A Man’s Visual Instinct...?

Whether we are at work, on Oxford Street doing some much needed shopping with the girls, heading to Old Street for early evening drinks or Sunday lunching with family and friends, no matter where our presence may be, our appearance shall always be judged. Where does the fashion sensitive woman’s standards and visual instincts, that she uses to judge herself and other women, really come from? Ayesha Charles Reports.

Basic human instincts has us judge what is before us with our senses, those of us lucky enough to have all five senses seem to be led instinctively by what appears. What we wear can blur the lines of class, status, wealth, politics and taste, giving us the all the ability to materialise as who we want to be or who we wish to be perceived as. Fortunately or not, depending on your stance, what we wear and our general external appearance plays an immensely significant role in how we are treated in society. Traditionally, as women in the western world we have a far more intense relationship with our external bodies and appearance, this is very much reflected in women’s fashion and it’s enormity and variety in comparison to men’s fashion. We have an insurmountable choice when it comes to ornamenting our exterior. Before we even begin to consider colour, fabric, length or cut, we deliberate over dresses or skirts, trousers or leggings, costume jewellery or precious stones, practicality or glamour. Of the eighty two Oscar ceremonies we have only just had our first woman win Best Director, we are still struggling to diminish the twenty percent extra that men earn over women and the ratio of female to male designers is twenty five percent to seventy five, yet we have a world of fashion and beauty products available to us in abundance, how come?

According to Mr Sigmund Freud, ‘Most normal people desire to look at and derive pleasure from looking at things they find sexually attractive.’ Many theorists would have it that women inherently are to be looked at, to be pleasing to the eye and give the onlooker pleasure in looking. John Berger, art critic, author, painter and novelist made an eminent declaration, stating that, ‘Men act and women appear - If men decide how to behave towards a woman on the basis of her appearance, a woman has to survey everything she is and everything she does, because how she appears to others and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life.’ This statement no doubt applies a great deal of pressure to women, our appearance is judged doubly by society; firstly as women, the alternative sex, secondly, as objects of the male desire - but by no means does this make us victims. On paper, Berger’s theory reads far worse than it is in actual fact. The truth is, as women we battle with our desirability everyday – playing it up and toning it down in order to get what we want and to keep away what we don’t. It all sounds so femme fatale, Catherine Tremmel like, but really it’s just another intrinsic skill added to the woman’s list of survival tactics.

In the Black and Blue, a bar tucked away inside Borough Market, a group of us were meeting for after work drinks to celebrate a twenty sixth birthday. Cassandra Jones, a Diary Secretary for the department of health arrives in an oatmeal micro mini skirt, with a long sleeved black t-shirt, black tights and ballet pumps, very tastefully put together. However, the length or lack thereof, of her skirt stirred up some conversation; incredulously, we asked her if she had worn that skirt at work, ‘Yes,’ she said, almost defensively, ‘If I had long legs or was wearing heels it would be a problem, but I’m short – it’s ok.’ In society we discredit a woman for using her femininity or attractiveness as a tool to get ahead, but in this case we know Cassandra, she’s an intelligent woman who is far too feminist to ever endorse such behaviour. Yet instantly and instinctively she validated herself for wearing a mini skirt in the work place and we, as women and her friends instinctively judged her for it. Could these instincts be the lingering remains of the cave man mentality residing in us?

In the power dressing eighties it would have been considered the norm to be irked by a woman dressed in a mini skirt in the work place, regardless of whether she was doing it for personal advancement or sheer self expression, it was completely unheard of. Emma Soames, British editor of Saga magazine says, ‘Thirty years ago we were happy to be accepted professionally - we regarded it perfectly ok to dress mannishly to beat our way to the boardroom...we subconsciously accepted that we were operating in an utterly male world and playing by their rules.’ Even though Emma wasn’t playing up her desirability, with her career in mind she had to pay attention to the fact that she was an object of desire, of distraction, of the alternative sex and tone down her ‘otherness’, which ultimately equivocates dressing for the man’s approval.

