"The Summer of Love Rape"

In "The Real Thing," Tom Stoppard had a line, something to the effect, "what 'free love' is free of is love."
All I can say is, yup.
 I reads lot of magazines, or at least, I skim them. A friend, because of her profession, subscribes to a few in which I am interested but too stingy to buy, so I asked her to give me her back issues now, instead of throwing them out, and when I finish, I'll bring them to the nursing home.
LITTLE DID I KNOW
She gets about a dozen a WEEK.
So, as I said, I skim.
But the March Vanity Fair stopped me in my tracks.
There's a piece about 1967, the so-called Summer of Love, (I thank the Lord that it passed without the notice of my prepubescent self,) a conversation amongst some glamorous or artistic women of the time, about how Fashion, with a capital " f," was completely altered for all time by the hippies and rock stars and feminists and models.
That's what the piece is SUPPOSED to be about, at any rate.
But what jumped out at me was all these empowered women telling tale after tale of sexual assault, coercion, rape, belittlement...
How, after the talk turned that way, did the author, Sheila Weller, not see that the real story was not about bell bottoms and boho blouses?
Vanity Fair is not, after all a fashion mag.
 "If someone forced himself upon you, it was almost as if you had to pay for your sins; you accepted it."
When women spoke at DDS meetings about need for equality men would shout them down, "Take her off the stage and f*** her!"
 "I remember being made to feel bourgeois by[my much older husband] if I exhibited discomfort with the freewheeling sexuality."
"Rather than fighting, you just closed your eyes and gave in."
One of the more prominent of the women does NOT, of course, reference her own notorious autobiographical confession that the entire time she was THE outspoken icon of empowerment she was herself a submissive, abused woman.

I'm surprised, even in a climate that doesn't want to admit that there is any movement toward sexual expression on which the brakes ought to be applied, this hasn't occasioned any comment, so far as I can see - because I was aware of the issue, I knew there was some too-ing and fro-ing about the movie star cover girl and whether showing her breasts in the fashion shoot contradicted her brand of feminism. (And no, I concur with her that it doesn't; although it's a damned silly looking dress.)

Which One of These Has Earned Prelatial or Episcopal Opprobrium?

You know, I mean.... for his sartorial choices?
Which one do you think, say, a pope even might weigh in on?
Go ahead, take your time.
I'll wait.

  

 

Capsule Wardrobes, What the Hell?

It took me a while, but I finally came to tems with Pinterest.
I started out annoyed by looking for recipes, (how am I gonna use up that scrag end of a pork tenderloin and some tomatoes that are going soft and a nectarine? oh, and B won't eat chunks of onion and E is gluten -free this week and R is dieting), thinking I'd found one when what I'd actually found was a link to a link to someone being all chatty and sharing 25 pictures of the process of greasing a pan, and then at the bottom of the page, "click this link for the complete recipe!" where it was with a sales pitch for something.

But okay, I get it, and I eventually signed on.

But now I am inundated with suggestions from my "friends" (apparently, everyone whose email addy I have ever had,) and I swear, 95% of them are about so-called "capsule wardrobes."

DO  YOU  MEAN  TO  TELL  ME  THAT  THERE  ARE  ADULT  WOMEN  WHO  DON'T  KNOW  THAT  THEY  CAN  WEAR  A  WHITE  T-SHIRT  PAIRED  WITH  BLUE  JEANS  AND ALSO  LATER  IN  THE  WEEK  PAIRED WITH  A  BLACK  PENCIL  SKIRT  UNLESS THEY RECEIVE  OUTSIDE,  PERHAPS  PROFESSIONAL (buy this book for only 19.95!)  GUIDANCE???????

"Every Time a Dog Goes Missing, the Neighbors Look at Me Funny... Whaaaaaaa?"

The Evolution of Words

Of course English is a living language, definitions of pre-existing words may multiply as need arises.

"Stylist" was not, I suppose, a recognized profession until recent decades, and so "style", as a verb, could have meant, variously, to "call oneself" or to arrange things to look attractive.

Now "style, v.", can mean "to remind a client that even after she has put on pants or a skirt her ensemble isn't really complete until she adds a shirt or something."

"Empower" and "dignity" seem similarly to have.... grown, as words.

I think we may have Thelma and Louise to thank for some of that.
Wasn't it the "transformative violence" of that film that sanctioned women acting as stupid and irresponsible as some men always have in accord with the terms of a patr- living life on their own terms rather than those of a patriarchal society?

And what is driving off a cliff if not "death with dignity"?

As long as it's done in a cool car.
In a beater mini-van it would just be sad...

"And then Oedipus and Jocasta, assured by their supporters on social media that '#LoveWins', decided...."

