Retailers, please stop trying to get me into these
I am a major boat-misser of trends. Wasn't always so; one of my friends, recalling our thirties, said, "You always had the latest thing, even if it looked godawful". She was probably thinking of a fake wolf-fur chubby that made me look like a Muppet.
Certainly by my mid-forties, I had become leery. At first it was because I wondered, Can I wear this? Then, I began to resent the unending attempt to flog clothes that were not attractive on most women. This doesn't mean I can't admire the same item I sidestep on someone else, but, just between us chipmunks, usually I don't.
The button-back sweater
Other than the option to reveal a little skin at the top, what, really, is achieved by breaking up the back with a detail that is neither interesting nor functional? I get that sometimes we want to change it up, but this clutters the sweater.
The "cold shoulder" top
This cut does not make sense where I live; our extremities are plenty cold for a good five months. In both woven and knits, these tops are already stuffing the sales racks, because the worst of them are cut out deeply so that the sleeve ends halfway up the arm in a graceless gap. The best will look current for ten minutes, which are already up.
Wide, cropped trousers
I like my pair (a good three inches longer than these to accommodate my height), but finding them in the right the proportion was difficult because retailers don't offer them in varying inseams.
Everlane say theirs (shown above) are "the most flattering pant you'll ever try", but unless the length on her is one she likes, the rise is comfortable for her torso, and she has average to narrow hips, the pants are not that woman's best choice. Some women look great in narrow cropped trousers, and not in wide legs, and vice versa.
Falling-off outerwear
This trend is not the garment, but how it't worn: I sliding off. Is this a fashionista version of the streetwear sweatshirt, worn with only one arm stuck through a sleeve, the rest draping on the torso like a blanket? Isn't outerwear to protect against the elements? A pretentious effect if ever I saw one, but then I think half-tucked shirts look like the wearer was distracted while dressing.
Ultra-long cuffs
Now this one gets my Irish up: don't they think we do anything with our hands? I saw a woman in a chic blue and white striped version of this, dabbing at the sleeve she had just dragged though her salad.
Many trends are either classic items anointed this year's must-have (pea jackets, white jeans, patterned tights) or sartorial novelties, mostly taken up for a season by the young.
If you have your head turned, ask yourself if you'd love it even if it wasn't in every window—and make sure you will feel that way for a few years, unless you have money to shred and a deep interest in having "the latest thing."
Postscript to you avid fans of the ça va de soi coatigan for which I lusted: tried it on. The "framboise" is an intriguing pink mixed with a tiny fleck of grey, but it was too washed out on me. It also comes in light grey and black, but I have a nearly identical one in navy, so no.
Certainly by my mid-forties, I had become leery. At first it was because I wondered, Can I wear this? Then, I began to resent the unending attempt to flog clothes that were not attractive on most women. This doesn't mean I can't admire the same item I sidestep on someone else, but, just between us chipmunks, usually I don't.
The button-back sweater
Other than the option to reveal a little skin at the top, what, really, is achieved by breaking up the back with a detail that is neither interesting nor functional? I get that sometimes we want to change it up, but this clutters the sweater.
The "cold shoulder" top
This cut does not make sense where I live; our extremities are plenty cold for a good five months. In both woven and knits, these tops are already stuffing the sales racks, because the worst of them are cut out deeply so that the sleeve ends halfway up the arm in a graceless gap. The best will look current for ten minutes, which are already up.
Wide, cropped trousers
I like my pair (a good three inches longer than these to accommodate my height), but finding them in the right the proportion was difficult because retailers don't offer them in varying inseams.
Everlane say theirs (shown above) are "the most flattering pant you'll ever try", but unless the length on her is one she likes, the rise is comfortable for her torso, and she has average to narrow hips, the pants are not that woman's best choice. Some women look great in narrow cropped trousers, and not in wide legs, and vice versa.
