah fertility blah visual cues blah we generalize things from the sample of American undergrads and assume their preferences by no means are conditioned blee). Which really tells us nothing at all -- why is it assumed that all women want to appeal to only to men and at all times? But the society we live in deemed it desirable, and so we struggle to fulfill the social mandate.

Deb linked me to this post by a fat positive blogger. She brings to light several important points, but I would like to focus on two. First, some bodies are far away from the ideal that clothing won't be able to conceal the gulf -- and yet, they are expected to strive in that direction; that is fat women are expected to dress "thinner" even though they will never be deemed sufficiently thin by the mainstream. Secondly, just being exposed to non-standard bodies that don't bother to disguise the fact that they're not standard is interpreted by some people almost as an assault -- hence the constant bitching on the internet about fat women in bikinis and complaints about older women in miniskirts. The common sentiment seems to be that the bodies who deviate from the ideal should hide themselves as not to offend the general public. This is really where the notion of age- and shape-appropriate dressing comes from -- to minimize public's exposure to the horrid, horrid deviant bodies that are too fat, too old, too anything.

And what about people who are reasonably close to the ideal? For them, flattering dressing is an option to actually pass as a societal ideal -- with heels and cunningly placed belts and flared skirts, they might be able to create the coveted illusion of a tall and slim hourglass. This is a trap even more sinister, because it feeds that pernicious aspirational dissatisfaction. I just need to throw on a pair of Spanx and wear one long unbroken line of color to create a longer leg line and... what? The ultimate reward of flattering dressing is to be perceived as societally acceptable and therefore desirable.

And this constant assessment of female desirability is what so many feminists have been raging against. So feeding into the status quo by creating a flattering silhouette is not exactly revolutionary -- although there may be a need for it; I understand why many women would choose to project this silhouette. When not playing a game is not option, playing by the established rules seems sensible. And yes, there are rewards for conforming (just like there are punishments for not conforming). Choices are not made in the vacuum, and some are inherently harder -- there's no shame in taking an easier path. Really, who wants to struggle all the time?

But of course there's a third way. And that is distorting the body and creating a silhouette different from the norm, but with a purpose -- the tweaking, the undermining. For example, I have wide shoulders and broad back; common wisdom tells me to minimize my shoulders and balance their width with flared skirts. But I like the powerful and non-femme line my shoulders give me, and I'm likely to exaggerate it further with epaulets, shoulder pads, strong-shouldered jackets and boxy cuts. (And yes, sure, I do dress in traditionally feminine and flattering ways too; but I think it's important to have more than one silhouette in one's repertoire.)

Also, the common wisdom usually suggests emphasizing one's waist to avoid looking blocky or bulky -- fate worse than death, according to many. To elongate your legline. Both are optional -- I'm indifferent to my waist, and I like cropped pants, which are generally leg-shortening; I even like them pleated and tapered. Alternately, I love high-waisted wide-legged pants than make my torso very short, and skew the proportion in an interesting way -- rather than legs looking merely long, they look unnaturally so. In both cases, altering of proportions can create interesting and unexpected silhouettes, quite capable of communicating one's stylistic sensibilities as well as lack of desire to be perceived as a sex object.

The key, I think, is to know what it is that you're doing, and why you're doing it. To that effect, fashion gurus are correct about one thing: it is worthwhile to know your body shape, so it can then be altered with clothes - to the desired effect. Wearing pants that are too short should look intentional rather than as if it hasn't occurred to you that pants could go below your ankle (a sadly common occurrence in academia). Knowing what your shape is ultimately allows you to manipulate it -- and to what end, is up to you. We all define the shapes we want to project, and we don't have to work toward the single one. You may choose to exaggerate the one you have or try for a different one, play with proportions, have fun. Moreover, no one should be shamed for their sartorial choices -- and I think the criticism is harder to withstand when it hasn't occurred to you that you look different rather than when it was your entire intention.

I leave you with the picture of a true fashion original, the great late Diana Vreeland. And in her honor, I rouged my earlobes this morning. It was amazing.

About those pink ribbons

2010-10-04T21:19:00.005-04:00

With October being breast cancer awareness months, we're flooded with messages of “awareness” = thinly disguised merchandising, and slogans like “Save the tatas” and other nonsense featuring words like boobs and tits, making the whole cancer thing oh-so-sassy. There's a lot of information out there about pinkwashing, and that's all good stuff. My issues with the way breast cancer is packaged go beyond that, however.

Sassy slogans that place the focus on eroticized notion of breasts is problematic, of course, because it sort of tends to overshadow the fact that there's a human being attached to the tits that need saving; secondly, as mastectomy IS often a life saving although drastic procedure, the focus on saving the breasts can be actively damaging to survival and health of women. Also, can we please talk about serious illnesses affecting women without trivializing, sexualizing and sassifying? Can we ever talk about women's cancers as human suffering? Is that too much to ask?

Now, to the notion of buying pink-ribbon stuff. Even if you follow the Think Before you Pink guidelines, I would still advocate separating your philanthropy from your consumerism. I'm deeply disturbed by the increasing tendency to merge them together – as in, buy yogurt and we'll donate a few cents off the profits to a charity. How about I just donate to the charity I want, and buy yogurt separately? I mentioned it before – I am troubled by the notion of voting with your wallet, as consumer decisions are becoming the main vehicle for political expression and activism, for a fairly significant portion of the population. We buy hybrid cars and long-lasting light bulb to express our commitment to the environment (rather than, you know, reducing waste or carpooling, god forbid), and now we have to buy t-shirts to support breast cancer? Which create more waste and pollution, which in turn increases cancers?

And much like with the environmentalism-based consumption, charity-linked spending creates a false sense of doing something good, while contributing little. A direct donation of $20 to a proper charity is philanthropy; buying yourself a $20 shirt (that comes with a promise of profits being donated to charity) is just buying yourself a shirt (and likely contributing to unfair labor practices). Any benefit for charity etc is likely to be negligible. And that's $20 you won't be donating, and another shirt you don't need.

And at the bottom of it all, why hand over your power to make charitable contributions to some manufacturer? Ultimately, you often don't know if they are doing what they say they are doing, and you almost never know how much their manufacturing practices are contributing to the carcinogenic environment we live in. So I think I'll stick to keeping things separate – and I think there's value in recognizing when one's engaging in consumerism, rather than pretending that it's something else.

Quick things

2010-10-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

1) Yesterday we celebrated our 11th anniversary, and tenth anniversary of Aja cat (who was our first anniversary gift). Cat faaaace!

2) And "Citizen Komarova Finds Love" was reprinted in Apex. I'm very happy about that one, since not many people saw it in its original publication last year.

Speaking of self-promotion....

