 | | Ron DeSantis, in April 2023, in his standard black cowboy boots.Justin Ide/Reuters |
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Hello, Open Thread. Happy November! And happy New York Marathon weekend. Hope everyone had a good Day of the Dead. |
The holiday season has officially begun. Sadly, anyone hoping to snap up a piece of Phoebe Philo's insanely anticipated, finally here new line may be out of luck. Despite the sky-high prices, which is a discussion topic unto itself (one we at Styles are hotly debating; stay tuned), much of the collection appears to have already sold out. |
Ms. Philo will most likely exert her usual gravitational pull on the industry, and before you can say "perfectly cut overcoat" or "pants that zip up the back," more affordable versions of her work — which is to say, clothes for grown-up women with full lives and a slightly twisted sense of humor about it all — will proliferate around us. |
Besides Ms. Philo's return, the biggest fashion controversy of the week has been about an accessory: Ron DeSantis's boots. Or, to be specific, whether there are lifts in Ron DeSantis's cowboy boots. |
There were rumors about lifts earlier in the year, but they largely disappeared, only to re-emerge this week when Mr. DeSantis himself put his footwear on the table as a subject by bringing up his "authentic Florida Gators boots." Before you could say "Heehaw," various experts were zeroing in on the mechanics of the DeSantis feet-in-boots to assess the situation. Mr. DeSantis's team has denied that the governor needs help with his height, which raises the question: Why is this such a big deal? |
First, because, if the rumors are true, it seems to reveal some telling insecurity on Mr. DeSantis's part. Second, because it positions him as a faker. And third, because it plays into all of our stereotypes around masculinity. You know, the ones in which we tend to elect taller candidates (true) and think it is not manly to be vain or reveal concern about appearance, while simultaneously judging men on their appearance. It's a truism exacerbated by the fact that the footwear in question is a cowboy boot, and cowboys are stereotypical manly men. |
Marco Rubio, you may remember, was roundly mocked for wearing Cuban heels during his short-lived campaign for president in 2016 for the same reasons. |
In any case, I think the re-emergence of this as an issue — one embraced with wholehearted glee by the Trump campaign, which christened it "#bootgate" — reflects the fact that Mr. DeSantis's opponents see him as increasingly vulnerable. Not to mention just how much clothes are proxy items for all sorts of more complicated issues. |
Betcha someone brings it up at the debate next week. |
Have a good, safe weekend. If you are running, stay hydrated. I'll be watching for the outfits. |
P.S.: On the subject of sports, LVMH has signed up yet another athlete as a face of Dior: the wheelchair tennis player Pauline Déroulède. Stay tuned: There will be more to come. |
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Your Style Questions, Answered |
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader's fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed. |
Why don't women's clothes have more pockets? And when they do, why are they so small and useless? It's like being short-sheeted. I cannot believe this is still going on in the 21st century. Please explain. — Shoba |
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The pocket problem is a perennial one, for good reason. The story of those — often, as you say, tiny — compartments is crammed to the brim with plot twists that involve sexism, racism, control, economic disparity and more. Who knew so many hot-button social issues could be contained in such a tiny space? |
Well, maybe Darwin. After all, pockets make evolutionary sense. In theory, the more necessities you can carry on your body, the more efficiently you can move through the world. As a story in The New York Times in 1899 read: If "Adam and Eve both began life without any pockets, it seems to me that the difference in the progress of the sexes toward pockets illustrates and proves the superiority of the male. Man's pockets have developed, improved, and increased with the advances of civilization. Woman is actually retrograding — losing ground and pockets." |
(Seriously, the paper published that. Going through the archives can be a truly delightful experience.) |
When I emailed Ms. Carlson to ask her to explain the deal with pockets, she pointed out that pockets "became standardized in men's wear as the suit transitioned from a craft to an industrialized product in the 1850s." Pockets, she wrote, are considered just "a part of doing business in men's wear." |
When it came to women's wear, on the other hand, individual dressmakers ruled on the need for pockets. "People blamed fashion and women's vanity for a lack of pockets," Ms. Carlson wrote, because pockets could mess with the line of a dress or garment, especially if they were filled with stuff. "Activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton had to plead with her dressmaker to include a pocket in her gown. Her dressmaker countered that pockets would 'bulge you out just awful!'" |
But, Ms. Carlson continued: "Evident in the decisions that go into making some garment is the notion that men's clothes are meant for utility and women's for beauty" — or decoration. And that reflects "old ideas about women's place and about the more limited social and economic contributions they are expected to make." |
Also, pockets, or the lack of them, have led to the rise of the handbag sector — you have to put all that stuff somewhere — and that has powered the luxury industry since the end of the last century. Meantime, the rise of fast fashion has meant fewer pockets, or fake pockets, since, Ms. Carlson said, "pockets are the first to go in any cost- or time-cutting and profit-boosting endeavor." It has not been in anyone's interest to rock the status quo. |
Yet, things may be changing, not least thanks to the rise of unisex clothing. Hillary Taymour, the founder of Collina Strada, makes a signature pair of cargo pants with voluminous pockets that is one of her best sellers. (As it happens, she never carries handbags.) Phoebe Philo recently sneaked pockets into the side of an asymmetric white satin evening top/dress. Wes Gordon of Carolina Herrera almost always puts pockets in his evening skirts. In fact, it is possible we are entering a new golden age of women's pockets. |
It's about time. After pay equity, pocket equity. They are more related than you may think. |
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