Women in Clothes
Blue Rider Press / Penguin Group (USA)
Published September 4, 2014
Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Leanne
Shapton
These three women, youngish at 37, 46
and 41 respectively, all established writers beyond the fashion
industry, all with their own serious professional chops, got together
and devised over 100 questions, organized them into a questionnaire,
and compiled the responses of 639 of the women who answered them.
Then they made a huge book of it all, plus additional conversations,
photography and illustrations.
Beyond those specifics, it's not an
easy book to describe. A few famous names that I recognized offered
their opinions, and quite a number of highly accomplished women that
I'd never heard of but probably should have recognized. But for the
most part, the women who responded were from almost everywhere, from
very rich to the very poor. A few very young girls spoke, a few very
old women, but mostly from twenty, thirty and forty-somethings. What
they all had in common was that they all had worn clothing for their
whole lives and were happy to talk about the impact all these clothes
had on those lives. " Women in Clothes" makes a wonderfully
rich compendium of little story-snippets, each reflecting the
sometimes life-altering impact what we choose to put on our backs can
have.
In her review that appeared in the
September 25th edition of The New Yorker, Judith Therman described
the book as "a communal dressing room in book form." That
was a pretty apt and concise description. (In fact, I recommend her
review as a very good read all in itself... you can find it HERE .)
Expanding on her analogy, I'd ask you imagine the biggest football
stadium you can think of, and imagine the field packed with hundreds
of dressing room cubicles; nice ones, crummy ones, all sizes. Then
imagine them all crowded with hundreds of women; all shapes, sizes,
ethnicities, all ages and all trying on clothes. Talking about
clothes, looking at clothes, critiquing the garments of their own and
others. Imagine you can hear snippets of conversation, but never the
whole of one, then imagine someone organized it all for you and made
it readable. That's what the book was like for me.
Below are just a few of the questions
that grabbed me. Since I am a chronic button-hole gazer, you can see
why these subjects were right up my alley. You can see the whole list
at the book website HERE , and answer them all for yourself.
It seems that the editors are posting these responses as sort of a
DIY online addenda to the book. I was completely charmed with this
idea that allows the reader to join in after the fact.
What are some rules about dressing you
follow, but you wouldn't necessarily recommend to others?
What is the most transformative
conversation you have ever had on the subject of fashion or style?
Was there a point in your life when
your style changed dramatically? What happened?
Please describe your body.
Please describe your mind.
Please describe your emotions.
With whom do you talk about clothes?
How do institutions affect the way
you dress?
Did anyone every say anything to you hat made you see yourself differently, on a physical and especially sartorial level?
Weighing in at 518 pages, this is a
fabulous book to download onto your tablet. It's ideal for toting
around this way, and the editors have broken it down into bite sized
segments that make it easy to enjoy in spare moments or when you can
settle in for a deep read. Between these segments, the editors have
interspersed photographic "Collections" of items belonging
to their respondents. Many of them are what one would expect; one
woman's collection of cashmere sweaters, another's fedoras, or
another's collection of vintage three-inch heels. It was less clear
to me the value of presenting collections of one woman's earplugs, a
collection of identical dental-floss sticks, a collection of a week's worth of
one woman's cigarette butts, and another of someone's collection of
individual bobby-pins. Quirky. Certainly they added an element of
artsy-fartsy charm, but I can get behind even that when judiciously
presented.
Another section belonged to
photographic "Projects". One of the most memorable was
"Poses from Fashion Media" featuring actress Zosia Mamet
clad in a plain black leotard against a white background, aping the
essential silliness of each famous magazine pose. You'll instantly
remember looking at heavily editorial fashion pages and ads,
wondering what the magazine pros were thinking by using such
improbable and unlikely arrangements of a woman's body to show how
clothes could look. Cute commentary, but since there were 50 of
them, and I'd gotten the point very quickly ... certainly by about
the third one, and was ready to move on after the 15th one ... I felt
more editing might have yielded a less-is-more effect. Overall,
though, the sometimes silly but more often poignant visuals in the
book jived beautifully with the very basic and very personal
conversation about how we feel about what we wear and carry and
conceal. One certainly gets the impression that nothing important was
edited out and lost for lack of space.
When time permits, and I'll make time
soon, I'm going back to the site the editors have provided and join
the other women who have submitted their survey responses. I'd like
to hear from any of you that decide to do likewise ... let me know
and I'll be delighted to read what you have to say. In fact, a visit
to the site and a look at the questions will tell you whether or not
you'll enjoy the book itself. If you're reading this, and you
bother to blog yourself, I'll bet you will.
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WIW in to the Big City on the hot, humid Sunday afternoon. My attempt to suggest fall-ishness with with oxblood and get one more wearing out of my favorite summery crop top.
Got a lovely compliment from a 20 something, hipsterish guy out with his girlfriend. "Love your outfit," he said with a charming smile for us as we entered the restaurant. Nice. Very nice.
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Checking in late but repentant at the always forgiving Patti at her Visible Monday link-up. Come see what everyone is wearing!
