Trend has at all times been a favourite sufferer of wits, savants, celebrities and curmudgeons. Within the 40’s, Fashions of The Instances often ran a column known as “What They Say About Trend,” a set of quotes like this zinger from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The sense of being completely well-dressed provides a sense of inward tranquillity which faith is powerless to bestow.”
We’re nonetheless inquisitive about what they are saying, so, to commemorate this anniversary, we requested a rigorously chosen panel of up to date minds, starting from a Prime Minister to a renegade Romanian poet the query “Does style matter?” The solutions, like style itself, had been revealing, humorous, generally unstructured and often simply thrown collectively. ERIC P. NASH Trend issues significantly greater than horoscopes, quite greater than canine exhibits and barely greater than hockey. – ROY BLOUNT JR., creator, “Camels Are Simple, Comedy’s Arduous” Sure, style completely issues, however it does not matter completely. – CLAUDIA SHEAR, author and performer, “Blown Sideways By way of Life” After all style issues, what a dumb query! I used to be raised within the South, and the three most vital issues to a Southern lady are God, household and hair, nearly by no means in that order. Trend is what separates the little women from the ladies – the power to throw on that scarf and simply head out the door. – LUCINDA EBERSOLE, editor, “Mondo Barbie” Individuals have killed for leather-based jackets. My 9-year-old daughter, Leah, squealed with delight once I informed her I used to be shopping for her Doc Martens. An vital second in my grownup life was once I was capable of give away my button-down shirts and put on single-color T-shirts purchased on the sidewalk. Does style matter? No, in no way . . . properly . . . perhaps somewhat. – ERIC KROLL, fetish photographer Trend does not matter to me personally – blue denims, a Barneys shirt together with your initials on it’s at all times good – however theatrically it is every little thing. I get laughs over my costumes, like when Leona Helmsley comes out in a leopard print outfit, even her sun shades have leopard spots on them, and she or he flips off this scarf and there is this massive tiara. Leona’s individuals known as and stated, The place did you get these nice costumes? I informed them, on the Salvation Military and thrift outlets, they usually stated, Leona will die. – NELSON JEWELL, producer, director, “Working Out With Leona” Does style matter? Solely to those that would trouble to reply the query. – EDWARD GOREY, author and illustrator My id as a transsexual lesbian whose feminine lover has turn into a person is manifest in my style assertion: each my id and style are primarily based on collage. You already know – somewhat bit from right here, somewhat bit from there? Kind of a cut-and-paste factor. What I’ve discovered on account of this borderline life is that the extra fluid my id has turn into, and the much less demanding my very own must belong to the camps of male, feminine, homosexual or straight, the extra playful and fewer dictatorial has turn into my style! Thank goodness the gender binary has begun to break down and the previous physique binary is altering . . . it was so boring and predictable, wasn’t it? – KATE BORNSTEIN, performer, creator, “From a Gender Outlaw” Model issues, however following the style does not. I would not put on a brief skirt simply because Versace informed me to. Individuals did that within the 60’s, and we noticed loads of cellulite. There’s nothing worse than to see a lady who’s had two infants in an Alaia costume, with somewhat lump of flab within the center. Individuals ought to put on what seems to be good on them. – TRACEY ULLMAN, actress, “Family Saints” Trend issues to individuals who generate profits out of style. – RITA RUDNER, comic and creator The weirder you are going to behave, the extra regular you need to look. It really works in reverse, too. After I see a child with three or 4 rings in his nostril, I do know there’s completely nothing extraordinary about that particular person. – P. J. O’ROURKE, creator, “Give Struggle a Likelihood” The neon signal of 1’s internal thought is the garments that one places on one’s physique. Trend in some ways defines the self-concept and character of the person, and it provides a message to the viewers. One has to gear one’s message to how severely one needs to be taken. – THE REV. AL SHARPTON, political activist Clothes is