Monday, April 23, 2018

Who is Sylvia?

Sylvia Plath 1932-1963

Sylvia Plath was my first encounter with disappointment, hers and mine. After hearing so much about it, I finally read that 1963 novel, The Bell Jar. I was a young woman in New York, working at a fashion magazine—"Glamour", a competitor of "Mademoiselle", where Sylvia had been a summer intern. Instead of an optimistic, lighthearted look at life in New York City, this was decidedly the other side of paradise. Beautiful writing notwithstanding, Sylvia's sharp observations and inner turmoils color The Bell Jar. Many have responded to it, but then and there I was not having it.

Over time I took The Bell Jar less personally and have come to appreciate her sensitive but tormented soul, stilled early by the demons she wrote about. Her suicide has us asking, "What if?". What if she had written more? What if she had found the answers? What if? What if? In this proto-feminism age her husband Ted Hughes became something of a villain. His own efforts to clarify that did nothing to dispel the notion.

Sylvia's kilt as worn by its lucky bidder

I just read a piece in the New York Times about a sale of Syliva Plath's personal items. They were ordinary—the plaid kilt from her time studying at Smith College, three watches with worn wristbands, an inexpensive costume jewelry pendant, some mundane dresses, and a pale turquoise portable typewriter. These were offered at auction by her daughter, Fiona Hughes, now 58, a painter and poet, who was only a toddler when Sylvia killed herself. She chose to let go of the possessions of a woman she barely remembers so they wouldn't disappear into the flotsam and jetsam of items in her own life, their provenance erased over time. You can copy and paste to read for yourself:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/style/sylvia-plath-auction-bonhams-frieda-hughes.html

Her dress, her watches
 
Sylvia Plath's clothes have made their way into other collections. Her Girl Scout uniform and prom dress are part of the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection. The uniform is presently on display at Washington's Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, part of the exhibit, "One Life: Sylvia Plath." It was chosen by curators over the prom dress as its many badges point to her being an early Type A individual.  

Sylvia's Girl Scout uniform on display

I have a fake fur hat that belonged to my mother and that she wore often. I can't part with it. After her own mother died a friend sent me the plaid blazer my mother had made for her. She knew that would mean a lot—a remembrance of them both. So it is with celebrities. I would rather own a scarf that belonged to Audrey Hepburn, one she may have worn,  than a photo personally autographed to me. The clothing and trinkets we wear capture us for others, even those we don't know.

Our clothing says that these are our choices. Aside from a uniform, clothes we choose to wear have gone through our thought process. There was a reason we picked that style or pattern. That's why celebrity watching on the red carpet holds little interest for me. The looks are impersonal, the work of a second or third party.

We may never know Sylvia Plath as she struggled to know herself. What touched her though, touches us.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Madras Has a Moment

Going for Baroque

I have a soft spot for Madras. Just thinking about the dark green and navy plaid skirt I owned in the early '60s reminds me of undergraduate years in art school and working summers on Cape Cod. Back then wearing Madras as an art student would not have been considered ironic. And I worked hard in Provincetown to buy the hand-crafted leather sandals worn with it. I remember that skirt like yesterday. I'm not sure I ever washed it.

The way we wore it

The immediate reference to Madras is preppy America circa 1960, but it's been around far longer. From first Dutch and then English traders to India in the 17th century, Madras first  arrived in America as a donation to the present Yale University in 1718. Sears offered a madras shirt to American consumers in its 1897 catalog.


Mad Man wearing Madras

Authentic Madras must be woven in and around Chennai (formerly Madras), India. It must be handwoven with the same pattern on both sides. The nature of the fiber makes for tiny bumps known as slubs. It's rare for Madras not to be woven in plaids, but there are stripes and solids. Another popular style of Madras is patched Madras, small squares of fabric stitched together before the garment is cut. That has always been my favorite—a veritable Whitman's Sampler of color and chaos. Then there is bleeding Madras, which would run like the devil when washed. The payoff would result over time in very faded Madras.


Thom Browne Fall 2018

Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren always have some Madras in their collections. J Crew is a fan. And a man in Madras still makes my heart go pitter-pat.


So while the popularity of Madras waxes and wanes, it's never really "out". And sometimes it's very "in". On Thursday Uniqlo is unveiling its collaboration with JW Anderson (thanks to D.O. for the heads-up), featuring two pieces of Madras in a blouse and long wrap skirt. They are just enough to give the collection some preppy authenticity, but not enough Madras for me.

Uniqlo $29.90
Uniqlo, $49.90

May we have some more please?

NOTE: A reliable source tells me that the Madras at UNIQLO is actually plaid seersucker. That means someone else needs to bring back Madras, and I need to post a love letter to seersucker!
MB 


Thursday, April 12, 2018

Women We Love: Maye Musk

 
Let's wish an early "Happy Birthday" to Maye Musk, who will turn 70 on April 19. If the name sounds familiar, Elon Musk, a founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors, is one of her three children. But Maye Musk was not suddenly discovered when Elon became rich and famous. She has been modelling for over 50 years, has masters degrees in dietetics and nutritional science and is an author and motivational speaker. Oh yes, she's one of Cover Girl's latest finds and their oldest spokesmodel.

Maye with son Elon Musk

Born in Canada, her family were adventurous nomads who moved to South Africa when Maye was 2. Educated there, she married an engineer and had three children before a divorce in 1979. It was Elon who decided to move to Canada after high school. Maye followed with the other children.

She had been a model since age fifteen, always expecting to be told she was over the hill, but work was steady. She continued modelling in Canada and earned a few more degrees in nutrition-related studies.

Maye's many modelling assignments
 
Certainly the last few years have been a whirlwind of activity as Maye is being "discovered" all over the world. Besides Cover Girl, she has walked runways, is the inspiration for a collection by Sachin + Babi, appeared in a Beyonce video and on a James Bond video game. She has done campaigns for Target, Virgin Atlantic, Revlon and Kellog's and is now pretty much a celebrity in her own right.

In an interview you can see here (copy then paste the link): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4978844/Model-Maye-Musk-reveals-beauty-secrets-DailyMailTV.html
Maye comes across as charming and delighted to be "near her peak." She also rightly considers herself an inspiration for younger models who may think they are getting too old to find work.  She tells a great story that at 42 she was "the oldest model in Canada" and was hired to portray a grandmother. Now she is told "you don't look like a grandmother", and she has ten grandchildren.

Quirky in Barney's spring campaign
Relaxed off set
 
Like all great models she is quite an actress and can project haughty, sophistcated or blase as well as chic or playful. Her brilliant white hair is a great assest, but like many women she had to decide when to let it happen.

As it was a "mousey brown" (I can relate), she started putting in highlights and was pretty much a blonde by her late '50s. She was tired of the effort and decided to see what was underneath "even if I never work again." She admits the blonde with a growing-out white halo may have looked strange, but she was determined and never resorted to wearing hats. What evolved is a gorgeous white which, when cropped into a modern cut, has been her crowning glory.

At one time she had put on enough weight to qualify as a plus-size model, but used her own knowledge to slim down and now: "I know all about the science behind healthy eating, but science does not give you willpower. When you get older, you have to eat better than you used to because if you let yourself go, it’s really hard to get back on track."

Maye's 1996 book on healthful living has long been out of print but a copy is available on Amazon for $1073. I have a feeling she may be writing another soon.