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O P E N A N D
Review from Threads,
October/November 2000 Dressed to Thrill, by Paul
Kilduff
ANDREA SIEGEL: People who really love clothes and really think about clothes, for them, like any passion, clothes can either take them toward destruction or can be a way to deepen their lives--tell me if I'm going to fast. |
| PK:
Full steam ahead. AS: I mean, the conventional view of all traditionally woman-focused activities--food, clothing, all those things--is that they're frivolous. But the fact is food, clothing, shelter, they're the holy trinity. These are the things we need to survive. Humans have worn clothing since forever. They dug up the earliest known examples of garments and what they found was people were wearing string skirts that had no function. They were there just to draw attention to, well, guess what? Sex. So attacking this as a frivolous issue is really dishonest. |
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| PK:
So why do women seem to care more about clothes than men? AS: Because men's bodies are pretty much straight. There's not a whole lot to draw attention to. The thing they really want to draw attention to--which I will not name--you can't point to except with a necktie. |
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| PK:
What about guys who wear only what their girlfriends or wives pick out for them? Are they
wimps? AS: Being a straight man in this culture is like living in a very small, electrified, fenced area. There are so few things you can touch where people won't say "fag"! It's much simpler to ignore it entirely and just be someone's Ken doll. But, in exchange, white men get most of the power and the money--unless you're Oprah Winfrey--so it seems like a good trade. |
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| PK
Has dress become too casual? AS: It's a nationwide and soon to be global phenomenon: the "casualization" of dress. PK: Can we blame Americans? AS: America has exported it. I was living in Belgium in 1997 and American clothes were the coolest thing. But everyone hated Americans. We are as a people reviled but they will kill to wear our clothes. |
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| PK:
What do you think about logos? AS: Why would you put on someone else's identity unless your insecure about your own? It's a fear-based issue. What teenagers are doing, first of all, is trying not to dress like their parents. And second they're trying to figure out who they are. But when you're 17 your brain is so hormonally driven that you can't think, so how can you possibly figure it out? I had a friend who was a high school teacher and he said we should forget the desks and just lay out cots and let them go at it. I mean, it's amazing anything gets done at all. So teenagers see a logo, they bite. It offends their parents. And then to their utter chagrin their parents start wearing the stuff too. |
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| PK:
What about knockoffs? I recently acquired a fake Rolex on the streets of New York. AS: I don't own a watch. The thing about me and watches is that I'm like the human flirt. And so not having a watch, especially in New York City, anyone you see who's attractive, you just ask them for the time. It's fabulous. |
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But I'd feel naked without my fake Rolex. AS: That's the thing about status. When I snared a Chanel suit at the Salvation Army for $19.95, boy did I feel good. I actually whooped. What was it I whooped? "Score!This is a $2,000 f---ing suit!" Beyond the craftsmanship it makes you into some fantasy of who you could be. Or leading a better life. Or something. I like the life I'm leading now but I am sort of a label whore. |
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| PK:
You do most of your shopping in thrift stores. Why? AS: Thrift shopping is better than it's ever been. The excesses of our consumer society are so great that people are throwing away stuff that's never been used. |
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| PK:
What about the Berkeley woman in you book who knits $200 socks? Will they appreciate in
value? AS: They're a work of art. They're gorgeous. She's even used the fur from her mother's dog in these socks. |
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| PK:
For $200 I don't want dog-hair socks. AS: Fur is fur. Wool is wool. |
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What about the woman in your book who made $24,000 a year and bought a $12,000 mink coat.
Is she now homeless? AS: It's nine years later and she's still paying it off. |
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She needs therapy. AS: A lot, yeah. That's what I love about the movement toward conscious living. It's like, do I really need this? Occasionally yes, you really do need to buy something frivolous like a $600 purse. For the most part my mantra is, "I have enough stuff," but what am I going to do with my time if I'm not shopping? |
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| PK:
What about cowboy boots? Are they ever going to come back? AS: Cowboy boots are meant for people who ride horses. They look really good if you have an accessory like a horse. They're not really meant to be walked around in. But oh man, what they did for men's butts. It was so great. You get a man into boots and you see his butt muscles and it's just ... I mean, in a pair of Levi's? Oh my god! |
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What's the most you've ever spent on an accessory? AS: The $600 purse. |
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What's your biggest fashion mistake? AS: That purse. I could really use the money right now. |
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Write PO Box 770103, Woodside, NY 11377 for more information. |