used nearly universally to speak socioeconomic standing and sexual availability. Even informal garments have specific labels, and people within the know can inform how a lot you make. T-shirts are a beautiful, comparatively new type of expression that help you talk sexual alerts, membership affiliations, your ZIP code. It goes on and on. – MELVIN KONNER, anthropologist and creator Some individuals use tattoos to precise themselves. Tattoos are like giving myself customized racing stripes. I do not appear to be my dad, and I do not appear to be anyone else. – HENRY ROLLINS, efficiency artist I used to be introduced up in a loopy, neo-beatnik nonmaterialistic household. Garments replicate the person, however in the event you’re sensible you may play with it. Generally I intentionally play with it, and put on one thing preppy with one thing Afrocentric, and one thing I simply discovered. – MARIO VAN PEEBLES, actor and director, “Posse” Way back I found that about the one factor cowboys and Jews have in widespread is that they each prefer to put on their hats indoors. As a Jewish cowboy from Texas who writes thriller novels, I would not be caught useless with out my Willie Nelson Latent Gay Concho Belt and bolo tie with scorpion trapped in amber. I bought this accouterment on the San Antonio Airport reward store; it has been within the household about 48 hours. – KINKY FRIEDMAN, musician, creator, “Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola” Clothes nonetheless identifies social class and aspiration, and the way we work together culturally. Nevertheless it’s not simply the normal concept of a stratified society. Trend is a fancy system with loads of variables and blended alerts. – RICHARD MARTIN, curator, Costume Institute on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork I consider that nice shot in “The Seven Yr Itch” if you see Tom Ewell and all these males going by Grand Central Terminal to work, all carrying the identical swimsuit and tie, they usually’re all carrying hats despite the fact that it is summer time. It was a society that had fewer definitions of self than we do now. One thing that is completely new is that you simply see individuals boarding first-class planes they usually’re carrying swimming trunks. The boundaries on garments have been overthrown. – DAVID HALBERSTAM, creator, “The Fifties” Trend is the instantly recognizable public assertion of identification. It’s the label in your package deal. Do you freely redesign and reform your presentation, switching from typical modes to signature kinds to suit the aesthetics of every particular person interplay? – TIMOTHY LEARY, 60’s dropout guru, creator and lecturer The much less intercourse there’s on this planet (and everyone knows it is getting fewer and farther aside) the extra style comes into fashion. All I need to know is, when are individuals going to cease carrying their baseball caps backwards? – SPALDING GRAY, monologuist, “Grey’s Anatomy” and creator, “Monster in a Field” As a child I cherished previous films due to the best way the ladies dressed then. That they had such nice fashion. I felt transported. I wanted that I may return in time quite than act. All that is modified. Trend is only a smorgasbord now. – PENELOPE ANN MILLER, actress, “Carlito’s Approach” I believe style does matter. It is enjoyable, it is fascinating, it is a Rorschach take a look at. So long as you are not a slave to it, it is a minor pleasure in life. However the best way style is geared must evolve a bit. Once you have a look at magazines, they’re all anorexic 15-year-olds. There is not any sense of magnificence that takes under consideration the lengthy life span of women and men at present. Now I am attempting to interrupt by the age mystique the best way we broke by the female mystique.
– BETTY FRIEDAN, creator, “The Fountain of Age” Trend issues a lot that even these individuals who say they do not care about it are making an announcement by being slobs. – MICHAEL MUSTO, columnist, The Village Voice You may say that by adorning themselves individuals are imitating the Darwinian foundation of pure choice, however then so what? It is simply analogous conduct. I may mouth the standard generalities, however why trouble? It is simply hypothesis. I believe I will move. – STEPHEN JAY GOULD, pure scientist and creator Trend issues sufficient for me to fly to Paris only for the weekend and stand for hours whereas Thierry Mugler sticks me stuffed with pins. – LYPSINKA, transvestite performer An individual’s