2010-10-01T15:35:00.003-04:00

Booklist reviewed The House of Discarded Dreams:

Vimbai, who studies invertebrate zoology because of a fascination with horseshoe crabs, moves into the house on the beach in order to escape her Zimbabwean immigrant mother’s intensity; she finds something strange and beautiful. There are two roommates: Zach, who has a pocket universe where his hair should be, and Maya, who works in an Atlantic City casino. Vimbai’s dead grandmother haunts them, a ghostly presence who tells Zimbabwean children’s stories and does the dishes. When the house comes unmoored and drifts away to sea, Vimbai must bargain with ghostly horseshoe crabs, untangle the many and varied stories that have come loose in the vast worlds of the house, and find a way home. From Maya’s urban nightmares to Vimbai’s African urban legends, the house is filled with danger and beauty and unexpected magic. On one level, this is a reflection of ancient fairy tales and legends; on the other, it’s a perfectly straightforward tale of finding oneself in a bizarre world. Either way, Sedia’s prose is a pleasure, her story a lovely place to have spent time, even with the horrors her characters face. — Regina Schroeder

(Your picspam will resume shortly)

OK, this Barney's catalog has Simon Doonan all over it

2010-09-29T23:56:00.001-04:00

Also, Lindsey Wixson is pretty awesome.More pics at FGR.

Heteronormativity, and lack thereof

2010-09-17T11:44:00.002-04:00

Tonight's Project Runway delighted me in several ways: Tim Gunn firmly insisting that Jackie Kennedy would NOT have camel toe was a definite highlight. I was also quite pleased to see Mondo win, and I enjoyed Ivy's design -- great to see that she's returning to the neutral, ethereal, and yet sharply cut. I liked the idea of Andy's pants (execution and styling were, admittedly, lacking). Most of all, I enjoyed Mondo's own outfit: short shorts and a white tank top, with suspenders, knee socks, and tons of eyeliner. When asked, Mondo said that he was inspired by Cotton Club, and did a little tap dance. This is also the same person who put a mustache on his model during the Treacy challenge.

This is where it struck me: I do love Mondo's design, but I also adore his refusal to behave in heteronormative ways -- much like I enjoy the same trait in Johnny Weir (who recently made an appearance on Rachel Zoe, OMG). And really, having people like them on national TV is a big deal -- it is important to see the diversity of gender presentation (and people happily adopting behaviors usually associated with the opposite gender) in order for this diversity to become normalized. Interestingly enough, it seems more normalized in fashion industry: in last week's Rachel Zoe Project episode, there was a fashion crisis involving Johnny Weir showing up to an event and finding out that someone else wore the exact same outfit. Zoe's staffer, Brad, flies to the rescue, and asks Johnny if he'd seen that episode of 90210 where the two girls wear the same dress to the prom. "Of course," Weir replied. "What kind of man would I be if I haven't seen that episode?" "Not a very good one," Brad says.

Both had a jocular manner during that exchange, but it still struck me -- the way these two redefined masculinity rather than refused it. Redefined it to include watching 90210 and caring about prom dresses and high heels as masculine behaviors. This reclaiming and widening of mainstream gender roles strikes me as quite a bit more constructive than simply rejecting the mainstream and retreating into an invisible niche. And what's more mainstream than TV?

Finally, On the Road with Austin and Santino is a hilarious and sweet series. This week's episode started with Austin getting out of the car in his straw hat and carrying a parasol, and shaking hands with a female truck driver. And you know, we need that -- rather than calling this woman 'masculine' or labeling Austin as 'effeminate', we need to see that their gender is not defined by what the mainstream deems gender-appropriate. We don't get to boot people out of their gender for the things they do.

I'm thrilled to see all these things on TV: of course, most of them are on Lifetime, which is commonly dismissed as a chick network. Oh gender normativity, how you vex me.

Audiobooks

2010-09-10T23:10:00.001-04:00

THE SECRET HISTORY OF MOSCOW and THE ALCHEMY OF STONE are now audiobooks, available from audible.com or your local iTunes.

Ella Lai

2010-09-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I mentioned a young Chinese designer, Ella Lai, in one of my Etsy posts. Well, I ordered a trench dress from her a few weeks ago, and today it has arrived - made to order, and beautifully.

This dress/jacket (since it can be worn as either) is made of surprisingly sturdy cotton fabric, which feels like canvas, and is fully lined. Polka dot cuff, belt, and collar lining gives it an extra touch of character. It fit me nicely:

Here's a somewhat shaky closeup of the neckline and the collar:

If you look at Ella's shop, you'll notice that the clothes tend to be neutral and they look basic. But the design and the tailoring is anything but. I took some closeups of details that cannot be seen in a larger view, but when you wear the garment, you can't help but love them. The construction is just superb.

First, pleating in the center back, right under the collar:

It makes the heavy fabric drape in a very fluid way.

The placing of shoulder seams in many garments, especially outerwear, is tricky and vexing. Not here though, because the sleeves are cut in in a very ingenious way, so there's no shoulder seam as such:

And this attention to detail carries over to the branding. I was pleased to see that the dress came with a very nice tag with the designer's name:

It might seem like a small thing, but I like my indie designers, and I like it when they have professional logos. So really, I couldn't be more impressed with the craftsmanship of this designer, and I cannot recommend her enough to those who love their clothes simple, classic, and well-made.

Project Runway

2010-09-09T23:08:00.002-04:00

Interesting challenge tonight: teams of two sew each other's design; the designer and not the tailor is judged. The rationale is that a good designer has to outsource sample sewing to ateliers and sample rooms and such. The reality is that sample rooms are staffed by professional tailors, while PR is not. So Ivy almost went home because she couldn't trust Michael D to sew her beautiful design and she dumbed it down to a flowy tank with a flowy skirt.

Michael Kors once again made one of his trademark gendered observations, calling Ivy (who did a beautiful job sewing Michael D's design) a seamstress (as opposed to a REAL designer, natch.) Way to go there -- seamstress vs designer as well as cook vs chef dichotomies have been a traditional way to devalue women's work, and it is heartening to see the CFDA lifetime achievement winner carries the banner.

I continue to love Mondo: even though his design was quite junior and ordinary, Mondo learned an important lesson: he was paired up with Michael C whom everyone hates, and learned that Michael wasn't bad at all. Mondo apologized for being disagreeable, and refreshingly seemed to mean it. In the end of the episode, the two sat with their arms around each other's shoulders even though Mondo was in the bottom. He was not sent home, and we at home learned that not blaming others and apologizing occasionally pay off.

Casanova was sent home. I will miss his priceless drama queening moments ("They say I design for strippers and old ladies and flamenco dancers! And I'm even getting fat!") His design wasn't bad, even though it wasn't resort wear -- but beige wide leg pants and off the shoulder white blouse were quite nice, although judges called them matronly and grandmotherly. I'd wear the pants.

Oh, and April's Frederick's of Hollywood babydoll won. Everyone needs to review what "punk" means.

Deconstructed Tuna Casserole with Avocado Salad

2010-09-05T15:11:00.001-04:00

Or if you prefer, tuna steaks with mac and cheese. The point is, it was delicious. I made it for late lunch today, and both Chris and I enjoyed it a lot.

I started by boiling water to cook 1/2 lb egg noodles. At the same time, boiled 1 1/2 cups milk with dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, red pepper flakes and oregano), 1 teaspoon ground mustard, salt, and a dash of ground cayenne pepper. Beaten two eggs, tempered them by adding hot milk mixture 1 tablespoon at a time and beating with a fork. Mixed tempered eggs into milk mixture, and over low heat added a tablespoon of butter and about a cup of grated cheese -- I used Romano and Parmesan.

Mixed cooked egg noodles with cheese sauce in a glass oven-proof dish, topped with a mixture of Panko bread crumbs and Parmesan, and baked at 350F until the casserole was set and the topping had turned golden brown.

