College: The Un-Real World

College is a magical time for those that are so lucky as to advance their study with post-secondary degrees. It can be an important time for growth, exploration of the self, and trying new things. But for many, it can be a delusional time, full of selfishness, vulgarity, and waste. I understand dormitory life is the ultimate enabler- no cooking, no cleaning (due to shared bathrooms and no kitchens), no parents, and no mirrors! You can leave your dorm without once looking in a mirror. Let’s start from the top down:

Hair: Loose the ponytail! I’m not saying every morning you have to curl or straighten it, but there are lots of fun, fairly easy things you can do with your hair beyond a sloppy ponytail. Also, headband plus ponytail, really? I don’t think so.

Top: I’m going to have to admit here, I don’t know what shirts most girls where, because all of them are wearing North Face jackets that they never take off during class. All of them wear the black ones:

Occasionally, there’s a wild child, and we see perhaps a pink one:

Bottoms: Even in our current economy, Victoria’s Secret will stay liquid on the simply fact that almost every girl in college owns at least one pair of pajama bottoms from their Pink line:

Shoes: The short Ugg boot or a knock off is the universal foot covering.

The only variation I see is trainers, jeans, and a hoody or t-shirt. The question this is all intending to pose, is how does one expect to graduate from college and enter ‘the real world’ when you live in the ‘un-real world’ for several years? Forget cooking, keeping house, and finances, you cannot even dress yourself. College is a wonderful time because you can make mistakes and they (hopefully) will not haunt you for the rest of your life or ruin your career aspirations. But you have to be willing to try, to seek feedback, and to learn from your mistakes. Following group mentality under the guise of ‘being comfortable’ is a lazy excuse. There is no self-respect in this, and for a moment, think about how disrespectful it is to your teachers- do you look like you are paying attention dressed like that? No, you look more like you are ready for a nap.

Haute, Bespoke, and Pret-A-Porter

Even so early on in my blog, one may have noticed that my ideals and definition of a lady goes beyond mere appearance. A lady is the discrete intersection of several attributes:  manners- what you say, how you behave, style- ones’ outward appearance, and intellect- in your head, and your heart. So in light of another uneventful week of February, I have cultivated some essentials points for every lady about what she (and he) wears. Haute, Bespoke, and Pret-A-Porter.

Haute Couture, we’ve all heard of it, but do we know what it really means? It applies only to women’s fashion, and is so important to the French, it is a legally regulated phrase. To be Haute Couture in France a fashion house must meet regulations on the quality of its merchandise. This is why we have such a reverence for Dior, Chanel, Lacroix, Gaultier, and Armani. However, Haute Couture also means that the clothing is made to fit the woman’s body. These clothes don’t come in sizes 2,4,6,8. They come in size ‘you.’

Bespoke clothing is the man’s Haute Couture. Things are a bit sticker with men’s clothing, for there is also ‘made to measure’ where a gentleman is measured on-site and clothes cut to those measurements. Bespoke is the highest option for men’s clothing. Often times one hears of bespoke suits, however dress shirts and sweaters may also be made in this manner. Bespoke items require an initial measurement, as well as style and fabric selection, then several weeks later a fitting, which may be followed by an additional fitting before the garment meets the tailors satisfaction. The place for bespoke clothing is the famous street, Savile Row in London, founded in the early 1800s by Henry Poole and Co. the first bespoke tailor on the block.

Pret-A-Porter, is the classy way to describe what most everyone wears; ready-to-wear clothing. Prounounced ‘pret-a-por-tay’ it is important to note that even major fashion houses produce pret-a-porter lines, such as Chanel and Dior. The most important factor to pret-a-porter however, is that you can make it your own with a great tailor! Your clothes might not be straight off the runway, but that is no reason for them not to fit you as thought they had been. It is what clothing comes down to, every woman has her own style, but clothing is about respect- for others, and yourself.

Channel Chanel

I spent a relaxing morning studying the fabulous Mlle. Coco Chanel. You-tubed, wiki-ed, and library books ordered. While I’m not so keen on owning a 2.55 but dream of the day my best manfriend buys me a Chanel pearl necklace, I think the best part of Chanel in the end was Chanel. What a philosophy! Some days I wake up and I feel English, or Japanese, but today, I most certainly feel French- perhaps the true mark of an American? But reading about her life and the philosophies that shaped her life, she was a true lady.  So today’s lessons come from Mlle. Chanel, courtesy of WikiQuote. Think about them, absorb them, make them a part of your soul.

“I don’t understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little – if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that’s the day she has a date with destiny. And it’s best to be as pretty as possible for destiny. ” So true, I can attest to this!

“A woman should be two things: classy and fabulous.”

“Dress sharply and they’ll remember the outfit; dress impeccably and they’ll remember the woman.”

And most important of all: “I love myself.” Do you? Because when you do, it will show. Today, try and Channel Chanel!

Endangered in the 21st Century

Welcome to my blog. My hope is to report and explore the idea of what it means to be a ‘lady’ at the dawn of the twenty-first century. A hundred years ago, it would have meant corsets in place of underwires, eggs in place of my bottles of Frederic Fekkai, and landing a rich husband who will more than likely not fulfill my needs, wants, and desires. While it is difficult to define what a twenty-first century lady might be, especially as I hope to discover that here in this very blog, history is not going to record women at this time period the same way I am attempting to do. History will remember the fads, the shifts in norms, and the relationships women have with men and with each other. I want to look at an aspiration, what may perhaps should be, rather than what is- a lady does not have to be a member of a country club, or own Prada and drive fancy cars (or have someone drive the fancy car for them). I do not come from old money, in truth, I come from almost no money at all. I am a twenty-something, about to depart the world of college life with loads of debt, and some minor inkling of my ideal career. What I expect to find, is that lady in our modern era is a manifestation on the outside of true beauty and strength suffusing her entire being from the inside.