From the Urban Dictionary and the entry
for badassery : "Engaging in seemingly impossible
activities and achieving success in a manner that renders all
onlookers completely awestruck."
From the on-line Oxford Dictionaries: "Behavior, characteristics, or actions regarded as formidably
impressive: few of us can
attain her level of badassery "
~*~*~*~*~
Badassery. Isn't that a great
word? It just rolls off the tongue and flips up a slide show on that
big screen in your imagination, doesn't it? I've been playing with
that word and all that it can mean for some weeks now, ever since I
watched for the umpteenth time how Helen Mirren got her womanly
badassery on with such elegant professionalism in the film
Red 2. It wasn't the guns, truly. It was the clothes and the
serious, serious attitude about the work at hand.
I am easily influenced.
We can all conjure instant images of
popular culture badassery. With the young men, it's easy to
come up with a quick short list of anti-heroes and super tough guys.
Interesting how we've allowed a lot of these guys to continue their
badass careers into late
middle age and beyond; Bruce Willis in almost every film he's ever
made, Samuel L Jackson in absolutely
every film he's ever made, ditto for a more cerebral Morgan Freeman ... the list goes on.
There are probably fewer on the women's list,
but I'll bet if you are reading this post, you are already pulling up
your own. From film and fiction I think of the characters Scout
Finch, Ripley, Lara Croft, Hermoine Granger, Lisbeth Salander, both
Carries (Stephen King's and Homeland's) and lots more, but all of
them had that kind of toughness of mind, body and/or spirit that is
most often exhibited by the young and fit.
Happily, because we are all living
longer and more productively, we are allowing a few of our cinematic
heroines to rock on into seniordom. My friends across the Big Pond
really have a handle on how to do this with style; Dame Helen Mirren,
of course, and Dame Judy Dench. Was anyone more badass as M to Daniel
Craig's James Bond? And there never was a more terrifying Lady
Catherine de Bourgh.
But my all time favorite Lady Badass is Dame
Maggie Smith. Whether she was wielding her lethally badass wand as
Professor McGonagall at the Battle of Hogwarts or upstaging the
entire cast of Downton Abbey as the adorably cynical Dowager Countess
of Grantham, Dame Maggie is indisputably badass in dove gray lace.
When we add all of Shakespeare's women to the mix, the tradition is
set for us. All three of these women have portrayed the
extremely badass Elizabeth I, and one of them Elizabeth II (who has
had her own moments of real-life badassery.)
It's easier to reference pop culture
badassery icons than it is real world women. There are plenty, but
it is the nature of the real badass woman that she'll offend someone
because that's sometimes what she does. Often she manifests her
badassery by telling her understanding of Truth to power, and
since there has never been a greater divide in opinion regarding the
great Truths, at least in this country, I'll leave it to you, Dear
Reader, to choose your favorites. Love them or hate them, we have
powerful women on both sides of the political aisle. In only
nominally more neutral territory, our three Women Supremes among the
old boys on the Big Court, Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth
Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, clearly exhibit judicial badassery
in their professional doings. The three branches of our government
are chockablock with women who put out a singularly powerful kind of
badassery. And not just in this country, as we see. There
are women leaders worldwide, badassing all over the planet these
days.
So many ... nay, most ... of
them are mature, or very mature, and some are perfectly mature. I'm
just very mature at 64, so I still have some badassery to
aspire to, or at least appreciate and try to emulate, even if it only
works a little. And that brings me to why I'm contemplating this
notion at all.
As you read this, fall will have just
become official, and that time of year brings out the deeper, darker,
richer colors, more substantial fabrics, and leathers and furs, faux
and real. We are heading toward the dark of the year, and as Ned
Stark noted, "Winter is coming." I take my fall wardrobe
fantasies very seriously. I've been looking back at my blog photos
from the last year or so, thinking about what works and what doesn't.
I tend to be an aspirational dresser. I take on new and old ideas,
shapes and silhouettes that I especially like and try (successfully
and NOT) to make them work for me.
The pieces that work I love and go back
to, again and again ... the pieces that make me feel the best when I
walk out of the house ... the pieces that feel the most authentically
my own, and pieces that might well belong to some other woman I like
better than myself ... all of them have at least a touch of the
badass.
And I've learned that there is no
particular genre of dress that lends badassery. It's not only
found in biker chic, or punk, or grundge, or boho, ladylike, vintage,
retro, minimalist, menswear or architectural. But it can be found in
all of them. (I don't think you can find it in Normcore. I could be
wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.)
Badassry is found and on display
when what you are wearing makes you feel badass. Simple. Who knew
it is all about confidence and serendipity? Some days it all works;
hair, clothes, makeup, accessories, and you walk out the door with
the complete confidence that you can demolish whatever dragon is on
your day-planner, slated for slaying. And that you'll smell really
good while doing it.
The items that make me feel
particularly badass are often the most obvious; leather anything,
including boots and booties, moto jackets and dressy leather pumps
with a satisfyingly high stiletto heel, Also a perfectly fitting
pencil skirt, an ear cuff, a minimalist silhouette. But I guarantee
that I will feel completely badass when I wear my pink wool coat for
the first time this winter.
My most often used pieces that lend a
classic badass finishing touch to my outfit are my Ray-Bans. Dan and
I spend considerable time in the car, driving sunward coming and
going, as it always seems. I've saved up for my little collection of Wayfarers (black and tortoise-shell, larger frame) and classic
Aviators (an all black pair and a pair of gold frame ones that are
from Dan) and Dan's properly sized black Wayfarers for his huge head.
We get in the car, fasten our seat belts and put on the sunglasses.
He looks at me, I look at him. We grin. Yup, we're cool. This is
our badass.
Go forth. Find and embrace your
badassery.
I just know you have it in you, and
its manifestation is already in your possession.
Just a little badassery from the leather-ish top. A favorite work outfit for this still-warm time of year.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This post is dedicated to the Wonderful and Ruffly Patti, who hosts Visible Monday for us all. Thank you, Patti. Are you sure you aren't just a little Badass?
