Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
Pure Collection Ltd.
Net-a-porter UK

Tuesday 24 June 2008

'It's not about the dress'

Observations from Patricia Field on style, in which she makes the point that after a certain age, being too thin puts ten years on you and makes you look weak.

(thanks, Ruth, 34 [a different Ruth])

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The link didn't work for me
(Firefox 3, OSX)

Linda Grant said...

Fixed

Susan B said...

She's kind of twitchy, isn't she? (Patricia Fields, that is.)

NancyDaQ said...

Umm, a remarkably conservative look compared with what Ms. Field typically wears. She's usually wears much crazier looking stuff.

Personally I think both Ms. Obama and Ms. McCain look great. However, I wish Ms. McCain would stop with the tightly pulled, matronly bun. If anything ages her, it's that.

Anonymous said...

A very interesting juxtiposition between the candidates' wives, how they dress, how they move and so on. I think she's right about Mrs. McCain, who exudes the essence of right, white matron who is chasing youth through thinness. I'm not sure I would describe her look as 'weak'; I think I would use the word 'brittle' to describe it.

Anonymous said...

The weight issue is very personal I think - what ages one woman may work better on another. Personally when I'm a stone heavier my face really puffs out and ages me and when I lose that stone I get so many compliments on how good I look, even from my mother!

I know what Patricia means about personal style though. I don't like her clothes particularly but I can see they really work for her, as does that amazing hair.

Anonymous said...

I've just had a look at Patricia Fields website mentioned in the interview.
I'm baffled.
It's full of clothes I'd expect to see in shops like "Forever 21" and some of it is - dare I say it? - downright skanky.
I thinks it is very sad to see that the stylist who is an icon for "How to dress after 30" gives her name for something so cheap and tasteless, all in the hope of making a few bucks out of it.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't get passed Patricia Field's voice--a smoker for sure. It also makes me nuts that the Satorialist constantly publishes pictures of fashionable young men and women with cigarettes in their hands.

pennyarrow said...

re the comment about cindy McCain looking brittle rather than weak...I kind of think that amounts to the same thing because the dictionary definition of 'brittle' is 'hard and breakable' and the Thesaurus lists 'fragile' as a synonym...

Anonymous said...

The link didn't work for me so I don't know exactly what Patricia Fields said or wore but I'm sure it was colorful.

I think Cindy McCain's hair and makeup age her more than her thinness. She'd look younger and less harsh in softer colors and a looser hairstyle. The tightly pulled bun and red lipstick really accentuate the sharpness of her features. Michelle Obama's much younger so you can't really compare them but Silda Spitzer is still quite slim and always looks great so it can be done.