[lot49]

I have seen three men wearing overalls with no shirts in the past couple of weeks. Why?

[maimy]

I am trying to wrap my head around the idea of high-top Keds.

And also wondering what I am supposed to be wearing, as a 38-year-old woman. Do tell.

My closest thing to a CoF today is the wraparound skirt I saw today, but only from behind. It was a brown "summer weight" wool - but, dude: summer where, exactly? It is close to one hundred degrees without counting humidity (or "humiture" for the meteorologistophiles out there - what it *feels* like the temp is). NO wool is rational in this weather.

Worse, it was one of those long, straight wraps which is meant to be worn like a column - you've seen them, wool tartans that wrap very, very straight and appear to be intended strictly for the six-footer with nary a curve on her hips or legs. The back of it was higher than the front, significantly. And the front was attached with six inches of extra fabric hanging off to the left of whatever pinned or fastened it. The result wasn't, as I can only assume was envisioned, a sort of drapey, flattery ruffle of extra fabric. It was a flapping band of excess fabric, with nowhere to go, and no drape at all.

Did I mention the backseam? The wool had a vertical stripe pattern, and the backseam buckled around a total betrayal of the "straight" look. The fabric itself was CURVED to accommodate the larger size of the skirt. A stripe was a BADLY conceived pattern choice. Ugh.

[lilacwine13]

I hate wayward bra straps and women who can't seem to figure out that they are not meant to be seen by the general public. It's a huge peeve of mine (spoken by someone who has spent years trying to keep her shoulder bra straps from sliding down and being exposed).

Went to Warped Tour yesterday and I think the worst things I saw were two boys who were wearing tight jeans that had at least three inches of their boxers showing. It looked like their bottom halves were going hip-hop style, then got thrown into a really hot dryer and shrunk. Not attractive at all.

[runningwestward]

I knew there was a reason I hate coming up to campus. I have to go home and bleach my eyes after. Today's sighting was a gold top... I think it was a body suit as it was very tight and tucked... green valour track pants and a pair of black rubber boots (like the ones you'd wear for equestrian riding only they only came half way up her calf) into which the pants were tucked. It was Madonna meets JLo crossed with Beezie Madden.

[bklynhermit]

hm. i've read fashion/costuming world stuff that suggested the contrary. and remember the intro (or maybe it was a commercial?) that had Carrie wandering around New York in a ballerina tutu and you're kind of not sure whether it's a dream or whether she is REALLY trying to rock a tutu?

also it kinda wouldn't do for the creators of the show to admit such a thing on the DVD commentaries AFTER so many women have used her as a style icon. the women buying those DVDs are the same women tromping around in whatever Carrie wore that one time. also, TV show creators are not costume designers, and they often aren't as involved day-to-day as a layperson would imagine. i work for a TV show, and the creator slash executive producer lives accross the country and is not routinely consulted on those kinds of decisions. maybe the creators didn't intend Carrie to come off as a fashion victim when they conceptualized her and wrote the first season or so of episodes, but the costume people definitely had a different opinion about that and it shows in their choices for her.

and i would NOT call Carrie's wardrobe ironically creative or 'old school New York hip' or anything of the sort. i lived here the entire time the show was on the air and what she wore was in the vein of what the local slaves to fashion wore. the shop where i worked that proudly displayed photos of her wearing their clothes on the show was a shop that specializes in the sorts of clothes we love to disparage in this very thread.

[missladyj]

when I saw Carrie wearing that necklace I froke out ( froke is the past tense of freak, incase you are wondering) I realized that I had one of those necklaces with my name and a diamond that I had gotten for my Bat Mitzah oh about 20 yrs ago and i started to rock the necklace again just so when people asked, I could say " I got it for my Bat Mitzah" also my hubby hated it which made it even more fun to wear.

[snafooey]

I don't think SJP's character was supposed to be a fashion victim - at least not according to the creators of the show (I should know - I actually listened to the DVD commentaries and watched the "behind the scenes" Patricia Field featurettes, I'm embarrassed to say). I think she was supposed to be representative of "Old New York" - before rents spiralled out of control and before fashion was squeezed dry of its (supposed?) whimsy. Which is not to say that the outfits were not completely ridiculous, but she was never supposed to be someone who blindly followed fashion, which is exactly what a fashion victim is (and I don't think anyone would have confused her signature Carrie necklace, for example, with elegance so much as "I'm so quirky" ironic individualism) - someone who'll wear whatever's in style regardless of how stupid or unflattering it looks. Actually, my least favourite outfits on that show were usually worn by Samantha - they suited her character, but were always too "Palm Beach" for my tastes.

