Real Clothing for Real Women

[nolawitch58]

If you don't already have her as a friend, go read Sunfell's entry from yesterday and then pass it along. Everyone I know has more than two dozen people in the address book. Instead of sending the usual glurge, spam or hateful horseshit that floods our inboxes, let's start a movement. Put some personal intro at the beginning and let it fly like the monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

Comments

I see where she (and you) are coming from

[real-skeptic.livejournal.com]

...but I still find it hard to identify. I buy jeans. Men's jeans if I have to, although the plus-size shops in Tel-Aviv all have jeans with a normal waistline. Maybe that's the advantage of being fat. And I buy T-shirts. That look like "T". I wear sports shoes mostly, or men's boots.

I can understand women that want to look feminine, but I guess I'm not one of them. I have several shirts I bought at the men's department in some shop.

So you're right, cloths aimed at women usually suck. But why wear them?

And I also miss the days, when I was a girl, when my mom used to invite the seamstress over. And she took our sizes, and gave us ideas from a journal, which we could improve on, and then she made those cloths for us. And they were feminine (if you wanted), and fit well, and were durable. Some day I want to take a sewing course and make my own cloths. Anyway, nowadays it has become cheaper to buy cloths in China, and people don't care about durability because you can just buy a new thing if the old one tears up, and be fashionable too. But then you become a slave to the evil bell-bottoms, low waistlines, platform shoes and other catastrophies I keep staring at in disbelief that real women would wear this.

Re: I see where she (and you) are coming from

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

If you have an employer that lets you wear jeans and t-shirts, you've got no problem. Here in the States, there are corporate dress codes to conform to. At my job, we have Casual Friday and can wear jeans that day, but no sneakers or t-shirts. Other places have different rules. I'm sure Sunfell has the issue of being on TV occasionally as part of her concerns with clothing.

I hate to shop. When I absolutely have to do it, I'll do a tactical strike, find what I want and get the hell out. I'm not one of the zombies wandering the mall with a glazed look.

You're right about the lack of durability. It's part of the problem with modern society. Everything is disposable, including people. When there are too damned many people and too many cheap goods, everything becomes cheap and headed for the slag heap. I'm one of the freaks who would pay twice what I spend now on stuff that would last twice as long and fit decently. It irks the hell out of me that most of the clothes are made in China and they're getting all our money which has caused a HUGE trade imbalance. People don't realize that as they shove cheap crap into their carts at Wal*Mart. All the money they think they're saving is starving their neighbors, countrymen and economy and enriching a country that would gladly chop us into pieces if given a chance.

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

And have a happy birthday!

Re: I see where she (and you) are coming from

[chaotic-lady.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that jeans are easier to get than other trousers for women.
But I'm rather small (1.60 m or 5.2"). So I have too short legs for the "normal" size of trousers or jeans, and on top of that I have broad hips, a rather thin taille, and a hollow back. And I don't like it if the jenas/trousers are very tight on my stomach or if there is a big gap in my back. Try finding jeans that fit me... :-)
I tried it: Jeans that you can get in any combination of leg/waist size are about twice the price as jeans that about fit me when I wear a belt (to prevent having a big gap between my back and my trousers). And they are not neccessarily a better quality.

T-Shirts are another thing. I'm a bit too slim for the average female t-shirt, and a bit too fat for the small-sized t-shirt. I want t-shirts that go down to my hips, but don't go down all the way down to my ass and cover that too.

Am I too picky or just the wrong size for the clothing industry?

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

No, I agree. Nobody should be classed a size zero. If they want to make people that thin a size one, swell, but the zero has a really unpleasant connotation of the woman not even being worthy of a size number. You should never have to say "I'm a zero" to anyone for any reason. Your sister is deserving of a whole number, damnit, not something that implies nothing.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

They should make a 1s or a 1XS. No zeros. It isn't the slimness that I detest, but the zero, as Nolawitch has said. Women do come in all sorts of sizes, but zero isn't a size. It's a political statement.

Well...

[saminz.livejournal.com]

I was going to say about the same as skeptic did, actually. But just like her, forgot that some of us have to dress up for a job indeed... I have no idea what on earth I'd do in such a case, to be honest :-).