garments are the primary signal as as to whether or not they’ve a humorousness about themselves. So sure it issues. Rather a lot. – JOHN WATERS, movie maker, “Serial Mother” Does style matter? At all times – although not fairly as a lot after dying. – JOAN RIVERS, talk-show host In human society look and actuality are one. Trend is an outward signal of the shared metaphors that give that means to particular person lives lived individually. It’s a straw within the wind of social change. That style extra usually is a female than a masculine preoccupation both exhibits that ladies have extra social creativeness, or that they’re extra stressed with the metaphors which have been imposed on them: style exhibits a method out. – ARTHUR C. DANTO, professor emeritus of philosophy, Columbia College Santa Fe, N.M., is the strangest place for style in America. They costume in what goes properly with a extremely polished aura. I think about individuals there costume for his or her previous lives. – ANDREI CODRESCU, poet, movie maker, “Highway Scholar,” and NPR correspondent Adorning your physique is a real celebration of life. Trend is an outward reflection of your insides, and you should utilize that as a instrument to inform individuals how you feel. I often prefer to put on sparkly issues to precise my constructive aspect. – RUPAUL, transvestite singer and mannequin Does style matter? Ultimately, no. However since we’re not there but, why not! – BERNADETTE PETERS, actress I learn a science fiction story during which residents of the distant future traveled backward in time to watch us. Earlier than they might go to us, they needed to put together their time costumes – often they’d get the historic accuracy of their costumes roughly right, however oftentimes they’d get one or two issues mistaken – a pair of sneakers that had been 15 years old-fashioned, a jacket that was 10 years too far sooner or later. The general impact of their garb was, properly, odd. That is the right method to describe how I costume. – DOUGLAS COUPLAND, creator, “Shampoo Planet” Trend is the important thing to self-expression. A day ought to by no means go by that you do not choose garments, perfume and make-up that categorical your particular temper and perspective. Your fashion says a lot about you earlier than you even say a phrase. Each girl ought to know that style in faces goes sooner than style in garments. – ESTEE LAUDER, founding father of cosmetics empire Trend is out of date. The operative phrase is fashion, that means the best way individuals current themselves as a way to talk visually with the remainder of their society. You have both received it, otherwise you ain’t, and it has nothing to do with how a lot you spend on garments. – REX REED, reviewer and tv persona As a poor child rising up in New York Metropolis, I used to be a style misfit in each sense of the phrase. My solely garments had been my brothers’ hand-me-downs and discount, discount basement. I met my stylist Santiago on a shoot three years in the past and he is been the foremost pressure behind most of my style selections. He is opened up a whole vista of chance in my life. Who would have guessed that socks are available different colours beside black and brown! – JOHN LEGUIZAMO, creator and performer, “Spic-o-Rama” Trend reveals and shows, hides and alters, enhances and erases. Trend is as vital as altering language, manners and mores. – LIZ SMITH, columnist After all style issues. If not for style, what would correctly dressed individuals should distinction themselves with? – JUDITH MARTIN, columnist, “Miss Manners” All of it is determined by the band chief. – DOC CHEATHAM, jazz musician To me, style does not matter in any respect, however then I by no means purchase something. I put on different individuals’s garments. I consider myself as an aged gentleman of indeterminate gender, and attempt to costume myself to provide that message. When you do not know who you might be, you learn the style magazines. Once you see that particular person strolling down the road, all you realize about them is that that they had sufficient cash to purchase a giant shiny journal. – QUENTIN CRISP, creator, actor, “Orlando” Trend pinpoints the temper of the occasions: consider the spotless white gloves worn by ladies within the 50’s; the wide-shouldered fits of ladies within the 80’s whose purpose was to attain equality with males; and at present’s broad selection of kinds in clothes as ladies search to say their very own individualities.
