Flesh Flashing
This is kind of a fun blog but I’m interested to know what others think. Fashion is everything in some people’s world and especially so for the manufacturers of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, and anything to do with the presentation of self. We the people must be convinced that to be happy, to be amongst the most talented, edgy and prestigious we must have the “look” of the moment. Throw out what we had yesterday and embrace the brand new……great for those who sell the look! It is a kind of bullying when you think about it. The industry likes to proclaim that it is a creative industry and it is, It comes up with new all the time but in a way, it does not want the general public to be creative and produce their own “look”. If they did, they would not necessarily buy into what the industry had to sell.
That is one thing but now we have fashion in types of bodies and in body parts. This fashion moves at a slower rate but it still moves. First, there is the size issue, I think I’m right in saying that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 UK sizes. That is considered just below plus size now by the most fashionable stores. The tabloid newspapers berate celebrities for being plus sized and then they critique others for being thin! Can’t help think it is a control mechanism to keep women in their place!
LOL!! I know you must beware of people who preface a statement with……. I’m not a prude! But honestly guys, I don’t think I am, I once was a nurse, I had life drawing classes. I ‘ve seen all kinds of human bodies exposed, some beautiful, some not so much and I did not faint away or explode in shock. I say live and let live so long as you do not frighten the horses. Yet these days I’m amused by how every minor celebrity, starlet ( are they still called starlet)? Anyway, these would be famous are so keen to have their rear ends photographed, the bigger the better, stuck up in the air, said to be wearing a thong and the terms used are peachy and luscious. Well to state the obvious I’m not a guy, so I just find it ridiculous. Likewise The not so accidental wardrobe malfunctions, No underwear everything on view “accidentally”. Just wonder when the film stars will start walking down the red carpet totally naked and say it is empowering!? Odd How I’ve never seen a male film star have a wardrobe malfunction?
There is another mystery, all those famous paintings of a naked woman or two surrounded by fully overdressed men? It looks predatory to me. I don’t want women enclosed in cloth from head to toe, We do want to see beautifully dressed women. A very old Frenchman once explaining the art of beautiful couture clothes to me said……..Put your own sexy French accent in. here, he was a real charmer……….The first birthday gift that is opened is the beautifully wrapped one,,,, because 3/4 of the pleasure is in the unwrapping?
Bit of a hodgepodge of a blog but what are your views on this friends?
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Regarding Size. Large or small really makes little difference. If there’s a brain and a personality in there somewhere, then it really doesn’t matter.
Regarding accidental wardrobe malfunctions. Accident? Yeah! Right! Of course it was.
Regarding male wardrobe malfunctions. Highly unlikely to happen and most certainly not in cold weather lol.
I’m with you Waylander, A personality and a brain are good, I’d also add kindness, balance and the ability to make a person laugh are a must. Regarding those who somehow are “victims” of wardrobe malfunctions? I would ask them to think….once you have exposed all, what on earth do you do for and encore? OH well such people live in a different world and I’m glad I’m not part of theirs LOL.
I’m curious to check this post will be posted
Oops sorry ! I thought I’d be able to delete the above post.
Hi Rock……..in my humble opinion less is more……..not in the context of less clothing……..the acres of over exposed inflated bums and boobs is sooooo very boring…….now i don’t live in a mans head so what may make theirs eyes pop doesn’t mine………obviously these women who wear, or nearly wear such skimpy attire have the male in mind when they strut their stuff……….less is more as more demure, more alluring……who really follows fashion now days…teeny boppers maybe……we find what suits us the best and follow that
I wish for myself Star we would have more sophisticated like you! I really believe in our time we find more
more women who try to convince other with legs, busts and cosmetics. That means nothing to me cos those
attribute fade away with the years like butter in the sun.xxxM
Hi Starlette……I agree with the boring .it is boring and as you write, especially the inflated plastic kind of body, even the coy language that newspapers use …..her assets, her sizzling curves, endless legs, exciting side boob Blah Blah. Another thing I query……pregnancy is life, most women are happy when they get pregnant and that is good. Pregnant women should continue to enjoy their lives as much as they can. I don’t want these women wrapped up and hidden away or anything near. It seems that the moment a ‘celebrity’ is pregnant she can’t wait to be photographed in the skimpiest of bikinis or she is taking nude or almost nude pictures of herself to display her bump , what is this about? Another thing that amuses and puzzles me……If I went to horse race in March in UK way back when, I used to turn myself out smartly, hopefully but I wore stockings and shoes in which I could walk on turf. I probably had a coat or jacket. When did it become appropriate to wear clothes more suitable for the dance hall to freeze in and stiletto heels to nail one to the ground? Well My attitude swings from laughing at them and tut tutting, to thinking…well if they think they look good and they are having a good time what odds!
