Fashion trends are marketed relentlessly and then made obsolete by forces unknown to the average woman but markedly decisive within the fashion industry. They, the insiders, know exactly when to change the silhouette of a dress or a suit that will leave the fashion conscious dissatisfied with what is in the closet no matter how expensive or stylish it only recently was. Fashion designers are so quick to bring in the new, women are still digesting the trends of the previous year before something newer is on the horizon. All this makes for some unsettling bouts of shopping, erratic spending and preoccupation with minutiae.
Some women do not go in for fashion and are spared this encumbrance - obsessing over what to wear, when to wear it and whose opinion matters on what one wears. They are fortunate, but some would utter, clueless, and blithely peruse the latest catalog or online designer site.
Let me tell you about a very attractive Manhattan woman named Lisa who spent a good sum of money to own a dress by the designer heralded as the future of fashion. His designs were in all the magazines and he even appeared on a popular afternoon TV talk show because the host was in love, love, love with his sophisticated, pared-down sleek creations. Everyone wanted to get their hands on his dresses and suits. The prices were astronomical for a fairly new designer but he had no shortage of customers. All the most fashionable women, as well as the celebrated celebrities were seen in the front row of his runway shows.
Lisa spent nearly a year trying to buy one of his dresses; they were immediately snapped up in the stores by elite clientele and never made it to the floor. She was also plagued with a husband who was just not that convinced the sum needed to wear this particular designer was money well spent. “You’ll only wear it once, maybe twice before you'll be tired of it,” he said. He had some familiarity not only with Lisa’s closet but with her charge cards.
Lisa argued that this design star was here to stay and his clothing would be timeless. “I will wear this dress forever, it will never go out of style,” she said. “It is a classic, trust me. I do know something about fashion, after all.” This retort is one she often used to justify her clothing extravagances, if she happened to spend a little more on something her husband might question. With the argument considered won on her part, she began an aggressive campaign to find and purchase a dress bearing this prestigious label.
She went online to all the usual places the fashion-conscious trawl looking for designer bargains. She called everyone she knew to help track down one of his dresses at a price she could afford. She could not go over twenty-five hundred dollars, she lamented. Several personal shoppers told her to forget it. But Lisa was an experienced shopper; she knew she would find it eventually and at a price she would be willing to pay. She just had to persevere. It was early winter. She had until spring when the museum gala was scheduled. She was on the planning committee and no detail could be left to fate.
She visualized wearing the dress; she had some experience with visualization also. She drew a picture of herself in the dress and pasted it in her journal. She cut out pictures from magazines of the designer’s line and printed out online photos of his spring show. She made a little fantasy collage, certain it would soon be a reality. None of this she told her husband - he was a cold-hard-facts sort of man. Meanwhile she was saving money from the household expenses so she would have funds available when the time came. She did not want to have to plead with her husband over the cost. She usually got what she wanted in the end but had to fight for it and this upset her. More so, she resented it. She said she was doing him a favor as she represented him, and in turn, his firm, in their social circle. It was to his benefit that she look smashing although she could not exactly articulate it in a way that he understood. He just shook his head whenever she used this maneuver. Her husband’s high IQ and ability to argue a case could make her feel awkwardly susceptible to ridicule at times. The less said on these matters, the better, was her private decree.
As with all really tenacious desires, Lisa eventually got her dress, an evening gown that was so subtly chic and simple that it almost looked like athletic wear. It was white with an asymmetrical stripe of red going down the front. It cast a sheen - ever so subtle - unobtrusively eschewing glitz or splash in favor of the divine. It just quietly smoldered on her frame. Lisa had an athletic build so it was a perfect match. She could not wait to appear in this gown, showing off her tennis arms and winter tan. She thought she would be the coolest woman at the ball because of the way it caressed her buff body, emphasized her golden, but not too burnished skin and expertly applied highlights. That everyone would admire her style, that was something she expected, but this time it would be accompanied by genuine awe.
When she modeled it for her husband before they set off, he demonstrated the appropriate zeal for a dress he knew cost him a small fortune, but not wanting to spoil the evening, held off any further inquiry. He would learn soon enough. “Yooou loook marvelous,” he said in an imitation of Billy Crystal’s SNL character. She just tossed her flawless tresses, also expensive. (He did know the dollar amount on those sunny waves but let it be.)
“You will be so impressed tonight,” she said, “your wife will command all the attention and you will be the envy of the ball.” She laughed as she put her lipgloss that would not clash with her dress, into her evening bag. Someone more obvious, she thought, would match a red lipstick to the stripe in the dress but I never go for the obvious effect. That was her favorite fashion dictate and she was proud of it. “Let us be off, then, shall we? she tittered attempting to imitate Queen Elizabeth. The couple was in excellent spirits looking forward to the fine champagne they would drink.
But a funny thing happened that spring. The designers, for whatever reason they inexorably latch onto a new idea, decided that flouncy, floral rather English looking dresses but with an edge would be nice. It may have started in Hollywood where a certain stylishly presented actress was seen wearing this type of dress promoting her latest movie set in 1940s, the movie and the costumes a big hit. Who can say? A trend can crop up in any place or time and change the fashion world. In any case, it appeared the designers, and their haute clientele were tired of minimal chic and wanted a whole new look for spring. It could not have been a more startling about-face.
Our lovely Lisa appeared in her expensive dress she had been saving for all winter, without her husband’s knowledge, and what do you think she saw at the ball? The coolest women were in flowers and ruffles and full skirts, taffeta and chiffon and all things girlish. They also changed from straight blowouts to a more floaty feminine hairstyle and made up their glowing faces in brighter hues. In contrast, Lisa looked like she just hopped over from the YWCA after working out. Her dress was minimal, her makeup neutral and her hair just so everyday. When her picture was taken for a society magazine, she looked like an amazon amongst the foliage. Her face was grim, he jaws were clenched. She was more than a little confused and embarrassed. When had this happened?
Lisa went home early with a headache and for a time, hid her dress in her closet, out of sight, out of mind. Her husband, completely flummoxed over her abrupt mood change waited a month before mentioning the cost of the dress. By then, to Lisa, it was old news. She sold it for a fraction of the price on e-bay to some clueless rube in the heartland.
She could not look at the designer’s fall show without feeling queasy. But she gave him little thought - she was now in search of the newest style, so elusive, even she, an ardent student of fashion, had not quite caught its drift. This kept Lisa busy but something was lost that spring. She no longer trusted her judgment. She still pretended to be confidently fashion forward but there was a little furrow in her brow when she shopped. Could she be behind the trend? She could not rid herself of this looming uncertainty.
Moral of the story: While our lady was trying to make the fashion grade, she became obsessed and did not notice that fashion moves at the speed of light. She developed tunnel vision. Fashion, shopping and women are joined together in symmetry. But you have to be quick. Designers wait for no woman. You have to be able to see into the future. Lisa lay awake many nights thinking of all the variables involved in a style decision. Her husband knew nothing of any of it. He would not understand her personal crisis and she couldn’t make him.
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