SHOULD YOU GO WITH THE LOOK THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU?

I remember how shocked everybody was when Pat Boone, the world's most wholesome and clean-cut singer, tried to recast his image as a bad dude homeboy. Meg Ryan did the same thing. Both were tired of being typecast. Maybe it's a sign of the times.

I'm amazed how many people would answer the question, "Should you go with the look that's right for you?" with a "No." Lots of people deliberately dress in a way they know doesn't match their physique or their personalities.

It's all about image and lifestyle. People dress to conform to a lifestyle or to express their rebellion against a lifestyle. People want to look good, but are willing to accept just plain okay, or even positively bad, if it means they can lead "The Life."

The girl above is a case in point. With her physical type she should probably dress neat and casual like a 70s airline stewardess. It's not a bad look, but instead she goes for an awkward dominatrix feel. Now there's nothing wrong with looking like a dominatrix if you have the face and body for it... but does she? I don't read her as being particularly edgy. She strikes me as someone who'd just doesn't like to be thought of as old-fashioned.

One of the reasons people dress against type is because they're afraid that looking like the detested type will actually cause them to act that way. Maybe they're right. I always act a little like the way I dress. I guess that's why schools insist on uniforms (above). The idea is that if you look neat and studious, then you'll behave that way.

But there's a counter-argument that says you should dress for physical type. There's an intuitive rightness about it. People who do it are often charismatic and envied by other people. Take the girl above: the mod Peter Sellers look isn't right for everybody, but if fits her like a glove. No doubt her personality's had to deform a bit in the Peter Sellers direction, but she looks confident and happy, and you get the feeling that the trade off was worthwhile.

Did this girl (above) change her personality to fit her hair? Who knows? In her case it doesn't matter because she's a perfect physical fit for the Barbi look and when a fit is that perfect, the wearer has no choice but to go with it. Her parents, her friends, other women, kids, people on the street...everyone would have conspired to push her in one direction. People instinctively want you to play the cards you're dealt.

For my part, I truly believe that if you're lucky enough to have a physical type that fits a certain look, then you should commit to that look 100%. If you don't, you'll come off as a person who's not comfortable in his own skin.

If you're a conservative but you look good as a goth or a hip hopper then you should go for it. If you're a liberal but you look good in golf shirts, then that's the look for you. It'll change you a little bit, but you'll be happier, and I don't think really deep convictions are easily changed by the way you dress.

WHAT THEY'RE WEARING IN BULGARIA

Embroidery is a huge subject which I won't even attempt to do justice to here. I just want to promote an exceptionally good book on the subject, the one pictured above by Sheila  Paine. 

The book has a number of pictures of textile bazaars, like this one (above) in central Asia.  If you're there and you're an artist, then this is where you'll spend most of your travel money. 

Here's (above) a market place in Guatemala. A riot of color!


Above, a Peruvian textile scroll depicting all sorts of deities, including river gods. Ma-a-a-an! Very Nice!

Embroidery is still alive and well in Spain and Portugal. The guy above is wearing a shirt with symbols of love on it.  I find that touching. The man proudly wears a shirt that declares that he's loved by a woman who's handy with a needle. It's so charming and primal.

White shirts with understated red trim like this also used to be common in Poland and North Germany. 

 

Oddly enough France, which taught the world about color during the Impressionist period, put most of its embroidery energy in recent centuries into plain white lace.

Not so with the Czechs. Here's a Moravian girl (above) in traditional dress. A long time ago Moravia used to be a separate country but is now incorporated into The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.


Elaborate embroidery is often associated with power or status, as it is with these African chiefs (above). It's a mostly woman's art.  You could say that it's a gift that women have been giving family members and the powerful for possibly thousands of years.  It's a terrific present, but I find myself wondering how people who live in the outback manage to keep it clean. They must sell a lot of stain remover in those countries. 

You've probably seen variations of this Pakistani costume (above) before. There's a village there that outdoes everybody in the region.

Here's (above) a small hanging from Tajikistan, which I assume is near Afghanistan. It's mostly blue anchoring down red with an amazing greenish-grey highlight. I've never seen grey used as a highlight color before.

Here (above) a Transylvanian woman wears an outfit consisting of different kinds of wool. The region is still famous for its embroidery but it's transitioning into weaving and other techniques. Embroidery is becoming a lost art; it's just too labor intensive.

Did anyone do more elaborate embroidery than the Chinese? Here's a detail from an official court robe, replete with the dragons, cranes, and traditional flaming pearl. The multiple shades of blue blobs (clouds?) with white highlights are an awesome background for the dragon.