I'm a rule follower, most of the time.
Often, there are great reasons to have at least a few rules. I obey
the laws that keep us all stuck together as a culture. I'm a fan of
laws that keep us from accidentally or deliberately killing each
other and ourselves. I respect the basic social niceties. I try to
be kind to everyone's kids, at least cordial to other adults, and
respectful towards my elders (whose numbers are growing fewer every
year. Yikes.)
But, as a child of my generation and
one influenced by an especially feisty political era or two, I
understand that civil or social disobedience can be justified. This
applies particularly to fashion rules that are applied
specifically and often arbitrarily to us petite flowers, the short
women.
I've been thinking about proportions
for short figures quite a lot lately. And when I start thinking a
lot about something I begin reading a lot about it. If you are tall
and don't care about this subject, I won't mind a bit if you click
through to a more pertinent blog with issues that interest you. I wouldn't blame you a bit. Speaking of tall women, a lot of you are my favorite people, so
please don't think that I hold your height against you. Lucky you,
damn it.
In reading about proportion and all the
rules regarding proportions, nowhere did I find a rule geared toward
making tall women look other than ... tall. I hear you tall ones
have your own style challenges, or so I'm told along with all the
other urban myths. (Oh, boo hoo.) But overall, TALL, it seems, is
good. Short must be bad, then, because there are all kinds of rules
devised to make us look not so short. Designers use models of
various shapes, colors, nationalities, creeds (and recently) cup size
and waist circumference. But I don't see any shorties stomping down
the professional runways. These days, a young girl can (and should!)
aspire to be anything she desires, but should a she be a genetic
shortie, then she is is gently steered away as early as possible from
the naive and hopeless desire to be a fashion model. ( I admit there are myriad reasons to discourage a daughter from a career on the
catwalk but I'm talking the difference between "perhaps you
shouldn't count on it, sweetheart" and "no way, short-stuff, never happening, hahahahaha!" )
It's not that everyone (or anyone) should want to be a model, but
it's always seemed unfair that short womens' shoulders are not
considered worthy enough to hang couture upon at all when trying to
sell it to women who are sometimes short. Almost always shorter than the model. Nor is this a plea for more short models, but for the
understanding that short women live different lives with their
wardrobes.
So, as
both a rule obeyer and a short woman, I've done way more than my
share of hemming up and taking in and considering how to make a
particular shape or silhouette work on my frame. But this year, I'm
going over the fence, running amok, and with premeditation and malice
aforethought I'm going to break some of the rules that are there for
my own good and designed to help poor little me look taller.
I'm
NEVER going to look taller. EV-ER. Maybe in a photo with teeny-tiny
props, but in real life everyone I meet is going to know I'm short no
matter how I dress. The concept of proportional dressing promotes
some great ideas about how to look good, and how to make your choices
work in that
mysterious way that only the wisest aesthetes can define, but nothing
is really going to make my legs look longer or give me an extra inch
in height. Except a good pair of honest high-heeled shoes, and I
have that wired.
This
outfit demonstrates my current resistance to some current short-girl
discrimination.
For
years, pants cut at the ankle or just above were unfashionable
because they made everyone's legs look short (see?) Now they're hot
again and, amazingly, no one minds that they still have that
truncating effect on legs generally. But we little 'uns must take great
care 'lest our already short
legs look that way. What?
We are
encouraged to wear only shoes with tones that are similar to the
color of our legs if we don't want to look short, yet we just came
out of a season where flat-finished black leather was pushed hard for
the sake of minimalism. Nobody's legs are that color, so we wore
black tights. And to complicate things further, black leather shoes
are great for spring, only this year they are d'Orsay-delicate with
darling, daring and fresh-looking ankle straps. Which I shouldn't wear because ... well, you know.
No
long tunic shirts that "cut you in half visually"... I'm
sorry, but this shirt doesn't look bad. I love this shirt in all
it's hummingbird-print springy-ness. And I love these boyfriend
jeans that really need to be rolled up a bit to be fun and look like
something other than the dreaded Mom Jeans. Worse yet, I am in
complete, passionate love with these little ankle-strap shoes ...
they are navy and not black, and that makes me adore them even more.
You will be seeing more of these ankle straps making my legs look
short this season, 'cause it's True Love, and we get a pass because
we don't choose with whom we fall in love. Please don't faint when
I wear them with midi skirts. You know why I'm not supposed to wear
them, but get ready 'cause here I come in them. It'll be okay,
'cause I already know I'm short. I think they're pretty and that I
look nice in them. Or, if I am honest, that they look nice on me.
If anyone is mean enough or brave enough to tell me otherwise, I say
bring it on.
I'm
going to have some fun this season.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I'm
linking up late with the Balletic Yet Work Appropriate Patti at
Visible Monday
and
the Detail Conscious Seeker at Tres Chic Style Bits
Come
see what all the fuss is about!