– ELSA KLENSCH, CNN style reporter The semiotics of id is a major exercise for younger individuals in an data tradition. Not solely what you put on, however what you do to your physique, binds you to a specific tribe. You might be what you symbolize. Till subsequent week, if you attempt on a brand new id. – R. U. SIRIUS, editor in chief, Mondo 2000 journal Trend is delightfully vital. When a swimsuit is minimize and sewn properly, you may really feel it. It isn’t simply one thing you see. My cousin, who’s a tailor in Paris, makes fits for Lionel Hampton. When Lionel Hampton performs I watch him, however I additionally watch the swimsuit. – GAY TALESE, creator, “Unto the Sons” Girls who’re dedicated to causes, comparable to overpopulation and the underpriveleged, are a lot much less curious about style than, to illustrate, those that lunch at La Grenouille and Le Cirque. – ANN LANDERS, syndicated columnist With points like our nation’s teen-age being pregnant charges, style’s significance ranks proper up there with cleansing your ears. Besides proper earlier than happening tv to speak about teen-age being pregnant charges, when all I can take into consideration is what I’ll put on. – JANE PRATT, editor in chief, Sassy I’ve observed which you could get a dimension 12 once more. I put on a dimension 10 or a 12 relying on the time of the month, and I believe there’s recognition that we are available all styles and sizes. Mainly, I am complaining, which is what I do rather a lot. – CYNTHIA HEIMEL, columnist and creator, “Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I am Kissing You Good-Bye” Teller and I’ve not too long ago switched from grey fits . . . to grey fits! However these grays fits are tailor-made by Canali, who does Invoice Clinton’s fits. We determine if he could make paunchy, middle-aged guys look good, it’s going to work for us. – PENN JILLETTE, new vaudevillian and creator If I am wearin’ it, it really works for me. – ROB WEISS, movie maker, “Amongst Associates” It is nearly a prerequisite that individuals who need to obtain one thing in politics have to concentrate to style. Ross Perot shouldn’t be retro – he’s only a completely different style. He might not enchantment to the hip-hop crowd, however his extraordinarily quick hair and old style charts are an announcement. – ADAM CLAYTON POWELL 3d, fellow, the Freedom Discussion board Does style matter? Provided that you are out of it. – KIM CAMPBELL, Prime Minister of Canada I’ve the uneasy feeling that style issues an excellent deal however in all of the years I have been asking myself how and why, my questions stay extra energetic than my findings. – NORMAN MAILER, creator, “Harlot’s Ghost” Trend issues deeply not solely to the business that sells it however to a society that has traditionally relied on style as a instrument and signal of sophistication standing and social management of ladies. I think, as style involves matter much less and fewer to more and more in dependent trendy ladies that the promotion of “dependency” style (the waif look, for instance) issues extra to the style business and the tradition at massive. – SUSAN FALUDI, creator, “Backlash” After all style issues. Freud’s translator by accident omitted “style” within the psychoanalytic record of major instinctual drives; together with the drive to sexuality there’s the drive to put on odd clothes which will minimize off circulation, occlude imaginative and prescient, make toes develop sideways, trigger riots. Extra severely, even probably the most bare physique is embellished, both by the shaping of hair, shaving the hair near the scalp or scarifying the cheeks. When there isn’t a adornment by any means, there’s nonetheless style, nonetheless creation of magnificence within the easy gesture of a hand outstretched with grace, the elevate of the chin, the observant eyes. – CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES, psychoanalyst, creator, “Girls Who Run With the Wolves” Since any Mayor of town of New York is certain to run into tv cameras seven days per week, what he wears and the way he wears it’s nearly sure to spark remark and, generally, controversy. I’m generally criticized for carrying a tuxedo quite than only a enterprise swimsuit to formal occasions on behalf of worthy civic and charitable causes. Maybe the strangest criticism I ever acquired was from a instructor in upstate New York who stated that by carrying a baseball cap in a photograph, I used to be encouraging younger males to put on baseball caps to highschool. She appeared to consider that my carrying a cap was the driving pressure primeval for the decline and fall of Western civilization. – DAVID N. DINKINS, Mayor of New York Trend provides to life a sure pleasure and depth that it would not have in any other case. When it comes to civilization, I believe there’s a sure Darwinian analogue to the brilliant, daring plumage of birds. As a novelist, I actually am on the sidelines observing appreciatively and skeptically. I am not a participant. – JOYCE CAROL OATES, novelist, “Foxfire” The best way you costume is among the greatest statements you make in life. Prefer it or not, you outline your character with it, and your opinions on life – politically, sexually, financially, religiously with: what colours you choose, what form you want, in the event you put on fur or not, in the event you purchase secondhand or recycled, in the event you use them until they disintegrate or purchase new ones, in case your garments are fluffy or rubbery, city or ethnic. – BJORK, pop singer, “Debut” Within the language of style individuals say issues about themselves that they could not, or would not, put into phrases about social place and energy and intercourse. I like provocative statements that use the codes towards themselves. – DUNCAN KENNEDY, creator, “Attractive Dressing And so forth.” Trend is a way of expression, an artwork type, like music or dance. Being a performer, I do know the facility of an excellent costume. Whether or not I am on stage or off, by carrying the suitable ensemble, I can usually disguise my true feelings, or really change the best way I really feel. – CHITA RIVERA, Tony Award-winner, “Kiss of the Spider Lady” I HOPE NOT. – JENNY HOLZER, conceptual artist