On eccentric glamour
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
On the plane from Chicago I read the following in an interview with Simon Doonan, author of Eccentric Glamour –
Eccentric glamoristas love fashion but are not dictated to by trends. They treat clothing as a form of personal expression and are less about layering designer labels than the creative manner of mix-and-matching to achieve a look. [Our customers have] a high tolerance for eccentricity. She is looking for quirk. She does not dress head-to-toe in one designer.
Which sums up my general approach to clothes, though my practical application has varied.
But “lately/there’s been a lot going on.”
Psychologically, after years of androgyny I’ve become more comfortable with traditional expressions of “masculinity,” as my friends and private-blog readers already know. And this has thrown my whole aesthetic into confusion. There’s a tension — not a contradiction, but I think a tension — between “eccentric glamor” and the implicit conformity of mainstream masculine self-presentation.
While we’re on the subject, I do feel some qualms about spending tons of time and/or money on clothes. I’m far from my days of Quaker plain dress, but I still hanker sometimes for a simple wardrobe, made of a small number of fantastic things.
But can a wardrobe be small, durable and fantastic at the same time?
Tags: clothes, consumerism, fashion, masculinity, personal, plain dress, Quakers, simplicity