[bklynhermit]

oh, the sex and the city fashion thing really bugged me. i once worked in a shop during the heyday of SATC which BRAGGED about SJP wearing their clothes on the show.

um.

one thing which maybe people didn't so much grasp about that show was that her clothing choices were SUPPOSED to read as 'fashion victim', not classical elegance. people were not supposed to copy her. they were supposed to look at what she was wearing and think, "heh. who in their right mind would wear a thing like that?'

having their costume people choose your shop for her clothes is not a compliment!

her character is not a trendsetter or a style icon! she's that typical woman you see on the streets of new york wearing jeans tucked into boots with a poncho and just just think "why?"

[quietmadness]

*Returning to bleach up the eye-dropper*

[quietmadness]

One of the biggest skeevers E V A R:

Mid/late 20's trashy type; gray pajama bottoms with cream colored trim---completely dragging the ground. Man's white (used to be anyway) V-neck t-shirt NO BRA

(big ol' pasty white water-balloons-with-nipples-hangin-swayin-sloshin)

Complete with scrunchy-tied hair in the proverbial "country" type "flip over" ponytail, and




Nasty high-top Keds.


I SWAR!

Makes me want to *slap* the bitches.

[mouse]

i rarely post in here but every once in a while i just have to!

woman on the subway, mid-thirties (i'm guessing). she could have been really pretty if she'd dressed her age buuuuuut she was wearing:

a blue "yellowcard" tshirt, and not even a flattering fit tshirt, just a boxy, emo band shirt.
vertically striped pants, cotton, in grey, blue, red.
tennis shoes
round, wire-framed glasses
and the worst---hair half up half down (i swear to god that style makes even the most mature woman look like she's in fifth grade) with BARETTES.

i do not understand why people refuse to dress flatteringly to their age. i just do not get it. this woman would have been *beautiful* if she were wearing something else. lawd.

[herculesgirl]

The whole "inappropriate bra" thing is a serious pet peeve of mine. In Miami a couple of years ago, I saw a very lovely woman walking down the street in a backless dress, with a regular beige bra on underneath it. The entire support strap was visible across her back, why, God, WHY?!?! Even my HUSBAND, who is fucking CLUELESS when it comes to these things, said "Why would you wear that kind of bra under a dress like that? It looks so dumb!"

Flash forward a year or so and I'm at home watching TV and flipping channels, and what do I see but Sarah Jessica Parker's character on 'Sex And The City' wearing the exact same goddamned dress, complete with BEIGE BRA STRAP ACROSS HER BACK. It's a good thing that twat didn't show up on camera wearing galoshes and a fucking rain barrel, or we'd have seen it on the streets.

[doodlebug]

Ok. So. My god, I feel like I have to bleach my eyes, but I need to report it first.

So this woman was walking down the street. She was wearing black yoga or sweat pants over either a black bikini of some kind, or a black sports bra and black panties. I know the panty part was black...because her pants were riding SO low that the waistband was almost at her asshole. I couldn't believe they weren't falling down to her knees as she walked! If she wasn't wearing undies, I would've seen her labia.

Oh, and what is UP with all the women who go out wearing racer-back tanks with regular shoulder-strap bras? At home, ok. Exercising, sure, although you really might want to think about a better bra. But to the mall? To a restaurant!? WTF???? And not even pretty bras that you'd want to show off, but the regular white industrial variety. Ugh.

[bklynhermit]

i was so just about to say that!

[missladyj]

when I get to that age, I wanna be Ms.K

[mandolyn]

i just got humorously reprimanded for not wearing red, white or blue to work today. i told them my soul is blue. needless to say, whoosh, right over their heads.

i dunno. you gotta give props to someone like ms k, marching fiercely to her own drummer and all.

[sixelacat]

Oh, doodle, it's rather odd to those of us in the states, too. I think the only reason the trend got started was because in the 60's people tried to pass laws saying you couldn't wear the flag as a garment. We are nothing if not a bunch of contrary f*ckers.

Under her prairie bonnet Ms. K wears a platinum blonde beehive wig.

[doodlebug]

quietmadness, I swear that was one of our city councilors you saw...

...and I know the woman who created her hairdo...in the '60s! My friend doesn't do hair anymore, but the city councilor still wears the same teased helmet.

That whole American-flag-as-outfit thing is very odd to those of us outside your country. The only people who'd really bother wearing Canadian flag clothing here are drunken Animal House-type idiots. And then the rest of us just get those fake tattoos of the flag on Canada day.

[hellotampon]

I saw someone with airbrushed fake fingernails with pictures of red white and blue fireworks.

[sixelacat]

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I would like to present Ms. K. This is part of Bunko night at the senior center.

She also attends an exercise class with someone I know, and she shows up in heels, wig, and full make-up. I love Ms. K.

ETA: She sews all her own outfits by hand.