A lot of new ideas and projects on my mind right now and a sewing table piled high with cut out garments.
More on all of this as the week unrolls.
Right now though I am thinking that one of those shifts in fashion is about to occur.
You know how it goes.
Just when you get your head adjusted to a certain look, to the point it seems normal, like say long tops with skinny jeans and leggings, just when you have everything oriented more or less to those proportions, and this would be including your head, they do a 180 in fashion.
Now of course it is perfectly reasonable to say you will avoid all of this and stick to classics.
This is fine if you never spill anything, like say coffee when you laugh. Or spaghetti sauce because you are standing at the counter in with your coat half off and someone says taste it and you are starving. If you never are that person then you can dress entirely in white shirts.
Or if you the size of a minute. And can walk by bush without getting snagged, and have never caught your watch in anything, then you can wear a lot of tweed Chanel jackets every day.
If you are that person then definitely you should stick to classics.
Except of course button-up shirt dresses.
I defy anyone to wear these at all without getting the buttons caught in the handles of drawers, or if you are tall and your stomach sticks out (just saying) doorknobs, and rip them open every time.
Yes you can avoid the whole fashion thing with classics.
Or you can go creative which is a comfortable option except for the part where your daughter says "you're not wearing that!" or your husband asks "What is that supposed to be?" which isn't really a great start to your own career as an independent dresser, although better than shirt dresses.
And really even if you are creative, a position I endorse, you really want to show some sense that you know what year it is too.
This matters if you have decided you don't necessarily want to be like my brother-in-law, lovely man, great sense of humour, who has worn the same aviator glasses frames since they were invented sometime when we were all still in school, which would be quite some time before he became a grandfather.
Which leads me to what I see from my haute couture position in a Nova Scotia bungalow as fashion's early warning indicator.
I am talking about pants.
A blouse is a blouse.
A straight skirt is a straight skirt.
No carbon dating possible there, but pant styles are a dead give away.
It is my own personal theory that pants fashions are the first sign that things are really about to change, that the old weathervane of what we wear sort of starts spinning.
The news, folks, as I figure it, is there is a corner appearing on our little sewing street.
When we turn it:
Pants are going back up to and past the waist.
Tops are going to get more fitted and shorter. Ladies are we going to start tucking in again?
Pant and tops are related in this change thing because of the universal truth and great rule of life which is that if one half of your body is narrow the other half needs to be wider.
And vice versa, or as they say around here, the other way around.
My prediction is everything we now wear is going to start to look dated, if we fight it or not.
I present my case.
J. Crew catalogue (not exactly the runway but a good place to find new styes interpreted conservatively):
And then there's these patterns.
The cult like Lander pants which everyone is making if they can figure out how to make them fit or not:
And Stylearc's Fifi, which has a flat front and an elastic back:
There really is a change happening here.
This week my daughter out of the blue said to me she would love some trendy new jeans - you know the ones that came to your waist, loose at the hips and narrowing at the ankle.
I nearly choked on my coffee, good thing I wasn't wearing a white shirt, but was gracious enough to point out these were the same mom jeans she told me when she was a teenager was never going to wear in her own life.
But it wonder now if I will ever be wearing, or making something like these Guise pants from Papercut:
So many important things to think about.
More tomorrow.
Right now I think I had better call my next younger sister to tell her the '80s are on the way back. We sort of ruled the 80s as I remember. We owned the curling iron bang flip.
Must check if her button earring collection is still intact.
Hope so.
Who would ever throw something like that out?
10 comments:
So that's what "mom jeans" are. You made my Sunday. I have no problem with "at the waist" pants (on me they hit an inch or two below my waist) but draw the line at the pegged leg. If they don't fit over my boots I refuse to wear them. Please continue with the predictions.
Theresa in Tucson
I've missed pants that went to my actual waist. I also really loved suits in the 80s - very well shaped and reminiscent of the 40s. But I seriously did not love those polyester blouses with cheap shoulder pads that were attached by a thread that would break so the pad would be hanging halfway down your back all day.
Oh, no! I’ve been dreading this.
Were you talking about me? You were right? I get caught on everything...my husband just rolls his eyes. Wardrobe malfunctions are a fact of my life, hence nothing too baggy, smooth fabrics, not to many loops or buttons. Looking forward to the pictures. After all the crazy Christmas sewing was done, I finished a quilt, and started the outfits for the February birthdays, as we have a few. Soon I will have to make a few outfits for my summer holidays, but as I am losing some weight I will probably wait until the last second, so they fit.
Happy Sewing,
Barb from Prince George
Absolutely loved this post. And, I like pants with a nice defined waist. All theses low rise jeans, squeezing a muffin top waist make humans looks like alien creatures, I think. What were designers thinking? C'mon back 80's. I still have my patterns!
What a great smile you provided (once again) this morning! Thank you
As someone who is short and finds new ways to use pockets every day--opening cupboard doors, dragging out the silverware drawer as I walk away, ripping the little darlings off as I turn too quickly, I can totally identify with wardrobe malfunctions. But the idea of pants coming up and over the waist has me in tears. Any pant that would come slightly over my waist would require them to sit just under my boobs, not being long-bodied. It would have to be called an empire waist pants pattern. No. Just no.
Very interesting post. You're right - I'm so very comfortable with loose tunics and skinny pants. The tops cover my fluffy torso. How will I look in high-waisted pants and short, fitted tops? It's frightening!!!
Oh my, I look awful in anything tucked-in. I don't mind the higher waist, for comfort reasons, but pegged at the ankles? Please, not. I know designers have been trying to force wide legs on us for a while, and I wish they could all live in a snowy area for 6 months so they'd get over it. Wet pant legs, yuk.
Boot cut jeans NEVER go out of style here in Texas, so I'm still good for pants! ;)
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