While the casserole was baking, made avocado and bean salad (recipe is here):

Finally, tuna steaks: I got a couple of nice thick steaks, marinated them in 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, and dry herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, red pepper flakes and oregano), 15 min per side, then seasoned with salt. The steaks were then seared in olive oil, in a skillet over high heat, 2-3 min per side. Then I transferred them to an oven-safe dish, and finished at 350F for 10 minutes (less, if you prefer your tuna medium-rare to medium).

The tuna worked really well with the cheesy noodles, and fresh avocado salad made the whole meal fresh and summery.

New Book

2010-09-01T17:17:00.001-04:00

Since it was mentioned on Twitter, I guess it makes it official. I sold another steampunk book to Prime. It is currently titled Heart of Iron: From St. Petersburg to Beijing, and it is an alternate history set in Russia and China. It will most likely be out in the second half of 2011.

Delicious Duck

2010-09-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

So a while ago we went to an Amish market, and there I got a duck. A lovely fat bird, which I decided to cook following Alex Guarnaschelli's recipe. There was one significant modification: no green peppercorns, since I'm not a fan. So here's a photo essay documenting my duck exploits.

First, I heated some water with honey, soy sauce, and rosemary twigs. I also added a splash of raspberry vinegar and some ground red pepper flakes, dry thyme, and some tarragon, because I believe it goes with everything.

Once the water was nice and hot, I dunked in the bird:

Let it heat up and absorb the flavors, while basting, for about a minute.

Then I took the duck out, let it sit for about half and hour, and patted it dry. Arranged it on the rack in a roasting pan (mine is pretty shallow, and the deeper one would probably be less precarious when the fat starts seriously rendering), breast down. Cooked at 400F for 25 minutes:

I then took some of the rendered fat and transferred it to a cup for later, and turned the duck over. Cooked for an additional hour, until the duck crisped and the fat rendered.

While the duck was cooking, I made some lentils, and set them aside:

Using the reserved duck fat, I then sauteed some pearl onions:

And after the onions were done, I mixed them and the delicious duck fat with the lentils:

Next, I turned my attention to the glaze: I used Marsala wine, raspberry vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and more rosemary to make the glaze. Cooked the mix until it was thick and delicious, and spread it over the basted duck as soon as it came out of the oven. Served with lentil and onion side dish:

It was delicious!

Performing Femininity -- Harper's Bazaar Singapore

2010-08-31T16:37:00.001-04:00

(All photos are from Fashion Gone Rogue)

So this is an interesting spread from Harper's Bazaar Singapore, called Valley of the Dolls.

As the title suggests, much of the photography deals with a fairly dainty version of femininity -- high heels and nipped in waists, with bright hair and short skirts compounding the image of almost childlike women:

They're dressed in costume calculated to convey the sense of fey and otherwordly. "Whimsy", as often portrayed by fashion magazines, often bears these descriptors -- fawnlike, childlike, fey, dainty. And this infantilizing and objectifying tendency often makes me uncomfortable, and this spread wouldn't be worth talking about if it was all it did. However, side by side with these images, there are other ones:

I'm really digging the contrast between the candyland, Katy Perry femininity and the androgynous looks put next to them. In this valley, women are both Ken and Barbie -- and, even more remarkably, all models here are in drag. The juxtaposition between very masculine cuts and the colored wigs and heels suggests that both are actually performances of gender, fluid and expressive -- femininity here is not depicted as an innate quality or a societal demand, but as a costume -- a disguise.

Yes, the clothes here are amazing, and yet this editorial strikes me as much more than that -- the transgender culture seems to have trickled into the mainstream enough for the fashion editorials to warm up to the idea of gender as performance. Until now, we saw Marlene Dietrich in man's clothes, and that was what a woman in drag remained -- subversive, sure, and yet iconic enough for even Heidi Klum to replicate it.

But the admission that femininity is just as much of a performance is an interesting one, and certainly unusual in the industry that has been peddling the very traditional notions of what a woman should look like. And as long as we can accept the mutability and fluidity of both gender and clothing that communicates it (at least partially), I really like it.

Even the pantlessness (Dolce&Gabbana -- of course.)

Why Target boycotts ultimately miss the mark

2010-08-29T19:20:00.000-04:00

So you all have heard that Target CEO donated money to conservative politicians who oppose gay marriage, and the Internet got as worked up as it did last year about Whole Foods - just like it does every time it becomes obvious that corporate interests are NOT the interests of their customers. Well, they're not, and boycotts only serve to reinforce one's role as a consumer rather than a political entity. Voting with your wallet is not voting or activism. (Schoolmarm aside: the term boycott refers to a mass action, because in order for a boycott to be successful, a significant chunk of the population needs to participate. Hence saying "I boycott something" is meaningless.)

Also: any place that sells you a new dress for $20 does not have good labor practices, no matter what they say. So if you indeed want to vote with your wallet, supporting child labor and unfair wages seems like a good reason to avoid fast fashion retailers, not just Target. Items produced while paying fair wages cost more, and unless we come to terms to t-shirts costing more than ten bucks, these practices will continue. American Apparel got slammed for higher prices - aside from the perviness of their ads and hiring practices, they went after the same demographics as F21, which has the same teen-disposable stuff that costs a lot less. I think they would've had a better chance emphasizing quality and domestic production and at least trying to appeal to people over age of fifteen/size 4, but they went with softcore and entirely too many mismanaged stores. Sic transit.

Ultimately, I see the debate about fast fashion going the same way as the debate about fossil fuels: we want to help as long as we don't have to sacrifice. But with biodiesel, we simply cannot make enough to make current demand, and both fossil fuels and modern clothing industry have too high a human cost. We have to reduce consumption - buy less clothes, carpool - rather than simply decide to boycott retailers who offend our industrialized world sensibilities. It's the volume of consumption that's the problem.

This is why I've been advocating vintage and indie designers -- sure, the indie designer stuff costs more, and the oft-heard argument is 'I can't afford to pay hundred bucks for a dress'. And this is the idea behind readjusting one's clothing budget -- even when it's small, there's always a choice of buying one (more) expensive thing vs several cheap ones. And that's a good reason to avoid Target and other cheap clothing retailers -- even if they give money to all the right causes, the labor practices they condone aboard (and domestically, in many cases) is reason enough to ignore them. Additionally, I believe that activism -- demanding that labor exportation is restricted and the corporate practices are overseen and regulated -- will yield better results than wallet-voting. Perhaps one day we'll be able to walk into a store and expect to buy things without worrying how horribly mistreated the workers were, or how young was that kid working the sewing machine.

Fall Wardrobe Checklist

2010-08-29T12:03:00.000-04:00

1) Pull all fall/winter clothes, try them on. Separate into piles: "fine as is", "tailor", "repurpose", "donate".

2) "Fine as is" get steamed to freshen them up. Even though I don't put out of season things in storage (there's virtue in keeping everything in one place), sweaters that have been sitting on a shelf for month look a bit sad.

3) Waterproof all suede shoes using suede spray.

4) Waterproof and clean leather - Lexol will work on shoes, coats and bags.

5) Take things to the tailor/donation center as needed. (I had to have three skirts tailored this year, and I'm glad I didn't wait until I actually needed them). Also, for donations, consider taking stuff directly to women's shelters, especially professional wear.