I appreciate a man’s opinion here and I hope we get more. We are all forced to consider fashion if we buy new clothes because we have to buy what is there for us unless we make our clothes or have them made. There are some years that I want a new piece or two but cannot abide the new fashion. The maternity look for women and the tight or normal look for pregnant women has been the trend for the past 7 to 10 years here in the US. One year about 30 years ago almost everything was in spandex and also very gaudy florals and I was going on a cruise and wanted a few pieces, so I finally found a couple of pieces and paid a lot more for them than I wanted to do. The low waisted jeans were big a few years ago and they flattered no one and almost everyone whip put them on wound up with a muffin top and a very disproportionate body.
I must wear clothes and I prefer to be comfortable and happy with the way I look and feel. I guess my goal would be to stick to fewer pieces and ones that I love.
I am not a slave to fashion but I do like to be presentable and appropriate wherever I go. Needless to say the older I get the less flesh I tend to show, but it is summer and hot and modesty and comfort are in constant conflict.
Maybe, I have wasted too much time and energy shopping. Now, there is an internet clothing service that chooses clothes for you and you send what you don’t want back. There are different ones and different plans. I do shop online to save time and it works some of the time.
I do try not to have any wardrobe malfunctions. Remember when that usually was a petticoat showing”snowing down south”, or a bra strap falling over the shoulder. I still watch out for those. Usually the other wardrobe malfunctions is the waistband button popping off or a blouse button popping; the blouse button popping may be sexy but totally unacceptable.
So, I do try to be comfortable, presentable, and definitely avoid any wardrobe malfunctions.
Hi Rose, I’m almost down to a uniform, well not quite as grim as that sounds. I’m all for comfort, I put clothes on and I don’t want to be constantly thinking about them. When I was young and foolish , I wore the pointy shoes and I well remember the exquisite pain when you took them off and your feet were released. The boned underwear and suspenders, good grief how crazy? Now I have typical old lady demands…..pockets in pants, skirts and jackets. Sleeves and having had chest surgeryI don’t want things cut low and most things are these days. I like structured crisp collars and I only want natural fibres. I want simple classic basics because I change the look with accessories. I look for tops with off beat and to me beautiful colours I don’t follow the colours of the year, I buy what I love. And that is about it. I truly just don’t understand the urge the young have for tattoos and piercings. I have to admit I find much of modern fashion as worn by the glitterati somewhat vulgar but that is just me. I do love people watching and appreciate seeing it all even when I could never imagine myself in it LOL. Regards the exposure of mainly female flesh….I think it has always been so for certain women. The difference these days, there are more places for such women to be seen. More media and we are all bombarded with the images. I’m not suggesting and enforced code I just wonder at it.
Rockflower, I like your approach. A lot can be done with accessories and I have accumulated a collection. I realize that I have bought clothes for trips and I still travel. I was in 100 degree days for A week, and I was in Canada for aand Maine for two weeks and I go from My city to the mountains so different clothes are required. I need to think basics and layers if I want to simplify, but simplifying is a must.
I do a white nail polish so I don’t have to worry about matching that.
I just read that the Queen only wears a very neutral nail polish and all the royals are required to do the same.
I never had many clothes as a child and sometimes it is fun to just know you are well dressed.
Rose, i have never heard that saying Snowing down south. Maybe it originates from the States. As for fashion, there is no such thing to me. I live a simple practical and almost care free life and long may it last.
