CAVEMAN ON AISLE NINE!!! CAVEMAN ALERT!
This is the second time in the past two days this poster has blamed society's ill's on the women's vote.
Dream on, Cro-Mag!
Posted on 01/14/2003 6:53:51 AM PST by freedomson
BUMP
Yes, but not the customers, at least not in the beginning. I have spent the last year studying the history of clothing and costumes. I learned that, prior to the 1920s, women, who were feminine and home-centered, sewed their own clothes or made their own designs for seamstresses to produce.
During WWI, however, large numbers of women left the home to work in factories to aid the war effort. Many who left home came to enjoy the independence that came from extra salaries and the absence of their husbands, who were off at war.
Thus were born the "flappers," a generation a rebellious young women who chopped their hair off, slashed their skirts short, and declared they could do anything a man could. Women's "suits" followed shortly thereafter, as Hollywood feminist starlets conceived and promoted the "sophisticated" look.
Thus began the cycle that continues today: (1) A Hollywood celebrity "pioneers" a daring look that titillates and attracts media attention for breaking a modesty taboo. (2) The new look is copied by lesser celebrities and promoted in popular culture through film, magazines, and (more recently) TV to stimulate envy and desire. (3) Fashion designers create slightly less objectionable middle-class versions of the new look and promote them heavily in catalogs and stores, (4) The masses of "liberated" women toss out their knitting needles and run to the department store to snap up the latest trendy clone look -- objectively ugly or not.
Your concerns are why I address my comments to Christians and not to popular culture. We will lead the culture again only when we offer a better alternative with sincerity. Until then, we should not criticize others (and thereby open ourselves to the charge of hypocrite) but rather mend our own ways. If we dress to inspire at church, at home, and elsewhere, we'll influence the popular culture soon enough.
Minding our own business in this context is: (1) Stop wearing the so-called gender neutral clothes that make women look like blobs. (2) Stop wearing the so-called conservative alternative of frumpy clothing. (3) Start wearing feminine, flowing, elegant, and modest dresses of the kind that accentuate a woman's natural, gentle beauty. (4) Respond graciously to the compliments that follow and share lessons on true modesty in dress with the interested.
That, at least, is the approach I have been taking recently--and with more than a little success.
CAVEMAN ON AISLE NINE!!! CAVEMAN ALERT!
This is the second time in the past two days this poster has blamed society's ill's on the women's vote.
Dream on, Cro-Mag!
Harness boots and blue jeans for me .... BLECH ... that was sick.
It's not a woman on a runway with male accoutrements....it's A GUY. With GUY TEATS.
I think I qualify to answer this.
I was in high school in 1972, the year the Supreme Court handed down the Tinker decision (which ruled that a black armband was protected political speech.) After Tinker, schools by the boatload dropped their dress codes. That suited me fine - I was one of those girls that simply did NOT want to wear dresses to school (which before Tinker was required by our public school.) After Tinker, I wore jeans to school.
Over the years I have put away high heels, pantyhose, tight clothes, nasty fabrics like polyester, etc. Those things look better on younger women anyway. Men have dropped suits and ties like fleas leave a dead rat.
So blame it on the Boomers, if you like: when it actually became possible to wear sweatpants and sneakers to the store, and puffy down coats in bitter Midwest winters instead of fancy wool ones, many people followed right along.
At bottom it has to do with comfort, economy, and a more laid-back attitude. Guilty as charged.
Appreciate your points. One thing about sewing and knitting, however, is that it's not cost-effective anymore. I used to sew like crazy, until the clothes on the rack cost less than the fabric alone. Knitting is even worse if you use real wool. That little scarf and hat end up costing over $100.
As a creative outlet it's great. But clothing a family, it's out of sight.
Bless you.
Ummm... I assume High Heels go with all that feminine finery as well?
Oh, boy! I'm starting my husband's Festivus list right now!
Yep, let's not forget this is a GUY! A GUY who CHOOSES to have GUY TEATS.
TEATS.....lol!
That sounds so...so...bovine and clinical.
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