In the great time suck that is Those Interwebs, ostensibly searching for some information about children and catechetics on the super highway, I found myself on a bypass about the irrationality and inconsistency of the current tv and movie rating system, and then went up a dead-end about the size of Cinderella's, (AKA Lilly James',) waist, pulled in to a private driveway and noticed something tantalizing about how to nip in the waist of an oversized button up shirt, had to back up to the intersection where I saw a criticism of children's literature that was not protective of the environment/blended families/the Other among us, and decided to go brew a cup, no, a mug, stadium cup of almond tea.

But while sipping, the thought came that there is a great misapprehension of the purpose of the fairy tale.

We get modern takes, and reboots and re-writes, and outright bannings of fables that fail to impart information in the manner of a user's manual.
We want Common Core nuts and bolts to help make us better worker bees instead of the grandeur and deeper truths of myth, shrunk to childsize for little hands, and pureed for mouths not yet containging any permanent teeth.
Cinderella isn't about women needing men to take care of them but about spousal and familial love being a greater goal and a rarer prize than almost any other in this life, finer than extravagant clothes and grand houses, (and certainly than inherited wealth, or servants to boss about.)

Have we done this with, (more than the occasional movie, such as the nit-wit Troy, and all stories from the Bible, on which there is open season) do we do this to creation tales, and to myth, as well?

Is there a volume of Greek and Roman Myths that functions as an apologia for Jocasta's incest and assures us that no, Time doesn't devour his children? where Narcissus has a learning experience, falls in and, rescued by followers who learn of his plight via Instagram, resolves to limit himself to only a few selfies a day? Does Atalanta not just scoop up the golden fruit but speed past Melanion just the same, magnanimously allow him to live and go off with her best gal pal to a life of lesbian bliss?

Couture Confus et Erroné

(Why no, I can't speak French. I do know what all those words mean, but whethe they make a coherent phrase is a mystery to me. And speaking of mysteries...)

As so often, I am confused by fashion and almost as often, by fashion terminology, but when did a dress that barely hits he bottom of the kneecap become a "midi dress"?

The range of which the knee is the "mid"-point, even if the floor is the measure of "maxi"-ness, would put the other end of the spectrum gynecologist's territory-adjacent.

Which, now that I think of it, describes quite a bit of clothing I see.
Ah.
Never mind, carry on.

Transgressive Thoughts

Women's clothing, particularly for formal or dressy ocassions, looks better if you're also wearing the appropriate undercrackers and other of-course-they're-not-really-unmentionables-otherwise-you'd-have-to-shop-for-them-using-your-mime-skills.

It has nothing to do with being, or with being informed that one is, horrors! "not perfect."

And Speaking of Sin....

... did you know there was an item of medieval female dress known as "the Gates of Hell"?
(It offered too tantalizing glimpses of the womanly shape of the wearer.)
And yes, I know, Internet, anything could be a Montauk Monster, is it nonsense fabricated just to demonstrate how cowed by threats of eternal damnation and woman-shaming the Age of Faith mind was, as opposed to our enlightened and superstition-free minds, (because modern man is so provincial -- his province being his own era -- that he cannot conceive of anyone having had a sense of humor in days of yore.)
But Egan and Pritchard. (or is it Pritchard and Egan?)

It's Not That I Myself Am Not Prone To Tacky....

I kinda love fashion.
I receive a few too many newsletters on the subject, and get advertisements plugging goods that are way out of my realm, but I enjoy looking at them, as a rule.

I don't dress well myself, and I know a great deal of what passes for even haute couture nowadays is ugly and manages to de-humanize and over-sexualize the wearer at the same time, but when a garment is beautiful, it is beautiful.
It gladdens the heart to look upon it.

The late Oscar de la Renta designer many such garments.

So, yeah, it's not a big deal, but it bothers me when something like this comes out under his brand, his name.

Speaking of the Seamless Garment...

... I can embrace that concept without having to deny a certain obvious truth.

Some holes in your clothes are waaaaay worse than others.

See? not so bad....

  

On the other hand...

"Be Not A-Frayed..."

So much in the Catholic blogosphere, (or outside of it, but provoking many pixels-worth of words within it,) going on that I missed while having naught but secular media available for a bit!

Archbishops pretending that they don't know that family planning and sexual health are code for practices that the Church teaches are sinful, and "reproductive rights" isn't even code, it flat out means, never anything other than, the right to abort unborn children; the way "states rights" in the US wasn't even code, it flat out meant, never anything other than, the right to hold other human beings as property.
(And I say this as someone who believes in climate change that can be attributed to human actions; who would never belong to, or likely vote for a candidate endorsed by the Tea Party; and who thinks that the commercial interests that "live off oil" are rapists of the earth.)