Slim jim, Snowing down south was when a petticoat was showing below the dress or skirt hem. Fashion exists for everyone if they wear clothes. I do need to simplify my life.
Hello, Rose, I simplified my life years ago. spend a week with me and you will find alternatives that maybe you have thought of many times if you want an in-depth discussion about it all that’s fine drop me a note by PM if you want to Jim. PS Sorry about the perfect typing its a thing from the past?
Slimjim, I think it would be good if you shared your thought in a blog of your own. Many people could benefit from tips of simplifying their life.
Well as you travel where the clothing needs are so different, you do need more no way round that but as you say layers are the way to go. Here we get maybe 3-4 days when the temperature reaches 30 degrees C so I don’t need really hot weather clothes much. In the days when I was still traveling and often with a great friend Sheila. She always had one small suitcase, yet she always totally attractive and appropriately dressed all the time. I usually had a huge suitcase and bag and still struggled to turn my self out.I learnt from from her.
Rock flower, I need a friend like sheila. If I take a plane trip, I will be forced to parents down. My trips for the last 5 years have been by auto. I don’t need to parents down. I will start thinking of ensembles and dark skirts and pants and anything matches. I went on a trip and chose one color group and that was a good idea. I think I will do that more.
My spell check correct on its own. I said parents down, not parents. I may disable it.
This is crazy. Spell check just keeps doing it and won’t let me write pared down.
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I’m with Star and Way. If you’re flaunting your good body parts too far for the males, you’re looking for trouble….and much trouble there seems to be these days. Why not just dress neatly and with the colors you like? I wore Catholic school uniforms for 12 years, then page uniforms for one year, a blue bankers jacket, then a white medical jacket. It was great not to have to choose what to wear. Like Rock, my home attire is almost a uniform. I have a few outfits for going bye-bye and that’s that. I say be clean, comfortable and be nice.
Rose, at our age, I am looking for the good body parts to flaunt.
Hi Rose…..I’m afraid anything like modesty is out of fashion. I agree with you, I think you can be comfortable in your clothes and still look nice. Nice is kind of a loaded word because sometimes it is used to put some one down. Attractive is equally loaded as the connotation is attracting the opposite sex and hooking them in, so nice is better. When women dress in an “attractive” way…..who are they doing it for? Is it indeed to ‘catch’ a man’s attention. or is it in competition with other women? We know women are constantly judged first for how they look regardless of their other talents. On the BBC there is a female Tv person , she is a professor of ancient history and presents history programs on this subject. She makes dry history come alive, she is stoping round ancient Greek and Roman sites telling us the history and bringing the ancient people seem so close to us. For the male trolls she is like a red rag to a bull. She is an old women!? probably in he 60s.She has grey hair, nice wavy shiny grey hair that she wears long and loose. She has a pleasant older face , she wears no make up apparently. She has a pleasant low soft voice. Often working filming in hot Greek or Roman sites, she wears loose flowing clothes and it would seem, no constrictive undergarments but she is not exposing her body in anyway. She wears sneaker type shoes or boots for scrambling about the ruins. You would not believe the abuse she gets from the trolls, telling her in various ways that she is too old, too ugly to be on TV. Some of the letters are beyond crude and threatening. Mary is made of strong stuff and just carries on. Lots of old men on TV, not too many of them are not ‘oil paintings’ but no comments. To a certain kind of male the fact that a woman is not setting out to attract them, seems to be in it’s self very threatening to them. Then I look at those women who slavishly follow the twists and turns of fashion…….good luck to them if they enjoy this and find it interesting. But don’t try and tell me they are expressing themselves, if you -follow- fashion you are a follower, expressing the ideas of someone else and we all do to some degree. I would just like to see some balance, people allowed to chose. The fashionistas loudly proclaim, they are the “with it’ people, they feel they are so right and so modern, so now. We the others are some how lacking,backward. I may look askance at the women who expose themselves, suffer surgery to punish their bodies into fashionable shape but this is their choice. So in my comfortable garb I just concentrate on the fact that they are paying handsomely to do this and support our economy LOL.