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Fabulous Shoes

Because walking is about more than getting from point A to point B.

Anna Karenina, revisited

"And her black dress, with its sumptuous lace, was not noticeable on her; it was only the frame, and all that was seen was she- simple, natural, elegant, and at the same time gay and eager."

-Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Do clothes make the woman?

In Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina, he paints a luxurious scene at a ball in which the novel's namesake appears in a simple black velvet gown trimmed with white lace. He describes the ballroom as "a sea of lace, tulle, and ribbon," in which Anna seems to be the only living, breathing person.

Simplicity, not extravagance, and monochromatic palettes, not loud colors, amplify and draw attention to the woman, not to her clothing.

Like so:

(Stella McCartney, Calvin Klein, Celine)

A Wheatfield, and a Turkish Designer

"A Wheatfield, with Two Cypresses"

Vincent Van Gogh

Color opens the door to fantasy worlds, perfect for escaping the doldrums of routine. Bright reds take me to grand ballrooms, where string concertos entertain ladies in lavish gowns, sipping champagne with lush red lips. Light, clean blues take me to white sand beaches with crystalline shallow surfs and clear azure skies.

When I visited the National Gallery in London, I had the opportunity to see A Wheatfield, with Cypresses by Vincent Van Gogh. The copy above, while lovely, cannot capture the comforting embrace of the original. The sweeping skyline, the elegant pair of cypresses, and the simplicity of the field offers serenity and reassurance that everything will turn out alright. The moutainscape in the background defies realism, appearing more childish that artisanal, giving the painting a less fearsome character. Van Gogh seems to say to us that even the most looming mountains in the distance are harmless; one can only love and appreciate them as children do.

Below is the opening look of Erdem Moralioglu’s Spring/Summer 2009 collection. While I love the fashion industry’s recent conversion to simpler palletes, cleaner lines, and more timeless construction, I can’t help but appreciate the sweet escape Erdem’s floral collection provides. The two-piece ensemble seems to laugh at the oh-so-serious streamline ashgray and camel skirts and black day dresses so popular nowadays.

Color, especially bright color, can often muddy the waters of our hectic daily lives. Fashion designers collectively picked up on society’s agony of overstimulation; all the color seems to make so much noise we can’t hear ourselves think. Therefore, fleets of fancy like Erdem’s rarely occur anymore.

Simple lines and basic colors provide clarity and silence in a tempest of too-muchness. Neutral skirt suits and simple, monotone artwork make offices and schools quiet, focused, and driven. There is little distraction, but also little room for imagination or escape to fantasy.

However, a lovely floral dress or painting of a field with two trees under a blue sky help us to filter out the noise of daily life, so we can hear the sweet, soft music playing in the background.

Hoshie printed silk satin dress

Erdem

The Holy Trinity of Pop Queens

Covering Up

Above is the April cover of American Vogue, and below is British Vogue's cover for the same month. I like British Vogue's cover a lot better, but being a dedicated Vogue-aholic I read both.

British Vogue's cover featured Kate Moss in a Prada jewel gown against a white background and used bright pink and bold black headline fonts. The combination is youthful and fresh, but the funky gown keeps it fashion forward.

American Vogue's cover looks like the cover of "Prevention" or "Women's Health" rather than the authority in women's fashion. Gisele Bundchen sports a non-descript off-the-shoulder tee with short shorts, striking the obvious, expected hands-on-the-hips pose. Indeed, the picture says, "I'm a beautiful, healthy happy woman whose face the general public knows."

However, the pose, the outdoor background, and the hyped-up headlines (the largest saying SHAPE UP) don't lead the reader to expect the cutting edge fashion spreads, in depth editorials and features (including a touching homage to Alexander McQueen by Hamish Bowles) that actually occupied the nearly 300 pages of the April issue.

But why would the magazine with more fashion experts on stuff than any other publication elect to use such an edgeless cover? One can't help but wonder if Vogue is seeking to expand its client base by mimicking another genre of monthly mags: health and fitness magazines. They're are all the rage with the wealthy women of today as fitness has become a luxury good. These women are attracted to the sight of a healthy, happy miracle woman who is stress free, eats well but eats healthy, and enjoys an altogether carefree lifestyle. Kate Moss in a dress made of jewels conveys this message less than healthy, happy Gisele.

Ana Wintour (the E.I.C. of American Vogue) is legendary for her business prowess, and perhaps a cover that appears too sunny and predictable to a 20-year-old fashion freak like myself may actually be a strategy to attract the wealthy 45+ women who eat up the health and fitness mags to Vogue. Bringing that demographic to the Vogue reader bank would increase the exposure of all the designers advertising in the magazine, giving Vogue an even greater stronghold as the fashion authority.

On the Frontier... Again

Fashion ultimately serves a basic human need: clothing for life. Therefore, fashion represents changing attitudes and desires of society more accurately even than visual art or music. And sometimes, recurring societal attitudes lead to recurring fashion trends.

Skirt lengths and sizes captivate misogynist societies’ efforts to incapacitate women’s potential by popularizing objectifying clothing.

In “Gone with the Wind,”

Scarlet O’Hara’s entire identity seems to hinge on her wardrobe. She obsessed over maintaining a perfect figure by undereating and even refusing to have more children. Corsets forced women’s waists to appear narrower and their breasts to appear fuller, realizing men’s fetishes of hourglass figured women. The voluminous skirts made any sort of active lifestyle impossible; all the ladies even needed to lay down to nap together, relieving themselves of their exhausting attire.

Today, women’s clothing continues to realize male fetishes, thus inhibiting the wearers from achievement and equality. Skirts continue shortening and shortening, exposing more and more of women’s legs and acclimating our society to the sight of a women’s fully bared legs.

Going corsetless or bustleless in Scarlet’s time would have been fashion suicide. Longer skirts today come in dowdy fits or bland patterns, so women have been left with the choice of either being out of style or objectifying themselves.

Thankfully, the American Frontier necessitated a change in women’s clothing. My Antonia

by Willa Cather captivates the Frontier as a space to free themselves from patriarchy. Men could no longer afford to force women beneath them, because they needed women’s help to till the soil and blaze the trails. Thus, frontierswomen adopted flowing skirts that drug the floor. This "prairie skirt" preserved a sense of femininity while giving women greater freedom to move about and work.

Just as other points of great change, today is a time when women are rushing to the workplace and overtaking men at the universities. Therefore, the Fall/Winter 2010 runways featured a plentitude of prairie skirts. Designers created long skirts for every time of day; Michael Kors’ makes the perfect substitute for the pencil skirt or pant suit in the office. Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs created long skirts balancing practicality with intimacy, perfect for date night. Richard Chai Love and Peter Som paired floor length skirts with heavy sweaters, belted cardigans, and other top combinations for fun springtime alternatives to less modest options.

They say history repeats itself. Fashion attests to that, this season to the delight of women seeking professional, daytime, or nighttime options that keep mystery alive.