But I have another serious objection: Even if I'm not *that* fat, I would LOVE "wossname-the tent-maker" to design my clothes. I *like* oversized, and being a good size myself (tall!) I hate it that everything big is made for fat people (with asses, which I lack) or dwarfs.

Male jeans are indeed fabulously practical. (Pockets!!) There are black varieties, too, that might suffice for work. And they come in inch sizes. They didn't change those, did they ;-)?

You think the pockets of men's jeans are practical?

[mcnutcase.livejournal.com]

They're not. They're TINY, they drop stuff at the slightest provocation, they're badly placed, and did I mention they're too dang small?

To be honest, we need real clothes for real men as well. Such as an acknowledgement that, large as my neck is, my shoulders are STILL broad out of proportion to it... that I'm really *not* that tall for my waist size... that yes, my hands really *are* that large... and while we're at it, shoes that are too flat can be just as painful as too elevated (I do best with a surprising amount of heel for a male shoe - when the range is already limited by the huge size of my feet...)

Re: You think the pockets of men's jeans are practical?

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

They're usually better than women's clothes. We should stage a protest somewhere in New York's garment district and everybody show up naked to gross them out forcing them to take measures (pun intended) to placate us.

Re: You think the pockets of men's jeans are practical?

[saminz.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Sign me up. (Only in summer, of course!)

Re: You think the pockets of men's jeans are practical?

[saminz.livejournal.com]

Heh - yes, I think so, sorry. I can see why they *might* be badly placed for males, though :-). For me, they work well.

You as a certified geek should probably not leave home without a fisherman's vest, covered in largish pockets where all your gadgets are living and waiting for action ;-). Control has one, and it even looks pretty cool.

And from my experience as a bartender, I can inform you that best for your feet (and tendons in lower leg) are varying heel heights. Within reasonable range, of course. But varying will keep these tendons flexible and prevent any (painful) hardening.
(I prefer a soft moccasin, or a leather half-boot, range from 0 to 7 cm.)

Maybe in Europe...

[naruki-oni.livejournal.com]

The pockets I have seen on jeans (men's and women's) have been roughly hand-sized. Some could be larger, for sure. But they aren't "tiny", except in rare cases where the designer was a complete idiot.

And only the back pockets are attached such that they could possibly fall off, but you'd have to try stuffing an anvil in there before they'd be stressed enough. Front pockets are slits with an inner bag which is fairly durable.

I just wonder why it's so freaking hard to get tee shirts with a pocket. Especially ones with pictures or stuff on them.

Re: Maybe in Europe...

[saminz.livejournal.com]

Correct, roughly hand sized. And it has little to do with Europe, I'd say. We get the same brands. I used to like the Lee "riders" until they vanished. Now it's a LeeCoooper variety.

Polos have pockets, no?
Pictures and stuff I wouldn't reallly advise for guys over 16, actually :-P.
Text can be fun, though....

[gyrbyl.livejournal.com]

Amen amen amen amen amen amen amen

I recently discovered Doc Martens, and I don't think I'm EVER going back to narrow-toe-stupid-design-flimsy-ugly-and-just-plain-hurts hell of womens' footwear again. If only some company would do the same thing for clothes...

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Oh I could rant for pages on the shoe issue. My mother was one of the loons who wore high heel pumps with pointy toes until it totally fucked up her feet. She had a closet full of shoes she could no longer wear. I used to call her the Imelda Marcos of Honey Creek. Those types of shoes are instruments of torture, not footwear.

You're right about the Docs. I miss mine. They finally wore out last year. I'd like to get another pair to last me another fifteen years.

[nin-wife.livejournal.com]

I will go with the high heels, but even I won't cross the line to the pointed toe shoes. Those are insane. As for heels, I only do them at work on days that I know I will be sitting at my desk most of the time. Otherwise, I pick my comfy shoes.

But come one, you have to admit that nothing is sexier than a woman in heels. She has better posture, her butt sticks out, and her calves pop out and make her legs look hot. Jason seems to like seeing me in them anyway.