What else is going on, what did we learn on the show tonight, Craig?
Those suffering from gender dysphoria are superior creatures whom we should affim in their illness and to whom we should bow down.
In all honesty, I did hear about about that, though didn't see pictures, but it was all on, I kid you not, sports radio. Long car trips with a husband exposes you facets of the media you forget exist most of the time.
But I am perturbed that a beautiful male athlete aspires to look like.. what? a member of the cast of Real Housewives of Olympic Village?

And then, shudder, the Pope using a gerry-rigged ferule! (Or staff. Or crosier. Or cross. Or whatever.)
As someone who has McGyvered my share of props, I'm not going to criticize Msgr. Marini.
Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. (I once whipped up an Oscar out of a Barbie doll, the cap from a can of hairspray stuffed with a wad of styrofoam to anchor her feet, a whole mess of masking tape, and a can of gold spray paint.)

And finally, the frayed cuff.
Really, people?
I put it to you that if the Bishop of Rome appears in public, at an event, (I suppose whenever the Bishop of Rome appears in public it is an "event,") with a kind of grungy looking sleeve, it is neither cause to applaud him for the virtue of humility, nor to excoriate him for the vice of being a slob who is disrespectful to his flock and his role.

I mean, either of those might be possible, if you think he does his own laundry. And mending. And packing.

But surely there is someone else who does those things?
Because again, from personal experience - quick, no time to change or get this to the dry cleaners? dab on a little carbona and snip those hanging threads. (And maybe some scotch tape to hold it in place until a repair can be done.)

So it looks as if someone else is falling down on the job.
Unless he stopped them from doing their job, which seems highly unlikely.
Is it possible the Holy Father, or rather, whoever is actually responsible for his laundry and mending, is just trendy? going for not a faux humility, but rather an edgy dégradé or deconstucted look?

When I was in high school, we were in one of the ripped/shredded/sanded cycles the styling of jeans goes through. I never wore such, but most of my classmates came to school with torn hems, artfully placed slits in the fabric, pockets peaking out below the bottoms of shorts, deliberately worn spots on the derriere...

I will never forget the history teacher who looked around one day and said, If you'd ever known what it is to be poor, if you'd ever HAD to wear clothes like that...... and just shook his head.

Gentle Leather Line! Translation, please?

I am in need want of a dress/slip/cover-up/shift/long shirt/nightgown, something, anything, really, in a particular color.
Other than color it doesn't much matter what it looks like, it's just something to wear under another garment that is very lovely, but very sheer in parts.
And since it doesn't  much matter, if I'm going to spend anything, (the thrift stores where I might be able to buy such a garment for between $1 and $2.75 have so far turned up nothing,) it needs to be cheap.
Thus, I have found myself wandering in the wonderland of throwaway clothes that is eBay.

I've actually spent too much time enjoying the search for the fractured descriptions in English.

I just looked at a garment that offers "subtle matching," ( tone on tone print, perhaps?) "eight piece", I think the skirt is gored.)
I am told it will "show thin" and I am urged to "wear a beautiful figure." I am assured it will "easily cover bellies."

Okay, I get all that.

But what could "gentle leather line" be meant to say?

 Not the fabric, as it's a chiffon and lace thingummy, probably 100% polyester.

Could "leather" be "skin"?

Still can't figure it....

Beck Should Be Proud

While it's true that I have a somewhat embarrassing interest in fashion, (though i suppose my interest isn't as embarrassing as my appearance, so that's something,) part of that is as a service I perform for Himself.
Himself is proudly ignorant of any pop culture after Al Jolson, or someone, but he kinda depends on me to try to tease out the meaning of one liners on modern sitcoms, to be able to make a decent stab at guessing to what the pop reference... refer.
Its important that we feel more with-it and connected to RL than, say.... I dunno.
Barbara Walters?
So, you know, I know the names of some actors, I recognize some recent hit songs, I try to stay, not abreast, but maybe only a half mile or so behind slang.

I didn't watch the Grammies... Grammys? I know singular ends in "y", not sure about the plural.
But almost unavoidably, as for anyone with television or internet, I did hear the next day about someone the president has previously called out in public as a "jackass" diving deeper into the gene pool of the genus asinus, by repeating himself in a gauche stunt of interrupting a winner's thank you speech to let the world know that he voted, or would have voted? don't know how the Gramm[?]s work,) differently.

I wouldn't have known who Beck was had I not spent several weeks trying to stop my six-year-old niece walking around crooning to herself, "I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me...."

Anyway, he seems, from the split-second I saw of him on the endlessly played incident at the Gramm[?]s, a pleasant and gracious fellow, so I am glad the Grammy voters rewarded him, and I'm also glad that he can, if he's so inclined, take comfort in the fact that the shade thrown his way, (see what I did there? I'm cool,) was from the asinus responsible for this sort of "fashion" "design." (You need not avert your eyes from modesty, the nudity is feigned,with bodysuits. On the other hand, if you wish to avert your eyes from the, not sheer, but sheer ugliness, no one would blame you.)