I asked a number of women whose approval they seek when they get dressed on a daily basis; the answers were split fifty-fifty between dressing for themselves and for the approval of other fashion conscious women - of course, none claimed to dress for the man’s approval. Gemma Ellen, a twenty six year old prison officer spends ninety percent of her time dressed in a uniform she detests, ‘It’s manly, it doesn’t give me any shape and funnily enough it makes me feel naked,’ she says, ‘I relish the opportunity to get dressed up, put some heels on and feel like a woman.’ Gemma Ellen is lucky enough to have a bra size that could permit her to be a Glamour model, what she fills her bra with is all hers, however, unlike such models she never wears low cut tops or anything that accentuates this part of her body, ‘I don’t want that kind of attention.’ Although this is completely comprehendible and we know the exact kind of attention Gemma Ellen is referring to, it’s still almost contradictory; she hates her uniform because it stifles her femininity, yet when she has the opportunity to dress as she chooses, she plays down an inherently female asset, (An asset that woman all over the world are paying thousands of pounds to enhance in order to feel more feminine and possibly more attractive to the opposite sex) because she doesn’t want the - male attention?
Selina Sydonnie, a twenty five year old ex model, turned English and Drama student has too claimed that she dresses for herself and possibly the women in her life, ‘Men haven’t got a clue,’ she says. Once upon a time she was a Nike, Gap jeans and quirky t-shirt wearer, dressed appropriately for hanging out at her actor, boyfriend’s Caterham mansion. Now, she is a social butterfly and today she wears a black bandeau skirt, with a tunic top, Hogan pumps and an Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag. ‘Well, I’m a single woman now, I want to get dressed up. I enjoy it. I would never dare to leave my house without eyeliner – even if I’m just going to Sainsbury’s.’ It is to be noted that Selina split up with her boyfriend of ten years, nine months ago and is now actively enjoying playing the field.

If one of the intrinsic roles of the woman is her to-be-looked-at-ness then the women I have encountered are not only enjoying, but fulfilling this prescribed area of their femininity. Of course the codes of good taste and modesty would have it that we keep our exhibitionistic elements to a minimum and dress accordingly.
It’s considered cheap and vulgar to dress too far left of the modesty mark – it resonates sex worker, who emphasise their sexual desirability for capital gains and trade solely on their objectivity to men. On the other end of the scale are women who rebel against their objectivity and their femininity, denying any adornment that plays up their sexuality as women. Fashion sensitive women seem to frown upon anything overtly sexual and contrived and anything that lacks femininity and attention - surprisingly enough, so do men.

It could be considered that dressing for the male approval is so deeply rooted in western society we are now none the wiser we even do it, or we are so accepting of our desirability and objectivity that we just get on with it, using it or not when we feel it to be appropriate. But it would appear that the women I encountered still judge themselves and other women by the very own standards they are confined to, using the man’s process to decide what’s attractive and appropriate. Kate Millet says that, ‘The woman’s image is fashioned by men,’ they may cringe at the thought of dressing for a man’s approval, but ultimately, if women are judging other women on their employability, their performance in the work place, their attractiveness, their ability to get a husband, their femininity and their sexuality, all by how they adorn their external bodies and the woman’s image was indeed tailored by and for men, then dressing for the approval of their friends and dressing for the approval of themselves is no different than dressing for a man’s approval.

‘Maybe I have contradicted myself, and maybe I do dress for a man’s approval,’ Selina Sydonnie admits, ‘but I’m not a try hard and I don’t dress provocatively – at least not when it isn’t suitable. I just love getting dressed up.’

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Fine and Dandy

I know it has been a while since I have posted here, however I am still very much blogging - just on my new site, The Charms of a Dandizette http://dandizettecharm.wordpress.com/. If you aren't a subscribed reader at Dandizette and are missing my blogs then please subscribe. You can also get entry updates on twitter, follow me at http://twitter.com/annabellecole.

Thank you! x x

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Ahoy There, Brittany! Naval Trends

There is something amazingly magnificent about these incredinly simple, contrasting vertical lines that anyone and everyone seems to be adorning their bodies with, whether it be dresses, jumpers, t-shirts, cardigans or blazers - the Breton stripe is determined to make this season the stripiest one ever.

