Thanksgiving from Another Angle

Call me cheesy for making a “Thanksgiving” post; I’ve just gotta do it. Hopefully my version of Thanksgiving will appeal to all you fashionistas.

Quick note: I will never forget my fifth grade “social studies” test on the pilgrims where we were required to define terms and unfortunately “Plymouth” was one I was completely unacquainted with. Yikes! I’ve come a long way…

So, the utopian story of Thanksgiving constitutes of happy Wampanoag Native Americans sitting down peacefully and harmoniously (No, I will not be getting into their controversial relationship even though it seems like it) with the survivors of the Mayflower, feasting for three days in Plymouth, Massachusetts! If the whole Thanksgiving story seems way distant to you, keep on reading…The pilgrims seemed to be risking a lot, leaving Britain for this mysterious “new land” which they knew nothing about. They weren’t only risking their lives…they were risking their style.

The ritzy British had a lot more in common with us than we think. After doing some “research” (Yes, Wikipedia might be wrong, but they make it just too easy to ignore them), I noticed that if you nit-pick little fashion trends of 2010 and link them to Britain in the 1620s, we’ve actually never been more in tune with the Motherland. As 1620 rolled around, women started wearing high-waisted skirts! Now I know what you’re thinking, “Eileen, when have high-waisted skirt not been in style for wannabe hipsters (including myself)?” Okay, you didn’t say the “including myself” part, but I’m having quite the grammar panic! (I also want to mention that in the 1620s the waistline rose for men as well—something that hasn’t quite caught on with us yet). There was some point in fashion history where people were thinking “how low can you go” and were basically showing the entire area between the centimeter above their…you know what…through their bare midriff (those were not the days). Anyways, another style popularized in the 1620s was sheer lace! This is a style I am personally a fan of, as long as you wear something underneath of course like these fancy chicks did. Corsets also seem to be pretty “in vogue” right now, and I can argue that women of the 1620s wore corsets…but under their clothing.

 I could have sworn I saw these in Steve Madden the other day

Pilgrim women on the other hand opted for bright solid colors (unexpected, I know). Their religion did not restrict them to dark, gloomy colors, and they were experimenting with enough color dyes to produce a rainbow. (I don’t think they wore tie-dye though—still not justified). They wore long skirts, gathered at the waist, and usually long-sleeved…and don’t forget the bonnets (to keep their hair clean)! Sounds pretty modest for fleers of British religious control!

            Anyways…have a happy Thanksgiving! (And eat enough turkey for the both of us—I just don’t like it!)

            Fare thee well (that’s goodbye in old English),

                        Eileen

Thank you to my sources of knowledge and photo:

Mrs. Ender’s fifth grade social studies class

http://www.sail1620.org/history/articles/106-pilgrim-clothing.html

http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/page3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1600–1650_in_fashion

            

Alexander McMET

Rumor has it that the Metropolitan Museum of Art (a.k.a my favorite place in the whole wide world) is jumping on the bandwagon in honoring Alexander McQueen through a major costume exhibit planned to open in early May of 2011. His suicide was mourned by the entire fashion world and the price tags on his clothing grew (I know, you didn’t think it was possible, well it was).  The MET’s costume exhibits are always jaw-dropping and I don’t expect anything less than that for McQueen’s honorary exhibit. I will never forget my first one in 2006, “Nan Kempner: American Chic.” I won’t lie and say that I knew who she was prior to the exhibit, but after leaving, I was more than inspired. One piece I will never forget was her baby blue Dior ski outfit. It made me want to ski (and I truly, passionately, vehemently despise skiing--so that's impressive). The most recent exhibit was “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity,” and I loved it! Each room was a different decade starting with the 1890s; they were decorated to perfection! My big dislike was that they put the 1950s-2000s in one room with projectors displaying fashion images in little squares on all four walls and the ceiling. Don’t get me wrong, its cool, but I was kind of looking forward to seeing the full-skirted 50s, the mod/hippie 60s, bellbottomed 70s, Madonna-inspired 80s, and 90s…well, I don’t really know. Anyways, what they basically did was condense all of that fashion history into one room...whatever! Even when I know there is no exhibit going on there I will skip past the mummies (I really do skip), turn the corner, only to find that my anticipation has been shot by a “Do Not Enter” sign. Oh well. 

Check out a preview of Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2010 collection...

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/int/en/corporate/archive2011_pss_womens.aspx

Sometimes, I think clothing shouldn't be allowed to be this beautiful! 