6) Work on "repurpose" pile: clothes that don't quite work but not ready to be donated. Dresses repurpose easily into skirts/slips. Summer dresses easily become fall dresses with some layering and added lining.

7) As necessary, refill on clothing care items: suede and leather sprays, washing bags for delicate items, organizer gizmos, lint brushes, Woolite and everything else you need to take care of your wools, cashmere, and other fussy fabrics.

8) Make sure there're enough basic accessories - tights and socks, scarves, gloves, camis, tanks.

You know what's awesome? Vogue China

2010-08-27T20:32:00.001-04:00

Fashion Gone Rogue has been posting quite a few amazing pics from the September issue of Vogue China.

Here're some examples, featuring Liu Wen:

And Tao Okamoto:

Well done, Vogue China!

Quick fictiony things

2010-08-24T14:20:00.001-04:00

1) io9 put together a list of cool books coming out this fall. The House of Discarded Dreams is favorably mentioned, as well as a bunch of other exciting novels and collections.

2) The list of 2009 WFA nominees was released, here. Congratulations to all nominees, but especially to Genevieve Valentine, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace, Ellen Datlow, Jeff VanderMeer, and Rick Bowes. Love you guys!

Et tu, Project Runway

2010-08-23T10:30:00.004-04:00

For the past three seasons of Project Runway, everyone I know was complaining about their judging. Some blamed the move to Lifetime, others -- a short stint at LA (Season 6), etc etc. Season 6 of course, suffered from the absence of regular judges, but I still think that the judges themselves are really the issue. At this point, guest judges are the main source of interest for me; the permanents are in a bit of a rut.

The three of them represent the least creative aspects of fashion. Michael Kors is no visionary -- his designs are a tad stodgy and quite safe; Nina Garcia then peddles those designs to the general public via Marie Claire; and Heidi Klum herself is a conservative and safe dresser. She wears things that are either very on trend or things made specifically to avoid notice by the fashion police.

True, in the past they HAVE used 'wearable' as a dis -- but I suspect that they were not advocating avant garde sensibilities as much as drawing a line between high and low fashion. In the last three seasons however, what with the recession and all, even fashion mags started making nods to affordability. At the same time, F21 etc knock off newest runways so quickly that the line is blurring. The new democracy in fashion did strange things to aspirational fashion. I mean, a strange limp rag someone's wearing could be the latest Alexander Wang, but it also could be your grandfather's long johns. There's just no way of telling sometimes.

And since the judges are traditionalists (who have products to sell and sponsors to please -- thank you, Piperlime wall of accessories), they have retreated into the realms of pretty and wearable, the sorts of things they imagine 'women in the streets' would like (not that they've met any lately, but hey, they are the ones telling us plebs what to think). The substitution of BlueFly by Piperlime is also symptomatic of this mentality of fashion mags becoming cost-conscious as a way of courting consumers. I think this is what explains Michael C's surprising win. So I'm guessing that the next PR winner will be Peach, with her if Betsey Johnson designed for JC Penney esthetics.

But really, all they need are better judges -- the judges with sense of adventure, great personal style, and no fear of the fashion police. Judges who are fabulous. Like these ladies:

(Photo by Danielle Levitt; the article and the rest of the credits are here.)

Now, this is the Project Runway I cannot wait for!

Project Runway -- The WTFening

2010-08-20T12:19:00.001-04:00

Normally, I don't start posting outfit pics until there are ten or so designers left -- until then, it's difficult to remember everyone, and strong likes/dislikes might have formed, but lack reasons. However, the last night's episode, like Klaas's ashes, is knocking at my heart.

First of all: Philip Treacy! The man who makes awesome hats, whose muse was Isabella Blow, about who I blogged earlier. Incidentally, the hat that Isabella wears in that picture? Was featured in the show. More of it in a sec. The challenge was to design an outfit that would go with one of these hats:

Best line of the night: "There are many ways to skin a cat, but you should probably bring a knife". Directed at Michael C, who didn't bring a ruler and had to scrap his first dress because Tim Gunn confirmed Michael's gut feeling that the dress was awful. So he quickly made this:

SPOILER ALERT: it won. I'm as puzzled as you are. "Perfection", the judges said.

The thing that I found fascinating is that at no point did Michael show any awareness that he had ever seen this hat before -- which is a bit strange for any fashion designer. I mean, how do you miss the whole Isabella Blow thing, especially since Daphne Guinness just recently bought her entire wardrobe?Why isn't anyone mentioning or referencing Isabella Blow? It drives me nuts.

(Michael also has a son. I'm grateful he doesn't pull Jason and bitches about being a straight man in a gay man's world -- apparently, Jason thought that fashion is made only by gay men. Women do not exist. And any industry that is not dominated by straight men is discriminating against them. Anyway. Michael's son might or might have not caught a fish.)

Then there's Mondo -- he of short shorts, knee socks, being misunderstood, and detachable mustache. In this episode, he put a mustache on his model, which delighted me to no end. It takes guts to be playful in a competition. I liked his outfit as well, but he didn't place.

Neither did Andy:

Or AJ (who I'm not crazy about, but I have a weakness for polka dots, rolled collars, and the whole afternoon-at-races feel of his outfit. I just wish the neckline was lower, so the model would be allowed to exist a little between the hat and the dress, but overall, I do like it. So sue me.)

Because I'm forty, I liked Ivy's outfit a lot. I would wear the hell out of it to work (with the hat, of course). If you see this blouse for sale, please send me an email.

Instead the top three were: Michael C, Michael D:

I didn't mind this one -- it was interesting.

and Valerie:

Treacy didn't likeValerie's dress, proving that he was the only sane person there. I KNOW.

Now, bottom three:

Kristin:

Christopher (everyone talked about how he should be in the top three. Of course, he wasn't):

April:

Do you think April was sent home for her diaper? Everyone else thought she would be. In fact, they talked about how she should be sent home so much, that it was clear that it's not likely. They couldn't get rid of Christopher, since he's cute. So Kristin had to go. Her dress wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as April's underpants or even Christopher's curtain pirate. Arrr.

Oh, and Casanova made what Tim Gunn described a Donna Karan 1988 dress. I didn't mind it -- it was a nice background to showcase the hat:

And as a final thought, here's Isabella Blow in Treacy's lobster hat. Everything else pales.

Library Journal Review

2010-08-16T17:24:00.002-04:00

From Library Journal:

Sedia, Ekaterina. The House of Discarded Dreams. Prime. Aug. 2010. c.304p. ISBN 978-1-60701-228-3. pap. $14.95. FANTASY
When Vimbai rents a room in a ramshackle house on the dunes of a New Jersey beach, she hopes to escape a mother who embarrasses her. Instead, she finds a roommate with a strange ability to separate objects into their component parts, a psychic-energy baby living in the telephone wires, and the ghost of her Zimbabwean grandmother inhabiting her kitchen. One day, the house floats out to sea, and Vimbai must find a way to return home. Sedia (The Secret History of Moscow) crafts a tale of magical realism that explores the connections between culture and identity as well as the nature of reality and dreams. VERDICT Humor and metaphysics blend in an elegantly written story of a woman's quest for her true home and should appeal to fans of James P. Blaylock and Jonathan Carroll.