What is so fascinating about the Breton stripe is its inconspicuous and understated minimalism that has the power to do something very unique for each individual, with complete and utter clarity. The stripe can create an Olivia Palermo Parisian chic ensemble, complimented with gold buttons and chinos the stripes can be worn classically casual, sexy with black skinny jeans and heels Balmain style, a trendy Alexa like style with cut off shorts and pumps or can complete a rocky biker look with clumpy boots, and faded jeans. The Breton stripe is so versatile and chic it won’t deter you from joining the stripy masses. Nevertheless, originality and innovation can always put you in a stripe of your own...

Pirates, Parrots and Paradise

Jean Charles de Castelbajac’s store twinkles like a diamond reflecting a sun lit sparkling sea at the end of Saville Row. Although the red, blue and white and monochrome stripes of the seafaring refined sailor is still referenced at JCDC, the sea is choppier, and the voyage far more adventurous – for Breton stripe innovation JCDC’s spring summer collection is aptly titled Pirates, Parrots and Paradise. The collection is unremarkably intricate, inventive and yet still so on trend – its high street style with a high fashion finish; accessible but dazzling, practical but fantastical. Amongst the collection are sequin shift dresses, some with thick naval coloured stripes, others with Donald Duck or skull and cross bones emblazoned on the front. Gold rope chains with dangling gold anchors hang from t-shirts, parrots sit erect on the straps of white peasant rah-rah dresses and Breton striped blue and white t-shirt dresses feature tropical coloured parrots on each sleeve. From skull and cross bones, to eye patches, top handled bags with the Union Jack flags, parrots on shoulders and Donald Duck the sailor himself; every pirate, captain, naval and paradise box has been ticked, creating a coherent and linear story that threads its way enchantingly through the collection. This is an incredibly intelligent piece of art, created by a true artist, his vision is most certainly magical and truly jolted me, waking me up to an excitement about clothes that I may have sadly lost, following populist designers too literally. This Breton striped ship most certainly hasn’t sailed, in fact has anchored itself for the next few months, giving fashionistas ample time to play around with the vertical lines. Instead of going cookie cutter chic, why not funk it up and go JCDC on Brittany?

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Lanvin ss2010

Seriously Hot

Intensely provocative, seriously sexy or femininely flirtatious, Alber Elbaz has created something enchantingly clever and aesthetically magnificent for every woman, wherever she spends the hotter months of the year. Inspired by strong and stylish Argentine women, lunching in a cafe in Argentina, the culmination of love, lust and life come together to create an anthology of ensembles perfect for the real woman.
The show opened up with a black dress, slick hair pulled back in a hard pony tail, eyes dark and rocky in smokey black, the face bare and framed by a projecting structured, saucer like collar. The silhouette continuously transformed itself, from tailored a Le Smoking, leg o mutton, one shouldered, puffed sleeved, harem, tulip and bubble hemmed dresses and all-in-ones in a selection of jet blacks, powder and fuchsia pinks, soft peaches worn against nude and cappuccino colours. Draped and voluminous dresses billowed and fluttered, taking on a life of their own as the models breezed dreamily down the runway. Elbaz reiterated the intricacy and difficulty constructing this collection, but they breathed an air of comfort, of ease and that heavenly feeling of luxury when cool materials brush against hot skin.
Motifs of spiralling and tumbling ruffles, waterfalls of soft pleats and supple folds fell to perfection. Svelte dresses were embellished with exaggerated tousles of material that snaked their way across the entire length of the dress, working its way across the body, titivating the peplum dress.

V necks, collapsing plunging necklines and sleeves purposely falling off the shoulder in asymmetry bought the décolletage to the focal point. Gold tribal antic chokers, necklaces and chains embellished with pink and green lacquer piled up around the model’s necks and chandelier earrings cascaded from their ears in a beautiful overkill. Leather ankle strapped court shoes in nude, black and ivory ornamented with shackle like chains forming t-bars or ankle chains accompanied the dresses, occasionally worn with a single long black leather glove, ruched down the wrist adding a tough edge to the ensemble.

