From John Baker, a book that might be of interest:

1st February 2003.
I'm reading A Second Skin, edited by Kirsty Dunseath. A collection of stories and essays by women about clothes. Research. Wonderful. Some of the women involved: Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Shields, AL Kennedy, Helen Dunmore, Freya North and Margaret Atwood. Lots of others, not such big names but great writers. It's a book about silver shoes and stripy socks, purple crimplene, cashmere coats, blouses, zippers, basques and handbags.

I spent last weekend looking round Glasgow for the sort of place that Worldcon-going fans might want to visit next year. Mostly, of course, I was hunting down second hand bookstores. But Ken directed me to a place called Starry, Starry Night, a vintage clothing shop close to Hillhead subway station. Sadly I didn't have a lot of time to look around, and it wasn't one of Glasgow's better weather days, but I certainly want to go back and browse. I think our American friends will like it. There's a good combination of tartan non-tat and elegant 1920's dresses, tea rooms for the visiting of in.

I'm not going to post the picture this time, but check it out.

From here.

Can we blame Donna Haraway for this? Cyborgs R Us?

LiveJournal user 'jwz' has found a fashion atrocity. He comments I would have expected that one couldn't go wrong with chicks wearing tv parts. I was mistaken.

Office Blossom Gear

What I was saying about Japan's being weird ... BoingBoing reports Office lady uniform catologues.

A super full-color publication documenting the cutest blazers, skirts, outfits and different uniform styles as introduced to you by the hottest current race queens.

This and lots more curious cutenes here.

Pirates of Plokta



I guess I should apologize for not having thought to take notes for this blog on the piratical fashions at Plokta.con, but here are some pictures.

Eyes like two shiny acid-green pools

Just when you thought Japan couldn't get stranger, you learn about Mills and Boon manga.

[T]he psychedelic colour scheme is a far cry from the subdued tones normally associated with romantic love.

And while the hero's chiselled jaw might attract a British romance fan, the heroine presents quite a different prospect. Her enormous eyes, dwarfing a mouth and nose of doll-like proportions, are like two shiny acid-green pools.

So, er, who is coming to the Clarke Award and what are we all wearing?

(Don't look at me. I've miscalculated and all of my posh frocks are stuck in California.)

Aha! A costuming site that I didn't know about. Thanks Ken!

Umbrella Gothic Lolita

Check this out.

Eastercon was a complete disaster fashion-wise. Liz Williams was very elegant as usual, but with the BSFA Awards being shunted into Sunday afternoon there was no real incentive to dress up.

Blackpool, on the other hand, has a fashion sense all of its own, mainly involving acres of cleavage for the women and shell suits and England sports shirts for the men. The one saving grace was that I found a shop that specialized solely in shoes and boots with stilletto heels and which did not appear to be aimed at transvestites. Sadly it was Sunday morning when I found it and of course it was closed.

Mod-ren Girl

I'm not actually obsessed with her, it's just that Bart posts a picture of her every day at the bottom of his page and I have become fascinated by how different she looks in each picture. And in case you were looking for a prom dress: Take it away, Shirley!

It started with a lick

One of my LiveJournal friends posted an entry consisting only of "OMG!" as a link to an eBay auction.



It turns out that My Teacup Pup produces more than just designer sandals for dogs. They do T-shirts, and jumpers with iridescant wings, and knitted dresses, and Female IN-HEAT Cheerleader Short! Don't forget the accessories. My cats would never put up with this kind of nonsense.

Sweater Girl

Fabulous pop star Shirley Manson of Garbage has no arms!

An over-the-top bra



Well, I don't think this would look right under my t-shirts, and it's a bit on the pricey side, but...gosh.

Just to let you know, the Sydney sales turned up trumps again. I now have my dress for the Hugo ceremony in Boston. List price AU$259, sale price AU$89. I love Australia.

Drag for women

Had I not wanted to make it myself, and if money had really been no object, I would've got my wedding dress from Chantal Mallett. In her own words:

The collection ranges from simple, classic dresses in traditional wedding shades to more elaborate creations, suitable for clientele with a taste for the more unusual or those with a themed wedding in mind. These include a stunning red bridal gown in crushed velvet called Damsel & a, Diva like, white fishtailed gown trimmed with feathers & Swarovski crystals named Ice Queen. My designs are a mix of the various era's & styles that inspire me: from Medieval, Gothic & Elizabethan influences to touches of pre-Raphaelite & fairytale to curvaceous silhouettes straight out of 1950's & 60's Hollywood.

And yes, there are designs for those who like both froth and frills, and those who like simple elegance.

Semiotics

Just hit a minor semiotic squick with the picture posted below. Not quite the same as Avedon's, but ... it's like gender-bending and cross-dressing are OK but lingerie for men isn't. Don't ask me why. Minds are peculiar.

Gross me out

Oh, Feorag, that was cruel.

Maybe this is a bit better?

One of my kinks is that I like men either fully-dressed or stark naked, but not in their underwear. And not in mine, either!

A tuxedo would be cool....

Let's face it, boxers are dull.

Found in the timesink that is Something Awful - Manties - Panties made for men, for the discerning gentleman who realises that women's panties simply don't fit properly.

For those nights and days, when you want to be and feel a little special, naughty, and very sexy, these Manties are for you. Once you have them on, it will be "hard" to take them off. They are made of nylon and have the extra room where you need it, for the most comfortable fit there is. Once you try a pair, you will wonder why you never tried them before.

Panties are for the gals

MANties are for the guys

Available in both brief and high cut styles, the number of designs is incredible - lacy numbers, bows and flowers and even embroidered with the days of the week.

The Umbrella Project: Aye, these garments are truly made of umbrellas. Except for the lining of both bodice and skirt, the ensemble is 100% reused Umbrella skin. The goal behind the Umbrella Project is, as you might guess, to reuse the umbrellas that people casually toss aside when they (the umbrellas) fail structurally. And it probably resists beer spills quite nicely too.

I thought hotlinks were the whole point of weblogging.

And I heard a rumor that that pop star is one of your drinking buddies, Ken.

The bra is on sale for 24 squids (on sale!), but I just love all this sheer mesh stuff it's nice to see something in it that isn't covered with heavy embroidery.

Personally I tend not to hotlink because I don't trust the other site to always be there. But then I always build my own web sites too so it is easy for me to host images. I have space and bandwidth and full control over content. I don't think you can upload pictures to blogspot.

Clearly this blog needs links to images in the same way that my own blog, or Ken's, needs links to articles. But I think it is OK to do them via ordinary links the way Ken did with the old gowns.

Two questions

1. Who is the pop star?

2. Isn't hot-linking frowned upon?

(Policy suggestions on this invited.)

Looks to me like two garmnents. There's a white slip underneath and then the black whatever-it-is on top. Doesn't seem to fit very well, but perhaps that's part of the style. Cute hair.

What is this girl wearing?

From the Wednesday-Thursday edition of Bartcop, a fabulous pop star in an outfit I can't quite understand. Wish there were more of her in the photo.

One of the advantages of spending much of my time in America is that their stores are used to the fact that even many teenagers are massively overweight. I love Layne Bryant. They try hard to be fashionable, and the smallest size that they stock is just about right for my currently expanded waistline. I feel so cool being able to ask if they don't have anything slightly smaller.

Cool stuff

Quiet here, init? (Hint.)

Anyway ... check out The Decline of Fashion Photography: an Argument in Pictures (via), and Teresa on Geek knitting and The joy of stitch.