До свидания!, (that is goodbye in Russian--learn something new everyday), 

Eileen 

Who Needs Versailles...My Dorm is Awesome!

Is it just me, or is it weird that the title of my blog is “Home Sweet Dorm,” yet I have not showed you, or proved to you for that matter, that I actually live in a dorm? For all you know, I can be a fifty-three year old man with a beer-belly writing from my cubicle at a car dealership in Topeka, Kansas (not that there is anything wrong with Topeka…I am sure it’s a great place), and my fifty-fourth birthday is approaching so in order to make myself feel young again I am pretending to be a happy-go-lucky teenybopper (O.K. Maybe I took it a little too far). So here it is… “mon château” (mon petit château).

Farewell,

Mademoiselle Eileen (got in a weird French mood over there…get used to it)

Mini-Hallway

Body Builder

No, this blog post is will not be discussing the muscle tees and the misfortunes of those who wear them outside the gym (I’m just kidding, I like muscle tees as casual wear—I just sometimes like to pretend that I am more critical than I truly am—-more simply put…I like anything and everything). I will actually be telling you about another ‘out of my mind’ outfit. My theory here, if you have big arms…embrace them! The more arm the merrier. The sweater below is one that I purchased at a Krizia sample sale four/five years ago and have not failed to throw it on at the slightest indication of winter since. Let’s backtrack, shall we? You might be thinking, “What possessed her to go to a Krizia sample sale?” Simple: A grandma willing to take a clothing obsessed middle-schooler to a sample sale is like a superhero coming to save a baby from a pool of sharks (I only use that example because I am extremely, seriously afraid of sharks—expose my sweet eyes to a picture of a shark and You. Will. Die.) In addition, my grandmother gets a hefty amount of sample sale postcards, and figures that a sample sale is a lot more exciting than a uptight department store…so let the pushing and shoving begin! I will never forget that day. It was the first time I ever saw a “communal” fitting room. I remember asking my grandma, “You mean, I have to take off my clothes in front of all of these people?” For a few sweaters…so-o worth it (just kidding…). So now you know, I am not actually a body builder…but I do wish I was just a little bit stronger! Another thing you might have learned...every piece of clothing has a story, if it does...you're boring. (kidding again!)

Poodles (sweater kind of looks like a poodle), 

Eileen 

Funky Sophistication

Ten year olds dont wear heels, but I did. I would march around my house in stilettos three sizes too big and beg (BEG!) my mother to let me out of the house in them for just a minute. I was a major rebel when it came to fashion. If someone heard a recurrent banging coming from the attic, it was me parading on my tredmill at 3.6 miles per hour in clogs, heels, wedges...anything. Luckily, my premature heel-wearing led to graceful strutting as an adult. My mutinous undertakings didn't end there. Growing up, every now and then I would come home with a piece that would make my mom say..."Eileen, what the hell is that?" I will never give up on a five-dollar, fluffy pink coat from H&M. Picture a salmon colored gorilla suit...fabulous (not sarcastic)! My mom threatened that she would not allow it in my house, so I answered that I will keep the coat in the trunk of my car...I don't give up. Some call it unique...others say I'm outright nuts...

Au Revoir, 

Eileen

Double Trouble

I am a BIG stocking fan. Why? Because they’re chic (I think), and so comfortable they shouldn’t even be deemed fashionable. A typical outfit for me involves pairing funky colored and patterned stockings with a black mini-sweater-dress, a.k.a the only reason why I like winter. Anywho, today was one of those days. What better way to ring in a mid-November Wednesday (officially the worst day of the week) then with an Urban Outfitter’s black scoop neck sweater-dress and a pair of stockings. But wait. Don’t “X” the screen…yet. The excitement does not end there. Let me backtrack a bit...

My whole life I would scour through my sock drawer (it should really be called a stocking drawer, since I own circa three pairs of socks…now let me exit this tangent—we will discuss my lack of socks on a later date) and lay out three to four different pairs of tights and choose one. Red, purple, green, blue? Making big life decisions is just too hard. But don’t worry! American Apparel has actually made that verdict considerably easier for me….suspense….suspense….Tada! It's tights that have two colors! One per leg. Confused? Don’t be! Today, my right leg was purple and my left green but I can always change it up if I want to. Call me crazy, but the puzzled looks I get just by walking to class, or in various elevators around the city are priceless. Why wear one color tights, when you can wear two?