As if there wasn’t enough mouth watering extravagance overwhelming the audience, the final part of the parade, models left behind the subtle colours and lit up the catwalk with dazzling emerald greens, flaming reds and burnt oranges. Bullions of gold beads, sequins and studs reminiscent of the flapper girls’ dress spilt down mushroom brown polyester. Black leather as soft and supple as lame made fluid cocktail dresses.

The collection was as exciting as a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel; a hint of magic, a Latin zing and just enough reality to create a completely hypnotic experience. Young, modern, yet completely classic – the show worked entirely to my taste, the feminine wasn’t too girly, the sexy wasn’t too suggestive and the rich colours weren’t too bright. Hail stones and snow haven’t prevented me from feeling the heat from this work of art, this summer I will Tango dressed up in Lanvin. X

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Powerful Heights

There is something significantly powerful that women feel when we dress in garb that is strictly female. We worked so hard for our recognition, why now would we muddy it up with yet another manly tool in our wardrobe?

The high heeled shoe is an emphatic device that can turn an unpretentious jeans and t-shirt combination into a red carpet worthy, iconic ensemble, documented for years to come. It is no revelation that the science and magic in heel heightening has sophisticated itself so expertly that men, women, designers, fashionistas and civilians just can't get enough of the shoes that keep us so elevated from the world and confident that we shan't fall or won't care if we do. Shoes have become so magnificent that we can no longer survive on the simple Court, the T bar or the Mary Jane, we want higher heels, perspex heels, chrome heels, heart shaped platforms, cantilever heels, heels in the shape of the Eifel tower and wedges just as high and the designers have just kept them coming and coming; higher, sexier and more jaw droppingly magical every time.

Christian Louboutin designed the vertically heeled shoes for David Lynch's Fetish exhibition at Paris' Galerie du Passage in 2007, Miucca Prada had models toppling over their platform sandals in Milan 2008 and 2009; Alexander McQueen designed the Alien versus Predator shoe that everybody in 2010 is raging about. These shoes, like the lady we witnessed wearing them send us totally Gaga; neither is exactly beautiful, but both are ridiculously tremendous and both make us question, 'Can you really wear that?'

Well, of course these shoes are far from practical, but it didn't take this shoe to reach impracticality, the predecessors have been just as impractical – in fact there is no such thing as a practical, high heeled shoe. This is what fashion is all about, being excessive, a little bit quirky, sometimes understated, other times over the top, but always unnecessary. Are high heels worth all the hype? In a word – Yes.

Feminists may disagree, but high heels are a woman's super power and they are intrinsically female; It's ok that Marc Jacobs, absent of Scottish heritage wears a kilt, but how would we feel if he wore six inch high, Mini Bout Killer Louboutins?

Yet this fashion terminology 'boyfriend' seems to be knocking about almost too frequently, applied to almost too many items of clothing, seeming as though it's definitely here to stay; we have boyfriend blazers, boyfriend shirts, boyfriend cardigans and boyfriend jumpers and even without the boyfriend title we can wear their belts, their watches, their caps and their satchels. Surely we want to draw the line there and keep our feet strictly female, strictly feminine and strictly sky scrapingly high? The overflow of flat shoes on the runway, the saturation of Brogues and other mannish shoes on the streets would obviously prove not. The Brogues in the ss2010 Alberta Ferretti collection are most certainly pretty and have been made effeminate, however they still render the man's shoe.

Lee Wright indicates that the stiletto heel has been extensively perceived by both men and women as a symbol of female subordination, photographer David Bayley made a statement, 'I like heels, I know it's chauvinistic. It means girls can't run away from me', the Brogue and the mannish shoe could be the rebuttal to this comment. Maybe these shoes are an act of freedom or a rebellious act, here to save us from the crippling of our feet, the excruciating pain at the end of an evening out and the back pains we will suffer, if not already suffering. But once upon a time the heeled shoe was the act of rebellion and liberation, just as the brogue and the masculine shoe may be today.