Sartorial Other

2010-08-16T16:18:00.000-04:00

(This post is an expansion of my comment at Threadbared -- and I heartily recommend the post that spurred it.)

Sartorial othering -- recognition of people of different religion, ethnicity, nationality, political leanings etc etc by their clothing -- is an old tradition. In more extreme cases, certain groups may be forced to wear certain easily recognizable items of clothing that mark them as others. More commonly, as Threadbared writers so acutely put it, clothing becomes an extension of the person, it becomes epidermalized. They talk about how "ethnic" clothing is often perceived as one with the person who's wearing it, especially if talking about an ethnically distinct other.

Now, in cases when the other happens to look just like the dominant group, their clothing frequently becomes a substitute marker of ethnicity. Take Borat, for example -- oh, how people laughed at his too-short shorts and too-long socks. Neither of those things are of course specifically noteworthy, except when they indicate a person who does not belong -- and too clueless to know it. There's also safety in the belief that the other can be recognized.

It's interesting to see how this otherness is reflected on Eastern Europe, specifically -- since its denizens appear white and yet are not culturally and economically a part of the Western European/Anglophone culture, but rather that curious and unknowable Other. This perception is quite clear, for example, when The Sartorialist talks about Moscow's "Blinged-out Versace-ism" (clearly, he is not aware that most people there can't afford Versace, or, you know, H&M for that matter), or that blogger I referred to in Threadbared comment (the one who said that she recognized that a woman was Russian because of her overbranded clothes). There's certainly a poorly hidden contempt behind those perceptions; the same contempt one can witness in many comment threads of New Your Times blog, where people lament the proliferation of logo-heavy Coach bags. It's not that they mind overpriced bags; it's the people who advertise the ownership that bother them. It's the contempt of old money for the nouveau riche, of upper class for the upward aspirations of lower-middle.

So it's a curious sartorial bind we find ourselves in: dress in short shorts and long socks and be ridiculed for your backward ways, or try to adopt the values of the West and be ridiculed for too many/wrong logos. (There's of course also a possibility of being exoticized, as demonstrated in The Sartorialist.) For Eastern Europeans living abroad, there's a premium on sartorial blending -- if you dress right and keep your mouth shut, you may pass. But it's difficult to forget that one is just one pair of fake Gucci sunglasses or two inches of sock length from being outed.

OTOH, last winter when I was in Moscow it struck me how many people wear fur. Yet another reason many foreigners in Moscow look down at the native ways -- as if they themselves just woke up one day to realize that wearing fur was wrong. No, the realization was due to decades of activism and message bombardment, from PETA, most obviously, but also from other animal rights organizations. Bombardment that is still virtually absent in Russia, so tut-tutting at people for not internalizing the message they haven't been exposed to strikes me as yet one more way of othering and alienating. (Activism for animal rights, on the other hand, is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It's the sneering superiority that gets me.) So it really is amazing how quickly cultural norms become distilled down to perceived dress codes, and the perceived dress codes to hierarchical judgments.

I'll leave you with this Russian Vogue cover, May 2010.

The bold text says, "Our pride". And there's certainly that.

It's That Time of Year: Fall fashion

2010-08-05T22:52:00.001-04:00

It's August and the weather here is horrible and sticky and hot. Meanwhile, stores and designers are rolling out their fall lines. Which is a cruel thing to do, because it makes me miss the cool days of fall – the sort of days that just like good old days exist primarily in people's imagination. In NJ, weather has a bad habit of turning very quickly from sticky-hot into sleety-freezing rain-shivery. With too few cool, crisp days that smell of smoke and apples, and carry sounds for miles, and when the sun is pale yellow and distant through the yellow and red leaves. Ur-fall days: not enough of them. Anyway.

I realized that the majority of my wardrobe is targeted precisely to those days: not cold enough to require thick coats and hats, not too hot to prohibit layering. It seems silly that most of one's clothing is targeted to some rarely achievable ideal, but here I am. Silk vintage blouses to be worn with wool cropped pants and oxfords, and structured jackets or light coats; white button downs and pencil skirts with tights and platforms and drapey cardigans; thin wool suiting dresses and silk scarves. Thankfully, all of that can be modified to suit winter or spring or summer, but the purpose of it is to take a long stroll through the streets covered in yellow leaves and smelling of smoke.

So it's really no wonder that I get so excited about fall collections. This year's seem to be remarkably in tune with how I normally dress: camel, menswear, sharp suits, tweed Chanel-esque jackets, pearls, vintage.
Here're some great shots, mostly from Fashion Gone Rogue. Vogue Nippon's Dress for Success feature is one of my favorites now.

I also love this dress, from Vogue Australia:

Fashion, just like my idea of fall days, capitalizes on the ideal -- not the expected or the achievable, but how we would like things to be. So for me, fall fashion is an epitome of this imagined life. Not that I expect (or even want) to find myself lolling on a balcony in a gorgeous dress that would never wrinkle even after I sit at my desk for hours; but the idealizing is weirdly liberating. It makes it very clear to me what I love in clothing, a pure signal that's not jammed by all the background noise of "but is it flattering?" or "is it age appropriate?"

A complaint I often hear about fashion editorials is that 'these clothes never look good on normal bodies'. To which I have to ask, "What do you mean by GOOD?" If you mean that clothes on me don't look like they do on runway models, you are correct. If you mean that the ONLY acceptable look for clothing is on the runway models, you are wrong. Different doesn't mean worse, and the very notion of 'flattering', built on the idea of conformity, is suspect. If clothes appeal and make you feel great, I say wear them. Even if they don't make you look taller or thinner, and even if the fabric drapes and clings instead of hanging straight down.

So yes, I've been planning my outfits for fall. In case every day from September 1st to November 30th is perfect and crisp and smells like apple cider, and as I walk down the street I'll hear the crackling of wooden baseball bats from a high school field far, far away.

BEWERE THE NIGHT update

2010-08-01T23:54:00.001-04:00

I've read everything that was submitted on or before June 15th, and sent out either rejections or hold notices (I'll be making my final selections in December, so rejections/acceptances for the stories I'm holding will go out then.) If you submitted before June 15th and haven't heard back, please send a query.

On body acceptance

2010-08-01T16:09:00.001-04:00

There was that article on College Candy a couple of days back, called I Remember: My Journey through Fatness, Skinniness, and Healthiness.

The title gives you an idea of what that is all about. So I read it, and there were some painful memories about being a fat kid, and how losing weight didn't really solve any problems, and some other perfectly reasonable stuff. Then, this: "I remember finally getting the long-awaited answer to the question of why I am privileged to live in this world: it's to tell you that you, too, are beautiful." And that really stopped me dead on my tracks.

Because, as one Jezebel commenter eloquently put it, that's bullshit. Some people are not beautiful, and they don't have to be. We're so hung up on the beauty thing that by assuring women (yes, it's usually women) that they are beautiful, that we all are beautiful, we're trying to give them value. And you know what? Ugly people have value too. There are plenty of unattractive women who are still human beings who deserve dignity and respect and being treated as people, not some bullshit reassurance that everyone's hot (which is, again, such nonsense -- the very notion of beauty is evaluative, it is built on comparison, and if everyone is beautiful then no one is.) But this fake reassurance comes easier than actually treating people well.

