MCM Fall 2018

MCM Fall 2018
My Connections
Magazine
Fashion Statement
Entertainment
Therefore, to be fashionable today is to don something as disparate as a Chanel suit, a pair
of blue jeans, a wildly dramatic coat with funnels for sleeves, a hip-sashed sexy chemise
dress, a man's tailored suit. It is a short tight skirt. Also a long flowing one. A fur coat or one
that is down-filled. It is a pair of high-heeled sandals, as well as sensible low-heeled ones;
even running shoes. To dress up means donning a glamorous sequined ball gown, a stark T-
shirt and pants, a demure silk print dress. For work, one gets into a carefully tailored suit, a
sweater and skirt, a multilayered ensemble - or that same demure dress that another woman
wears for an important evening. There are clothes that can be broadly categorized as
sophisticated, familiar or strange; androgynous (a big movement at present) or instantly
recognizable as feminine. There are extremely practical fashions, complicated ones, and
those that make no bones about being frivolous and fragile.
All of this would seem to make for a messy mishmash of notions, difficult to decipher and
defeating for the woman with the interest and inclination to follow fashion trends. Yet there
are certain ballasts that stabilize the situation. For one, there are the designers and
manufacturers who address particular segments of society. The good ones make good points
with what they design and produce, and women quickly come to rec- FASHION VIEW95
Organizers whose merchandise appeals to them, fits them properly and makes them feel well
turned-out for their particular world.
Another ballast is the trust generated by a particular store, salesperson or publication, acting
as a guide in selecting the best of the new from the worst of it.
Ideas may cross over from one group to another, but each segment manifests them in
different ways. A good example is the current vogue of androgynous dressing.
At the luxury level, a Giorgio Armani adapts the suits that he so superbly tailors for men into
sophisticated and sexy attire for women. A Ralph Lauren takes men's clothing classics and
renders them for women in such a way that they become delightfully feminine.
At the real-life level, men's active wear is translated almost verbatim. The fit sometimes is
slightly altered to better adapt to a woman's body, but it is still blue jeans, sweaters, T-shirts,
bomber jackets, jogging and sports gear. The same designs that men wear.
When androgynous is interpreted by the avant-garde, it is usually at its most aggressive.
There often are no gender distinctions between what is worn by either sex. Seen from the
back, a young person, radiating a certain sense of style, may be wearing an oversize man's
jacket, tight pegged pants, crushed down boots. Slung over the shoulder is a big, soft,
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