I am by no means submissive or subservient and have zero in common with the Stepford Wives. If you wanted to, you could go as far as to say I may possess some feminist traits, I give a go at being a womanly woman or at least a powerful woman and I try to dress accordingly – after all I am a heterosexual who guiltily enjoys the look of approval from a man and lucky enough to be born in an era where I can love every minute of being a woman. Having said that, my partner hates my heels, but that's a power struggle he'll have to give in to.

Thank you McQueen for the power packed twelve inch heel and everything else you have done for fashion. RIP X x x

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Dandizette Charm - The New Blog

It is so often that I listen to a song, watch a film, notice a pair of shoes, stumble across a piece of art, eavesdrop on a conversation, am irked by a new trend, a viewpoint or something that someone says to me and at that exact point in time; at that part of that film or that particular ensemble on that catwalk, something evokes me. I realise i’ve tripped up on a second or moment in life, that i want to keep.
Welcome to my brain, my diary, my wonderland of mish mash nothingness and everything Stylishly Fashionable … Discover the Charms of a Dandizette...x x x

http://dandizettecharm.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/hello-world/

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Bag, Borrow or Steal

The handbag has become an essential accessory for women since the 1920’s, there’s something extremely powerful about this exclusively female relationship with her luggage.

The luxury handbag possesses a hypnotic force that has the ability to turn the most average, sane and grounded woman into an embarrassingly obnoxious victim of capitalism, so far she will go as to rent a handbag as she would her home. It was in Sex and The City when I first became aware of the borrowing of luxury handbags; Jennifer Hudson, playing Louise from St Louis carried about her rented Vuitton denim patchwork bowling bag and seemed just as excited about this bag she was paying rent for as if she’d worked blood, sweat and tears for it and it were hers to keep.

Admittedly, luxury is not available to us all and we may possibly never afford an Hermes Croc Kelly, let’s be brutally honest here, most of us won’t ever afford an Hermes bag period, let alone any crocodile, python or ostrich skin bag - regardless of the designer. We can dream, we can aspire and we can admire, there’s honestly nothing wrong with that - but when we begin to fool ourselves and the world with ‘Bag Borrowing,’ do we need to aspire or dream anymore? Luxury is no longer a lifestyle, but a borrowed experience. Avelle, the online luxury rental site Louise rents her patchwork Vuitton from, prides itself on opening up the gate to luxury fashion, "It gives customers greater access to a vast inventory of luxury accessories and the opportunity to indulge in more, more often," says Lynn Ridenour, senior vice president of marketing.

Economist, Veblen theorised that the increase in accessibility and availability of a product eventually diminishes its desirability. Isn’t the whole point of the luxury handbag its rarity and expensiveness, the fantasy and the great sense of pleasure we feel when we finally get to have a slice of that luxuriously fantastical pie? We love the luxury handbag for its longevity, the stories it will tell when it’s thirty years old, the new life it will have when we hand it down to our daughters and the sheer ownership of a piece of art and fashion history. The luxury handbag doesn’t seem so whimsical or substantial when we have to hand it back at the end of the lease, hundreds of pounds poorer. In actual fact, all this bag rental phenomenon does is kill the luxury for everyone - the borrower, the luxury bag owner and the bag itself. Of course there’s one link in the chain that strengthens and that is of course, the bag lord or lady.

I adore luxury handbags and spend hours figuring out how I can alter my lifestyle temporarily, in order to save for a beautifully crafted, calf’s skin handbag with cold, gold hardware. I have to compromise the Gucci tribute bags or the Judith Leiber bejewelled clutches for bags that are timeless and suitable for most occasions, but I always feel good about making and owning my purchase. Louise from St Louis waltzed around New York City, unemployed, with a rental, gimmicky Vuitton bag in tow.

In my opinion, a penny spent on this kind of bag, rental or bought, is an ultimate waste - fashion theorists believe the exhibition of waste and uselessness is an occurrence familiar to the wealthy or those that wish to appear so. Maybe this is the beauty of Avelle, the opportunity to display wealth and luxury with the woman’s most significant and indicative item of dress, without ever having to be too pragmatic about the purchase. However I’d always rather commit to just the one bag, that will dent my bank balance and reduce my social life – a bag that I can be proud of because it’s a luxury, it’s expensive and it’s mine.

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