Now, the article's author talks about her personal struggles, and in her adolescent mind she equated fat with ugliness. IMO, the two are orthogonal to each other -- there are plenty of hot fat people and ugly fat people and ugly thin people and hot thin people; yet, her belief is reflective of the larger, fat-phobic culture. And that is, again, not news; what I do find fascinating however is that every time there's some stupid online argument about fatness or models being too thin or whatever -- there're always some dudes popping up to enlighten the internet on the subject of what they personally find attractive. They really do believe that their approval is necessary -- things they find sexy deserve to exist, the rest can just disappear. It does not occur to them that simply not being an ass to people EVEN IF YOU DON'T FIND THEM ATTRACTIVE is a good place to start. Internet is an interesting laboratory of this solipsistic belief, and many fatosphere writers talked about it. My body is not your business, and it is not necessary to inform me on whether you approve or disapprove of it, whether you find it attractive or gross. Your approval is irrelevant.

And this brings me to my second point, in a roundabout sort of way. The whole my body my business thing encompasses every aspect of corporeal being. And... when someone is trying to lose weight, it's their business too. It's not a betrayal, it's not a sign that they hate themselves, it's not a moral failure. (The implication that if you try to change your body it means you don't like it and filled with self-loathing bugs me.) It's not a capitulation. It's an adult making a decision that they would like their body smaller. You don't have to support this decision, but you don't get a say. My body etc. And yet! Crystal Renn caught a ton of flak lately for looking too thin in some recent (photoshopped, of course) pictures, until it was clarified that no, she was not actually losing weight. There were also many comments on how much hotter she looked at size 10.

And it really bothered me. I have a weird shame thing admitting that I lost weight on purpose – even though I do thoroughly believe that as a legal adult, I'm allowed to do so. And I'm not Crystal Renn, so being in a public eye is certainly not an issue (and that would make it even more uncomfortable.) And yet when people say, “Oh, you lost weight” (which is another strange yet socially acceptable thing to say – it's always meant as a compliment, for one. Like losing weight is always a good thing) I feel uncomfortable and mumble something defensive. Part of this discomfort, I think, is this outside approval – the assumption that I need to hear from other people they validate my body. Another is a concern that I'm somehow failing in the whole size acceptance issue.

After all, the very same people who defended Crystal Renn as a plus-size model expressed their disappointment when the word got out that she lost weight. They cited the fact that she had a history of eating disorders – again, body policing masquerading as concern for someone's health. And I think it is important to recognize that those things are similar – even if yes, there are wide discrepancies in terms of privilege between thin and fat women, the fact that women are encouraged to evaluate each other (while the dudes offer “Oh, she's too skinny/too fat for ME” from the sidelines) is an incredibly insidious tactic of oppression. Body acceptance is only possible if we stop offering unsolicited commentary on each others' bodies.

Ethical and affordable wardrobe

2010-07-25T09:05:00.000-04:00

(Disclaimer: I don't think that people who shop at Target/Walmart/ etc are bad people. The onus for their unfair practices is on the companies, not on the consumers. The deregulation of the trade and exportation of jobs overseas was the mistake made by some Western governments to benefit corporate interests, and it is misguided to hold consumers responsible. This essay is based on the choices I make for myself, and other people might find useful.)

There was a post a while back on Painfully Hip dealing with an issue of living on a budget and yet buying designer stuff. The author wisely mentioned that she uses 'designer' as a shorthand for quality -- you know, you pay more, you get a better quality item. Or so the reasoning goes. Of course, many designers and high-priced brand use sweatshops, either overseas or even in Western Europe, Canada, US, Australia, where immigrant workers work for minimum wage. So even 'Made in Italy' label no longer guarantees that the workers were paid a fair wage -- and it also no longer guarantees quality.

At the same time, that post is a perfectly reasonable call to buy fewer things -- a message to conserve and consume less that's been more and more prominent lately. Hence the shopping diets, wearing only six items for a month, etc etc. I'm all for buying fewer things -- it's just that I don't believe that one has to spend a small fortune to accumulate a quality wardrobe.

Spending money is a thorny issue too. There's a pressure on fashion bloggers, for example, to constantly come up with new outfits. The result is an overstuffed wardrobe where many pieces have limited wearability. Moreover, because so many people under this kind of pressure are young and/or have limited income, we see an increasing prominence of bargain retailers -- Target, Old Navy, WalMart, all of which have been linked to sweatshops and other unfair labor practices. The corporate advertising, of course, latched onto this tendency, coining 'recessionista' and a bunch of other dubious terms (far as I'm concerned, any word that ends in 'ista' can die now.) While I understand taking pride in one's thrift, the downside to this tendency is both an increase in consumption of disposable garments and consequent worsening of trade and labor practices all over the world.

So, how does one put together a wardrobe of good quality ethically and without spending a fortune?

1. Thrifting is an ethical alternative to the fast fashion glut, and I'm happy to see it becoming more and more prominent. Vintage pieces are guaranteed to be of good quality -- after all, they lasted for 30 or more years! Many are made in the US and still have union labels -- an increasingly rare phenomenon nowadays.

2. Designer vintage -- pricier than regular thrifting, but: back in the day, designer did guarantee higher quality and it is cheaper than modern day designer. Added bonus -- it's unlikely to be on every single blog at the same time.

3. Ebay. Not just for used clothing! While it doesn't solve the matter of sweatshop practices by designer brands, the prices for new clothing can certainly be a lot less. Often, slightly damaged clothing is deeply discounted, and it is a good environmentally friendly choice, as opposed to throwing it away for a trivial flaw. Look for trusted sellers, and if the deal is too good to be true, the item probably is fake. $20 Chanel bag? Very unlikely.

I also look for items with bad pictures. They tend to attract few bids, so if you're a risk-taker, bid on that listing with a great description and a blurry pic.

It is also a good place to find pieces by lesser known but wonderful designers, such as Olga Kapustina.

4. Independent designers. They're young, they're not overpriced, and they don't have sweatshops. Etsy is a great place to spot talented up-and-comers. I have a dress from Ledthread, and it cost a bit over $100 for a wool dress lined in silk. It is handmade, it got more compliments than any other dress I own, and it is unique and beautiful. Another Etsy designer I adore is Idea2lifestyle -- a design collective based in China, showing that not everything made overseas is linked to unfair practices. Another Chinese designer is Ella Lai -- while some of her designs are targeted to a younger crowd, most of them are suitable for any age and fabulous -- check out her silk jackets and pants, and beautifully cut jersey dresses and skirts.

5. Dead people and elderly relatives. Estate sales and elderly relatives can be a goldmine of good quality cheap vintage clothing. Rifling through your grandma's storage bin might yield awesome things.

6. Members-only sites (Gilt, ideeli, HauteLook) can be a good place for an occasional high-end piece. If you must have designer, those are good options for deep discounts -- especially red tag and blowout sales. Generally, I prefer to buy everything new on sale; online boutiques and members-only places are always having those.

Which brings us to this point: oft-given advice is to never buy anything on sale you wouldn't be willing to pay full price for. I get the idea -- don't buy stuff just because it is discounted, but the wording makes me cringe a bit. This is because I am decidedly a sales shopper. BUT: that doesn't mean, as it is often assumed, that sales shoppers are just grabbing stuff off the racks as long as it's discounted. I'm a strong believer in having each piece carefully considered -- and it is possible to train oneself to consider a twenty dollar item just as carefully as a hundred dollar item.

