Fashion Insanity: No Dress for Joan

[korjik]

Nobody would notice the dress on Christine -- all the people would be saying "Wow, she looks fabulous!" -- which most people would be saying if she had her hair down, no makeup, and was wearing wellies, farmer's overalls, and an oversized sweatshirt. The designers want people to be saying "wow, what a dress!" especially if the female model who is wearing it could walk topless through Cincinnati without anybody paying attention.

I don't know why so many fashion designers seem to prefer female models who could be mistaken for 12 year-old boys, and I'm not sure I want to find out.

*cough* undersized sweatshirt *cough*cough*

[Jens]

Now tell me that the dress looked better on the model.

Well, I seem to be quite a minority here. Though feminine curves have never turned me off, a lack of curves is also not anything that I ever found unattractive. I've always liked actresses like Winona Ryder, so I don't really find the views of the designers so hard to understand.

[AndreasJ]

If we're comparing the women, the comparison would've been fairer if the model had been smiling. But as Henrik and others have noted, the designers don't want us looking at the model's face (or other, ahem, attributes), but at the dress.

[Atraveller]

Story here in Oz about a size 10 model being classed as a "Plus" size.

click on "plus sized models"

insanity...

[korjik]

So, what used to be a large T-shirt is now an XL, so why is it suprising that a normal sized woman is now a plus size?



Please dont hurt me...

[Cookie]

Someone on another board posted this picture comparing Christina Hendricks with a fashion model wearing the same dress:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FW86_jO7k_...dricks%2B1.jpg

Now tell me that the dress looked better on the model.

Nick

IMHO, that dress looks better on that red headed woman, than on that Asian dude.

[Atraveller]

IMHO, that dress looks better on that red headed woman, than on that Asian dude.

[Jens]

IMHO, that dress looks better on that red headed woman, than on that Asian dude.

I don't know, but a lot of Asian women look fairly "uncurvy" by some standards. I don't know if that merits the accusation that they are "dudes." In any case, the model on the right doesn't look particularly masculine to me.

[AndreasJ]

So, what used to be a large T-shirt is now an XL, so why is it suprising that a normal sized woman is now a plus size?



Please dont hurt me...

The joke is that sizing was ever accurate enough you could tell an L and an XL apart without looking at the labels.

[Atraveller]

I don't know, but a lot of Asian women look fairly "uncurvy" by some standards. I don't know if that merits the accusation that they are "dudes." In any case, the model on the right doesn't look particularly masculine to me.

After living in Thailand for a number of years - I have to confess it was still hard to tell the Lady-Boys from the Ladies. A big clue - if she looks like she needs a shave - she ain't a she...

[NEOWatcher]

... A big clue - if she looks like she needs a shave - she ain't a she...

In some other nationalities, that's still not a clue.

[Noclevername]

Someone on another board posted this picture comparing Christina Hendricks with a fashion model wearing the same dress:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FW86_jO7k_...dricks%2B1.jpg

Now tell me that the dress looked better on the model.

Nick

The dress itself looks like leftover fabric remnants on either of them. But then I'm a jeans-and-t-shirt guy myself-- I find it impossible to take all this fashionista stuff seriously. It keeps you from being naked in public, it's done its job.

[Moose]

You answered your question in the sentence above. Because they don't distract from the dress.

Almost certainly true. The model takes nothing at all away from the dress. And yet... Christina makes that dress look good.

[SkepticJ]

The dress itself looks like leftover fabric remnants on either of them. But then I'm a jeans-and-t-shirt guy myself-- I find it impossible to take all this fashionista stuff seriously. It keeps you from being naked in public, it's done its job.

Well, you're a het- man, presumably.

I don't know if it's acculturation, or their wiring, but women* just love frilly, colorful, impractical garments.

It's probably cultural; upper class men dressed quite differently a few centuries ago.

I don't begrudge all fashion, some of it looks nice, but most of it looks like aesthetic abominations--the clothing equivalent of Brutalist architecture.

*Of course not all women. Bless the tomboys and geeky girls.