Contradictions

[saann]

Saann:
I think it's the ongoing desexualisation of women (no hips breasts etc) and the skinny ideal that made so designers ad 'hips' to the outifts for SS07. Like they've gotten tired of it.

I'm thinking Mcqueen and Dolce & Gabbana.



Vogue.co.uk
Dolce & Gabbana

Alexander Mcqueen

Lena:
its quite ironic right? women starving themselves and designers adding padding..

Any opinions on this?

 

[anchored]

fantastic observation...

i guess it goes along with the temporary nature of fashion. "i want boobs today, but maybe i won't want them tomorrow!"

 

[Whitelinen]

I think this is another thing where women should be able to change forms in a millisecond. Be stick-thin, and add padding when it's not in.

 

[Jane Loves Marc]

because fashion cant face the reality of dressing curvy women!!? it wouldnt be good business!

 

[saann]

Maybe it's the thing about doing something unlike others that made these designers chose this look. Fashion is becoming bigger and bigger and the way to stand out among other brands is to do something that will awake interest, especially in Media..

These two collections did that, especially because they came out around a time that the talk about models weight was at it's peak, when the model died and the Madridfashionweek-rules were made.. these two incidents were talked about a lot in the media and these 2 collections were automatically brought up during that time..

Weather or not these two designers will continue this silouette is not something I will know.. they probably won't I think seeing the AW collections

 

[HBoogie]

Does anyone think this may have something to do with the fact that these designers are gay men and thus don't look at women as a straight man might? They appreciate intellectualized, stylized extremes rather than the middle ground of the curves of a typical woman's body.

The tent dresses and the like, for instance, are one of those designs that the fashion-obsessed straight woman likes to wear but her boyfriend just can't appreciate. While straight men might like padded bras, I think many would think the exaggerated hip padding shown above to be just plain silly looking. If anything, it doesn't truly enhance the female form -- it masks it in layers of cotton stuffing or, in Dolce & Gabbana's case, encases it in armor-like metal. Hardly inviting.

 

[Whitelinen]

Does anyone think this may have something to do with the fact that these designers are gay men and thus don't look at women as a straight man might? They appreciate intellectualized, stylized extremes rather than the middle ground of the curves of a typical woman's body.

The tent dresses and the like, for instance, are one of those designs that the fashion-obsessed straight woman likes to wear but her boyfriend just can't appreciate. While straight men might like padded bras, I think many would think the exaggerated hip padding shown above to be just plain silly looking. If anything, it doesn't truly enhance the female form -- it masks it in layers of cotton stuffing or, in Dolce & Gabbana's case, encases it in armor-like metal. Hardly inviting.

That's such a stereotype. The first person who thought it would look great to make women boyish was Coco Chanel. She was very much a woman herself.

 

[SomethingElse]

That's such a stereotype. The first person who thought it would look great to make women boyish was Coco Chanel. She was very much a woman herself.

Far earlier, George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin Baronet Dudevant) wore men's clothing regularly in Paris. I admire her enormously.

"Aurore not only had a man's name now but she also dressed as a man. Being an adventuring enthusiast, she yearned to enter the intellectual scenes where women were forbidden: restricted libraries, museums and the pit of the theatre (where the seats were cheaper but still a socially unacceptable place for a lady.) For access she donned men's trousers, a hat and smoked cigars. At first, waiters and bellhops would look on in confusion. They did not know whether to call her madam or sir and she soon found that the title changed dependent on what she was wearing at the time.

Though many assumed George was trying to become a man, in truth she was fighting the stereotype of the proper bourgeois lady. She stood up against the double standards of marriage and claimed that women had the same right to freedom as their husbands. In a letter to Francois Rollinat she wrote: "Chastity would have been glorious on the part of free women. For women slaves it is tyranny which wounds them and whose yoke they badly shake off."

From maurice-abravanel.com

 

[Whitelinen]

^ You are right, but I think it was Chanel who made it popular And based on that photograph, there is still space for hips. I think the outfit is an hourglass-shape, not boyish even if the clothes themselves are manly. To me boyish means something with no curves, like a young boy's body. It doesn't necessarily describe what kind of clothes (i.e material-wise) they are, but what is the ideal body type for that kind of clothing.

 

[PerfectPerfect]

I dont think it is very ironic, that would be more like a bigger woman losing a lot of weight, then putting the fake hips back on. So in my book, it is more just silly. I guess for the sake of fashion. But womens' sizes/curves rise and fall with different wars and social/political movements. Corsets come off, shirts are cut a little lower, hems go up, corsets come back on, hems fall. It doesnt help that people are a little obsessed with boobs and butts right now.

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

back in the day balenciaga used to stuff hips and make shoulders wider to give models more shape

MMM added shoulders to their shows for fall...

style

 

[seahorseinstripe]

good for curvy women, not for me, i was born in flat chested and flat butt LOL