"How to Buy Designer Fashion on a Budget" article I linked to makes one excellent point: "<...> start to think about what we are purchasing and begin really considering its place in our wardrobe. No more buying on a whim and regretting it; you’re bound to appreciate any item all the more if attaining it pushed you beyond a mindless swipe of your credit card on a busy Saturday afternoon in Target. Every item in your wardrobe deserves this amount of appreciation." I do agree with it, even though I don't think it should only apply to expensive items. Twenty bucks is money too!

So to sum it all up: a) shop mindfully; b) get only the pieces you really love; c) opt for ethical as much as possible.

So the ideal result would be a fairly small (by modern standards) wardrobe, which is partially thrifted, partially designer vintage, supplemented with modern pieces off ebay and online boutiques, indie designers, and eco-friendly labels. It seems to be a viable alternative to both the unattainable (by most) designer-only wardrobe, and the 'recessionista chic' of low-quality, disposable stuff that damages working people as much as the environment.

Work of Art

2010-07-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Ah, Work of Art. It's pretty clear by now that this show is not actually about art. Or even about corporate shilling, despite the enthusiasm for such activities (Audi though? Really?) This show is all about China Chow's wardrobe -- anyone knows who designed the yellow tiered one shoulder dress she was wearing in tonight's episode?

Anyway, she can dress. Evidence:

Feminist Fashion?

2010-07-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

At the last Wiscon (which I had to miss) one of the panels was supposed to deal with fashion and feminism. Namely, whether one's interest in fashion can be feminist, since the traditional perception seems to be that fashion is a tool of patriarchal oppression. Which to me seems like a proposition based on several assumptions, not all of which are true.

So here's my one person version trying to examine these assumptions. I will also be trying to bring together some of the bits of ideas I talked about before, so there are a few links to old posts -- I'm just trying to put the whole thing together. First, we need to separate fashion as business from fashion as people being told what to wear.

1. Fashion as business. That's an interesting one. If one looks at Coco Chanel and Sonia Rykiel, as some obvious examples, it becomes pretty clear that fashion is just about the only industry where women were (and still are, to the large extent) allowed to become business moguls and make vast fortunes (another one is beauty industry). The fashion world remains largely overlooked by heterosexual men, and thus it very much developed as an industry where women were allowed to be independent and wealthy. Moreover, their wealth was based on catering to other women, primarily.

I heard arguments that this is not significant, that this is an industry based on women selling self-objectification to other women, that even though this industry is women-dominated, it still caters to male gaze. I have to disagree -- more on that later. At the same time, there are men in fashion industry -- many are gay, some are straight. They are often times valued higher than women (case in point: Isabel Toledo losing Vogue/CFDA award to Trovata). On the other hand, women were allowed to flourish, find employment, and even unionize. While the overall undervaluing of women is pretty much inherent in the society, the fact that fashion is such a female industry is at least partially responsible for the fact that it was overlooked by hetero men -- enough to allow women (and gay men) to have this space as their own.

It is of course not free of exploitation, especially now, being an industry and all -- sweatshops, disposable fashion, bargain brands all contribute to environmental degradation and exploitation of people abroad. This is the sort of issue that could be fixed through regulation of trade practices and is not inherent in the industry -- in fact, these practices contributed to the decline of garment industry in the US.

(There are of course other issues -- models, who are often teenagers, are vulnerable to eating disorders and a variety of abuses. The way models are positioned within the society is also deeply problematic. The fashion advertising can be questionable in many ways -- hello, American Apparel. It is not my intent to dismiss the problems, but rather to argue that the fashion industry is not inherently misogynistic.)

2. Fashion as what people wear. This is where many second-wavers often find fault. They are not wrong, of course -- for much of history, women's fashions were very much guided by the male gaze: witness the corsets and other period clothing. So it is tempting to interpret modern fashion through this lens exclusively. However, it is worth noticing that today fashion is much more diverse than it ever was - there's simply not a single dominant silhouette by which we usually recognize period clothing. It is possible to see corsets, flapper dresses, shapeless tunics, long hems, short hems, beaded gowns, flared jeans, mod shifts, high heels, athletic shoes etc etc in a single day, in a single city (granted, in this example the city is likely to be Western and largish, but the point stands.) For the first time in history, fashion is so democratically distributed and cycles so quickly, that everything is pretty much acceptable. As such, options are really not limited to what's approved by the male gaze -- on the contrary, there are quite a few designers that made their name by doing exactly the opposite.

I mean, Rei Kawakubo certainly doesn't lie awake all night thinking about making 'flattering' clothes. Neither does Vivienne Westwood nor Viktor and Rolf nor any number of avant garde designers. There's a pretty widespread meme that women dress either for men or for other women -- and a pretty interesting one, because it lets no option for women to dress for themselves. Sure, our clothing is used to project a certain image; it is also true that women will be judged by the way they dress and inferences will be made about their intelligence, competence, and sexuality based on what they wear. Dressing frumpier became almost a requirement in academia -- because if a woman shows any interest in fashion, it must be the only thing that occupies her limited capability lady-brain. It is curious to see how many feminist academics buy into this reasoning.

This is the process that can be manipulated, however, and in that women may choose to dress in the way that projects a certain image to the world OR they may choose to ignore the outward image completely and dress in the way that makes them happy. (We can, of course, argue how much patriarchy shapes the women's perception of what makes them happy --and it's a valid point, and maybe I'll talk about it some other time.) Fashion can be used as a jamming device -- by allowing one to create a new skin, a camouflage, it offers an unparalleled level of control over others' perceptions. Opting out is not really opting out, because that by itself will be used to judge a person; jamming of the signals, however, is a much more active way of having control over one's perceived appearance. Dressing for oneself (as long as it's examined) can serve a similar function -- people with unique esthetics are more difficult to pigeonhole. And it is certainly more liberating and revolutionary than regulation frump.

Etsy -- Vintage edition

2010-07-11T15:05:00.001-04:00

I love in person vintage shopping. It's thrilling, it's cheap, and you can brag about a thrift find in a way that would be gauche with a new item -- especially an expensive one. Also, it is environmentally responsible. But the opportunities for in-person thrift are often lacking where I live, and it requires leaving the house in this weather (well over 90F), which I refuse to do for non-work reasons. Thankfully, there's online shopping -- eBay comes to mind, but nothing beats vintage on Etsy.

It's not quite as thrifty as in person kind, but on the upside it doesn't require digging through poorly organized racks of itchy synthetics to find something perfect that doesn't quite fit, and trying to wriggle in or out of it a non air-conditioned dressing room (if there IS a dressing room). Instead, you can browse online, check the measurements and fabric content, and possibly score something awesome.

So here are some of my favorite vintage shops to browse. Disclaimer: I haven't bought something from all of them; most just have stuff I like.

1. RetroThings. A nice selection of vintage scarves, silk and otherwise, very well priced. I love scarves, and Retro Things has a well-edited selection of the bright and unusual ones.

2. Becky Drolen. Relatively new on my radar, but has a lovely collection of bags, shoes and clothes. Especially noteworthy are the classic full-skirted 50's dresses.

3. Jewel Box Treasures. This store is great for boots and bags. Everything is very well priced. There are also quite a few clothing pieces, as well as an interesting variety of housewares.

