Can Clothing Be Discussed Wisely?

[Marc Chevalier]

.

"Fashion is spinach!", said Elizabeth Hawes in 1938 -- and she was right. (In this context, "spinach" = b.s.)


Minds both famous and obscure have said wise words about the way we cover our hides. The Golden Era had its share of pundits, but so did the Renaissance ... and ancient China, for that matter.


Here's a fine observation by Shosuke Ishizu, one of the authors of "Take Ivy": a seminal 1965 photo book documenting Ivy Leaguers in their native garb. Mr. Ishizu recently said:


"Dressing well is supported by both a consciousness of oneself as a human being and an intelligent expression of one's attempt to enjoy life."


An elegant coda to Shakespeare's "The apparel oft proclaims the man", no?


Do you have any 'clotheable' quotes to share here? Hope so!

 

[rue]

Not sure if I follow you, but how about....

It's not what you wear - it's how you take it off. ~Author Unknown

Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess. ~Edna Woolman Chase

 

[Pompidou]

When you can't do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing. ~Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent. A person, yes. ~Robert A. Heinlein

If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck? ~Linda Ellerbee

A man hasn't got a corner on virtue just because his shoes are shined. ~Anne Petry

It's always the badly dressed people who are the most interesting. ~Jean Paul Gaultier

Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are. ~Quentin Crisp

 

[Haversack]

"Clothes make the man.
Naked people have little or no influence on society”
-Sam Clemens.

 

[Tomasso]

Not sure if I follow you

Same here. Is the subject clothing/fashion/style quotes?

 

[rue]

Same here. Is the subject clothing/fashion/style quotes?

Yes, he assured me it was exactly those

 

[Tomasso]

Well then, this is one of my favorites:

“A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care, and then forgotten all about them.”
― Hardy Amies


Often when people compliment me on my attire I actually have to look at what I'm wearing because I'd forgotten.

 

[rue]

I'm sure that happens quite a bit A.C.



Fashion fades, only style remains the same. ~Coco Chanel

Fashion is in a terrible state. An overdose of too much flesh. ~Geoffrey Beene

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

"Clothes make the man.
Naked people have little or no influence on society”
-Sam Clemens.

The quote I was gonna use. Very astute insight into human nature by Mark Twain.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

...........Hans Christian Anderson,
The Emperor's new clothes;

(the little innocent child says), "but he has no clothing on"!


Gilda Radner, "I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch".

Francoise Sagan, " A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off of you".

 

[AntonAAK]

"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. " - Oscar Wilde

 

[LizzieMaine]

"For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"

-- James 2:3-4.

 

[scottyrocks]

'Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women.'
-- Elsa Schiaparelli

 

[scottyrocks]

'The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress.'
-- Hubert de Givenchy

 

[scottyrocks]

'Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.'
-- Gore Vidal

 

[LoveMyHats2]

'Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.'
-- Gore Vidal

I like that one very much!