 

Himself thinks modern art, modern pop music and modern fashion are all part of an elaborate hoax, the emperor having no taste, as it were....
I am becoming less and less inclined to dispute it.

"It's like it's some kinda CULT!!!!!!"

I think I'm recalling the line correctly, on some sitcom the leading character had enrolled his parents in the "Fruit of the Month Club" for Christmas, and it terrified them.

When I was little, I think my older sister, who was about 7 or eight at the time, enrolled my parents in Book of the Month, or Capital Record Club or some such....

"But Mom! it said it only costs a DIME!!!!!!!" as they extricated themselves from it.

Well, did you know that there now exists, for all intents and purposes, a "SHOE of the Month" club?
As Letterman, would say, Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is why the rest of the world hates us....

 

Seriously,who needs shoes, new shoes, differnt shoes, trendy shoes so badly that it is as if jonesing for a fix, ya GOTTA get something new?

Hey, who are you calling an ox?

Live and learn...
The above refers neither to St Luke, nor St Thomas Aquinas, but to sizing of women's clothing, to which, I am sure you are aware, many of us are somewhat sensitive, (what with pretty normal sized women being implicitly referred to as large pieces of furniture by famous designers, and all....)

Well, who knew there was such a thing as 0X? (that is a zero followed by a capital ex.)

I suppose the zero part is meant to flatter the potential purchaser who is of the large-but-not-as-large-as-she-could-be sort, (such as myself,) "zero" has a nice ring to it, but the subliminal message surely mitigates against separating the customer from her money?

Sartorially Challenged Catholic

I like a skinny-legged jean.

Shouldn't be a problem but most such are also low-rise.

I hate low-rise trousers. They are ugly, flirting on the edge of indecent, and since the top edge sits below the widest part of the torso, they must depend on tightness, (and friction, I suppose,) to hold them up.
If they are tight enough to stay up most of the time, the waistband must actually create an indentation where one does not naturally occur on the body, with the inevitable result of muffin top, and the probable result of indigestion.

More fashion-forward brands now offer high-rise skinnies, but they tend toward stupidly over-priced.

And why is the material in women's jeans  hardly ever as sturdy as that used in men's?

So, I who need to re-read the instructions just to remember how to sew on a button, or even thread a needle, I decide I will buy a good, long-wearing, sturdy, will-survive-the-nuclear-holocaust, rivet-sporting, they-should-make-fish-scaling-gloves-out-of-this pair of jeans, put a little tuck in the waistband and take in the legs.

Oh, they look great, I'm so pleased with myself, think I'm so smart....

Trouble is, the fabric in women's jeans, especially skinnies, almost invariably has some spandex in the blend, whereas the serge de Nimes in heavy-duty, stand-up-to-real-work mens' is all cotton.

So the first time I go to genuflect in them, I discover that my knee just won't bend that far and I do a face plant.

Yes, first world problem, but still.... (and don't scold me, I wasn't wearing them to Sunday Mass.)

2% Milk At Your Fingertips

I don't "do" my nails, (too lazy, use my hands to much, don't really want to call attention to their usually scarlet ugliness.)

Beyond that I have never, but never understood the amount of time women are willing to devote to them -- I did a show once, (union, Equity, rules-and-regs-professional, you understand,) where one cast member was incorrigibly late for every single rehearsal, and for half hour at most performances.

She was a new mother, and would always breezily tell the stage manager, "You don't know what it's like with a small child," and since indeed he did not and was loathe to project too Legreeish an image, she got a pass.

What no one ever called her on was the fact that she did have the time to have a new and elaborately colorful manicure every day, (the thought of the poor infant whose diapers were being changed by those talons was another matter. And we won't even think about the hygiene of the situation...)

So you see, I'm the sort of person who makes a virtue of sloth -- I act as if painted nails were the height of frivolity and self-absorption.
I've done them from time to time, when a role called for it, (Joanne in Present Laughter, Mart in Company,) for biggish occasions, weddings, (though not my own,) and maybe twice in my life my toenails, when open toed shoes entered my life.

All that said, is this not the best name ever for a nail color? (the namers-of-shades in the cosmetic industry put the much mocked namers-of-shades for J Crew all to shame.)

 

Wet N Wild Megalast Salon Nail Color  

2% Milk

And it's really lovely, in truth. It's the sort of color I'd think about wearing. If I wore color...

Did You Ever Watch While You Let A Toddler...

... try to dress himself for the first time? you know how the head comes out the sleeve, and the neck gets stretched and it's cute but looks.. funky, to put it mildly?

No WONDER she's sulky.

R I P, Oscar de la Renta

I know nothing about the man personally, except that, fairly unusually for a male designer of our time, he was married.
To a woman.

But anyone who created such beauty in the world deserves our thanks, and now prayers.