Read Online A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style by Tim Gunn, Kate Maloney - Free Book Online
Authors: Tim Gunn, Kate Maloney
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your favorite mentors, this does not give you free rein to dress as an Angelina Jolie or Martha impersonator. Real style is achieved when accenting your signature look with one of theirs.
The Lesson
: No matter how spectacular a look, if the person inside it is bent, lopsided, crumpled, or otherwise hunched, there is simply no saving it. Far too many people, men and women alike, are walking around completely unaware that with a few simple adjustments they could look and feel immeasurably better. It’s time to straighten up and fly right.
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”
—Oscar Wilde
One complaint that many, many women have is that fashion is designed only to be worn by sixteen-year-old Slovenian sylphs. This is, of course, a huge generalization, but it highlights a problem. We are repeatedly asked why designers don’t do more for the shorter, rounder, or older among us. The tone of the question often suggests that the asker is being hampered in her quest for style because of the limited clothing choices available to her. There are a plethora of reasons why the fashion business runs the way it does, and change in this area does not seem too imminent. So why not look at it this way: While it is true that the farther one gets from sample size—the standard size designers work with—the more limited the selection of on-trend looks becomes, this is not necessarily a terrible loss. In fact, it forces one to let go of the idea of fashion and truly embrace her personal style. So, a bit of tough love. We cannot control what designers, magazine editors, and advertisers are going to foist on us next. What we cancontrol is the way we present ourselves. In this chapter we will discuss how to get the most important element in any look—the person inside it—simply glowing with chic.
THE SHOULDER FALLACY
Everybody has been ordered to “Put your shoulders back” by a mother, teacher, or drill sergeant. And how do we comply? We push our shoulder blades back and together with all our might. This position is sustainable for the moment it takes to march out of sight of the authority figure. Once we are alone again, we release our shoulders to their habitually rounded position and slink away. What a tragedy! No one wants bad posture, but the idea of maintaining that uncomfortable “shoulders back” position is unrealistic and far from pleasant. For some, the rounded shoulders act as camouflage, a spine-injuring attempt to deflect notice away from a large bust or tall height. Perhaps you are familiar with “Tall Girl Slump.” The trouble is, posture telegraphs the slumper’s feelings of discomfort and insecurity, making her far more likely to be noticed by those who might wish to take advantage of such a feeling. The well-positioned shoulder tells the world that you are a confident, healthy individual—not a showboat or a dormouse.
Although adopting correct posture habits takes time, the process is not painful and the benefits are immediate. The first, absolutely ironclad rule may seem strange, but here it is: Forget about putting your shoulders back.
Well-positioned shoulders are not achieved by actually putting them “back.” Instead, you must do thefollowing: Focus on pulling the shoulders away from the ears. Imagine drawing the shoulder blades down the back and allowing the collarbone to be as open as possible without thrusting the breast forward. At no time should the shoulder blades be pinned together. This position makes keeping the head perfectly balanced on the neck far easier. This means you’ll sail through life and into old age with a limber body and not a trace of a dowager’s hump. Have you ever heard of a dowager’s hump? This outdated but evocative phrase refers to a curvature of the spine that produces a lump of flesh between the shoulder blades. The curvature is a
The Lesson
: No matter how spectacular a look, if the person inside it is bent, lopsided, crumpled, or otherwise hunched, there is simply no saving it. Far too many people, men and women alike, are walking around completely unaware that with a few simple adjustments they could look and feel immeasurably better. It’s time to straighten up and fly right.
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”
—Oscar Wilde
One complaint that many, many women have is that fashion is designed only to be worn by sixteen-year-old Slovenian sylphs. This is, of course, a huge generalization, but it highlights a problem. We are repeatedly asked why designers don’t do more for the shorter, rounder, or older among us. The tone of the question often suggests that the asker is being hampered in her quest for style because of the limited clothing choices available to her. There are a plethora of reasons why the fashion business runs the way it does, and change in this area does not seem too imminent. So why not look at it this way: While it is true that the farther one gets from sample size—the standard size designers work with—the more limited the selection of on-trend looks becomes, this is not necessarily a terrible loss. In fact, it forces one to let go of the idea of fashion and truly embrace her personal style. So, a bit of tough love. We cannot control what designers, magazine editors, and advertisers are going to foist on us next. What we cancontrol is the way we present ourselves. In this chapter we will discuss how to get the most important element in any look—the person inside it—simply glowing with chic.
THE SHOULDER FALLACY
Everybody has been ordered to “Put your shoulders back” by a mother, teacher, or drill sergeant. And how do we comply? We push our shoulder blades back and together with all our might. This position is sustainable for the moment it takes to march out of sight of the authority figure. Once we are alone again, we release our shoulders to their habitually rounded position and slink away. What a tragedy! No one wants bad posture, but the idea of maintaining that uncomfortable “shoulders back” position is unrealistic and far from pleasant. For some, the rounded shoulders act as camouflage, a spine-injuring attempt to deflect notice away from a large bust or tall height. Perhaps you are familiar with “Tall Girl Slump.” The trouble is, posture telegraphs the slumper’s feelings of discomfort and insecurity, making her far more likely to be noticed by those who might wish to take advantage of such a feeling. The well-positioned shoulder tells the world that you are a confident, healthy individual—not a showboat or a dormouse.
Although adopting correct posture habits takes time, the process is not painful and the benefits are immediate. The first, absolutely ironclad rule may seem strange, but here it is: Forget about putting your shoulders back.
Well-positioned shoulders are not achieved by actually putting them “back.” Instead, you must do thefollowing: Focus on pulling the shoulders away from the ears. Imagine drawing the shoulder blades down the back and allowing the collarbone to be as open as possible without thrusting the breast forward. At no time should the shoulder blades be pinned together. This position makes keeping the head perfectly balanced on the neck far easier. This means you’ll sail through life and into old age with a limber body and not a trace of a dowager’s hump. Have you ever heard of a dowager’s hump? This outdated but evocative phrase refers to a curvature of the spine that produces a lump of flesh between the shoulder blades. The curvature is a
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