Falling-off outerwear
This trend is not the garment, but how it't worn: I sliding off. Is this a fashionista version of the streetwear sweatshirt, worn with only one arm stuck through a sleeve, the rest draping on the torso like a blanket? Isn't outerwear to protect against the elements? A pretentious effect if ever I saw one, but then I think half-tucked shirts look like the wearer was distracted while dressing.
Ultra-long cuffs
Now this one gets my Irish up: don't they think we do anything with our hands? I saw a woman in a chic blue and white striped version of this, dabbing at the sleeve she had just dragged though her salad.
Many trends are either classic items anointed this year's must-have (pea jackets, white jeans, patterned tights) or sartorial novelties, mostly taken up for a season by the young.
If you have your head turned, ask yourself if you'd love it even if it wasn't in every window—and make sure you will feel that way for a few years, unless you have money to shred and a deep interest in having "the latest thing."
Postscript to you avid fans of the ça va de soi coatigan for which I lusted: tried it on. The "framboise" is an intriguing pink mixed with a tiny fleck of grey, but it was too washed out on me. It also comes in light grey and black, but I have a nearly identical one in navy, so no.
Comments
Styles we consider classic also have useless details - breast pockets on shirts and little square pockets on cardigans are two that come to mind. Also pants with shallow pockets that don't really hold anything. I seem to have strong feelings about pockets!
LauraH: While we are in pocketland: Kangaroo pockets: things fall out. I lost my house keys and had to pay $90 for a locksmith to get me into my house. Does anyone use the back pocket on trousers?
That sweater is a beautiful colour. Too bad about the silly buttons. And I think some men still use the back pocket on their trousers, and get pickpocketed...
And wide-legged shorter pants - could there be a part of the body less interesting than the shins? An area of the body that's naturally narrow on almost anyone, and I'm going to put a whole bunch of fabric there? No thank you!
Wise words, as always...
hugs,
Janice
P.S. My second son is going to Schulich School of Music at McGill! Sorry, proud momma here.
The trend that most annoys me is that falling off the shoulder coat thing. It looks ridiculous.
xox
She was stereotypically lovely: tall, blondish, slim, with regular features. He was the corresponding male type. They could have been models. But still, that damned thing looked idiotic.
Essentially, flattery means you look good in the garment, at home in your skin. Clothing may be stylish, but not flattering, and vice versa.
If a woman does not know what flatters her, she buys the wrong cuts and colours, wastes her time and money and wonders why her clothes don't please her. Though "flattering" is definitely about vanity, it is also about wise consumption. Not understanding what suits you leads to the "stuffed closet but nothing to wear" situation.
I have also seen women buy "interesting" clothes, (including me) and then find what interests us is not always what we wear well.
The all-time horror you've identified is, IMHO, the 'cold shoulder' top. Worn on sunny days they make for very weird tan lines and/or burnt shoulders. Moreover, dare I say it, they seem to have the ability to make even the most refined woman look a little bit...cheap. There - I said it!
Jane in London
As for the ripped jeans - I live now in a small-ish South American town, where women take care of their appearance. I think my local friends would assume that I've become destitute and would start a collection to get me a new pair.
Ripped jeans look fabulous on young women but I am over 60 and cannot quite get on that trend.
I recently went shopping with our darling daughter and she was wearing a vintage pair of jeans with ragged hems and a classic St. John sweater jacket that took my breath away....I love how adventurous and confident that she has become with her mix of old and new clothes...plus she found me the most amazing jacket!
I like clothes that actually are lived-in and look it, but the pre-ripped ones don't. And I've seen many young women in beautiful thrifted coats and jackets.
There is also another eccentric approach, which takes garments and twists and turns them into whatever- think of Little Edie Bouvier in "Grey Gardens" who wore a cardigan as a wimple. But for most of us, a cardi is just a cardi- so retailers look for ways to get us to buy a "new" one.
There is a good reason for those tops. You just need to live in the tropics to understand it!