4. Artfunkles Vintage carries the fancier stuff, much of it designer and in great condition. A great place to find a mint vintage Valentino -- but priced accordingly.

5. Fancy Pants Vintage is in that happy territory where the pieces are not too expensive, but quite wonderful. Carries a great selection of unique and strong pieces -- including opera coats, 50's cocktail dresses and designer jackets.

6. Skin and Wood -- an excellent selection of shoes and bags. Priced from low to high, with plenty of great finds. There's a beautiful Coach bag there I just adore.

7. The Ruby Kitten offers a comprehensive selection of everything. A really good example of why browsing Etsy vintage outlets is such a pleasure -- everything is a joy to look at.

8. Tharp Stout. Mostly clothing, in a range of styles and sizes, with an occasional designer piece (including Ungaro).

9. Anne Marie Austin has a ton of vintage accessories and jewelry, as well as wonderful and weird items -- like 19th century kitchen scales, porcelain sculptures, and antique first communion books. All of it is very affordable, and this shop is very much like a real antiques store -- fun to poke around in, and full of surprising stuff.

10. And finally, not quite vintage but vintage-y, Soldering Sisters make a variety of charming necklaces -- mostly soldered silver pendants with a variety of antique images.

OK, this is all that comes to mind at the moment. Feel free to share your favorites in comments!

On Turning Forty

2010-07-08T17:46:00.000-04:00

July 9th is my fortieth birthday, and while the number doesn't carry any particular significance to me, apparently there are expectations to face when one turns this age. In particular, lady magazines inform me that my hemline shouldn't stray more than two inches above my knee come tomorrow. Also, there was something about accessories needing punching up (for me it will probably mean graduating to one of those ancient Egyptian collars.) But you know, these are just silly rules.

And yet, there's some significance in opening up another decade. I do feel more content with my life than when I was in my twenties or even early thirties. I am more confident, and happier in my skin. I'm excited to see what the new decade brings. And for now, here're some significant personal milestones of my thirties, because it is important to take stock every ten years or so:

1) Acquired both of our cats, Aja and Attila;
2) got my PhD;
3) started my dream job;
4) decided to start writing (in 2003);
5) since then, published three novels and got the best agent ever;
6) edited two anthologies;
7) got tenure and promotion at the day job;
8) started working out again;
9) completely overhauled my eating habits and started cooking more;
10) got newly interested in fashion;
11) started blogging;
12) enjoyed the support of my husband throughout.

So yes, I'm excited for the next ten years. Who knows? I'm having another novel coming out later this year, then an anthology and another novel in 2011, then a short story collection (and if all goes well, another antho.) I might branch out into personal style blogging too; I certainly want to do more writing about food and posting pictures of my culinary experiments. I want to write more nonfiction.

And while I didn't completely cave in to the lady mags' demands, I did make one age-appropriate and generally ladylike thing: my toenail polish is no longer purple but pearly pink. And I really like it.

Popovers -- BLT recipe

2010-07-07T22:22:00.001-04:00

Today I tried making popovers, commonly serves at BLT Steak restaurants. The recipe is very simple -- eggs, milk, flour, grated Gruyere. The results are amazing -- it's like a lovechild of cheesy bread, quiche, and a profiterole. With butter -- irresistible.

The recipe I used was adapted from Epicurious.com; I used half of everything, since there're only two of us. Still, it made six giant popovers, and I was generous with Gruyere. Below are the pictures documenting the golden deliciousness.

Izumi Hongo

2010-07-05T11:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks to fashion156.com, I became aware of Izumi Hongo's work. And it is amazing. Her graduate collection, shown in Antwerp, is called Private Painting -- the name, to me, perfectly captures the overall delicate sensibility of this collection, with headwear reminiscent of both cloche hats and wigs from old Dutch paintings. The colors are muted pastels, combined in surprisingly strong ways.

Below are just three of my favorite looks -- I've been really digging the muted beige and peach palettes, which are all over these days under the misleading name of nudes. But notice how subtly the pinks and the peach deepen into gentle blues and then purples -- the effect over all reminds me, once again, of Vermeer's portraits. And yet, it is mutable and alive -- like a clouded sky touched by the last rays of sunset.

(all pictures are from Izumi Hongo's website)

Seriously, go to the website and look at the rest of the collection. Besides the amazing colors and the overall impression of 'delicate', no doubt enhanced by so many crocheted pieces, I also love the silhouettes. I've written before about fashion's ability to enhance as well as distort the female body, put it on display or hide or disguise it. It seems to me that this collection manages to do all yet neither of the above: the silhouette is very flapper -- yet, it looks like most clothes would be wearable by a variety of body types (I blame the drop waist of the true flapper dress for its primary suitability for the tall and the thin). They neither overaccentuate nor hide, and they add interesting sculptural elements without veering into the grotesque. These dresses a body could coexist with (and within), without either overpowering the other. This is the territory of beauty -- beauty as art, existing for the wearer rather than the watcher.

Notice also the shoes. They look like little claws, if you look closely -- a nice little jolt of surprise, especially when combined with those slouchy knee socks. These fake toe cleavage babies are sweet, subtle, and playful, and deservedly won Sacha Shoe competition this year. Those of you who are lucky enough to live in Belgium or Holland can buy them -- or at least ogle them and maybe take pictures. Me? I'm saving money for when Hongo's label gets picked up by the US retailers.

Work of Art

2010-07-01T23:27:00.000-04:00

Without Project Runway, my TV watching is pretty much limited to cooking shows. That is, unless Bravo launched Work of Art -- PR for artists, complete with an avuncular mentor (Simon de Pury of Phillips de Pury) and a well dressed host (China Chow, whose wardrobe.... well, I want her wardrobe, and it blows Heidi's out of the water. My god, this woman can dress.) The contestants are competing in weekly artsy challenges, and the composition of contestants is suspiciously similar to PR -- there are the weird, the conceptual weird, the obviously talented, the earnest, and the defensively self-taught. Oh, and a college professor.

The overall hipster quotient is somewhat higher than the PR, somewhat tempered by the fact that the artists are openly grateful for the free food. The winner of the first and second challenges, by turns charmingly neurotic and disturbingly callous Miles, thoughtfully said that as long as they give him free food, he'd stick around. Miles also won me over by reading an entire novel (Frankenstein) before tackling the cover challenge; as you know, those challenges are timed, so he basically sacrificed half of his creative time because he didn't feel right making a cover for something he hasn't read -- a consideration that clearly didn't stop some other participants, one of whom used a half-naked picture of herself as a cover for Pride and Prejudice.

Other current faves besides Miles are Abdi and Nicole. Those three are among the youngest and yet seem to have the strongest points of view. The rest are not terribly interesting, from either art or personality angle.

Compared to PR, there's also a lot more open cattiness and bickering. In similarities, there's an excessive use of 'tranny' and an overwhelming sense of self-importance from those for whom it is least warranted. It also appears that when challenged to be edgy, artists turn to sex, in the same way as designers turn to high asymmetrical neck ruffles and aspiring chefs turn to deconstruction.

All in all, this should hold me over until Project Runway returns (July 29th) or they start making good scripted TV again (your guess is as good as mine).

People

2010-06-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

People-watching by the fountains.

Nature

2010-06-20T14:13:00.000-04:00