An invisible sense of style? Or hidden from view?

There are many reasons we choose to dress the
way we do, but I often wonder if many of today's
younger women realize that their style of dress
makes them barely visible? Think about it this
way; you're young, carefree, it's a nice sunny day,
and you're planning to go sit on a patio to have lunch
and... you dress in the most non-descript colors
possible, as if you were trying to blend into the
brickwork or the concrete, or some other aspect
of your surroundings.

I sometimes refer to this style of dress as "urban drab"
because it does seem to be a form of camouflage,
representing a desire to fade into the background.
In the photographs I've taken - at a very trendy patio
restaurant in a super-trendy boutique hotel in the city
where I live - the young women having lunch on this
particular day seemed to have zero sense of presence in terms of their clothes.

Even worse, what it reminds me of is the way so many women are forced to dress, whether they like it or not, in many parts of the Middle East. In countries where the women are forced to wear a solid black niqab, when you walk along the street it's almost as if the women are invisible, faceless, formless, devoid of personality. They have no individuality, no presence and, as we know, no voice.

Are young western women dressing to show solidarity with women who live in restrictive countries? I doubt this is their objective; perhaps it's time for women here to realize that one of the freedoms we do have, is to not only dress in an "urban drab" style but also to dress with color, style, panache. There's nothing wrong with wearing beige, as one of the young women in my pictures does, but beige can be smartened up, enlivened, with mango or burnt orange shoes and belt. The same holds true for gray, why stick to just gray? It can be livened up with turquoise or teal sandals and jewelery.

I'm hoping all young western women, next time
they're planning to go out and sit on a patio for
lunch or a drink, will think of women in countries
who have zero choice about the way they dress in public and "up their game" a bit, to make sure they can be noticed and counted and are not fading into the background.

Is this what they mean by 'really stretched'?

Perhaps it's just a coincidence but, ever since I started writing a blog about clothing manufacture, it seems the Clothing Gods have been having some fun with me; just about every other day it seems I find one of my garments is in a melt down. But my experiences can help guide you to making better clothing purchases, as you'll know how to examine what's on offer, to see if it's well-made or not.

With factory made clothing, there's a lot of things they can do on the machinery, to put a garment together quickly. One of those things is stretching the fabric to fit, such as putting a sleeve in a dress or jacket, or attaching a yoke to the body of the dress. Trouble is, if you or I purchase such a dress and start wearing it, the fact the fabric was artificially manipulated to fit together quickly becomes evident.

I just ran into this problem with a summer dress, the kind of dress you like to have for a hot day, so you can just pop it on and go out, without a lot of fuss. The photo at top shows the dress I'm talking about today. It was made by a well-known company and, on the whole, is neatly made - razor-thin seams, of course.

While it might be hard to see, if you look in the next photo at right, within the white circle, you can see that there is a certain strain where they attached the yoke and sleeve to the body of the dress.



As a result, once I had worn the dress just a few times, the strain became too much and, with ordinary movement of my arm and body, the fabric ripped (see the lower photo at right).

When you are buying clothing, examine it closely to see if there are signs of strain in how the garment was put together. If there is, re-consider what you are purchasing.
That way, you won't find you cannot wear something you really love and, if you are buying the garment on sale, it will prove to be a good investment.

Inside the designer's mind - take two

One of the things designers try to do is "think outside the box" when it comes to colors and color combinations. Case in point is the outfit I wore to a performance at the school where I was working part time. (I'll come back to this later in this post).

Often, in summer, with the emphasis on comfort as the weather heats up, it's easy to overlook ways to give your outfit some pizzazz while still remaining comfortable. On this particular day, I chose to wear a combed cotton sleeveless dress that I have, plus a matching cardigan sweater. This is actually an outfit I bought well over 10 years ago and it's one of those staples in my closet that I keep because it's so useful.

In the past, I tended to wear it very conservatively with white shoes and white and gold beads. Nothing wrong with that, it's a logical choice to go with the pale ice blue color. Another possibility is, of course, navy blue. These might be termed predictable color choices.

However, on this particular day, I decided to pair this dress with hot pink and wore it with a hot pink belt and hot pink shoes. Much more lively, much more stylish. (I've also paired this ice blue color with an aubergine belt and purple suede shoes.)

It's always important to look for such color combinations in your closet that you might not otherwise try but which work together very successfully. I may even put the ice blue and hot pink combination together in jacket for Harobed Designs (TM) at some point in the future. (And if any other designer makes the same choice, remember, you can read it here first).

The performance at the school was very well executed, and for 10-year-olds, the performers were all very polished. It was material they had written themselves, with the help of their teacher, entitled "Environmental Adventures". The show was based on the various issues they had covered in their social studies class and looked at how our way of life is eroding the health of the planet. One topic they raised is: Why does all our clothing have to come from China?

I think this is a question we all need to ask ourselves. Whatever you're looking for, even if it's just a sweatshirt or T-shirt, chances are, there's an artisan in your area who will be offering something for purchase, equal to or better than anything that is being shipped and trucked in from the Orient. Just imagine the boost to your home country's economy if everyone decided that "Buying local" isn't just for vegetables...

Really hemmed in!

Seams aren't the only part of a garment you need to check before you buy. Just as contentious is the hem. If a hem isn't well sewn, it can easily unravel, just when you need it least.

Many years ago, back in the days when women were encouraged to purchase "power suits" for the office, I had made such a buy at my city's top ladies wear store. Nothing fancy, just a navy blazer and white skirt, this being for summer.

I took my "power suit" with me on a business trip and got up the morning of my meeting, got dressed and was ready to go down to breakfast when, low and behold, my skirt hem caught on something and completely unraveled. So there I was, looking at my watch, wondering how I would find time for breakfast and to fix my hem. Obviously, I was a long way from the store so storming in there to complain about their shoddy merchandise wasn't an option. It quickly became clear that I would have to order breakfast up from room service and sit in my room to mend my skirt - luckily I had a sewing kit with me.

This initiated two trends in my life: one, I never ever purchased clothing from that supposedly top-notch store again and two, I began a lifelong addiction to room service!

When hems are sewn by a machine at lightning speed and not by hand, there is always the risk that the threads aren't finished off properly and that the hem will unravel at an unfortunate moment. Better quality clothing usually has hand-sewn hems. Certainly, my company, Harobed Designs, always hems by hand. We also never use the dreaded clear plastic thread, as this rarely gives a firm finish. (See the photo of the red jacket hem at top, which is hemmed in clear thread.)

Another aspect of hems that can be maddening is if you are slightly taller than average but not tall enough for the clothing category known as 'Tall". If only the manufacturers allowed slightly more generous hems - 2 inches being a reasonable amount - it would be easier for all above-average height people to let down their hems slightly if they wanted to. Usually, what happens, is that people have to buy clothing that is bigger than they need and have the hem taken up to where they want it rather than letting down a garment of the right size. This is one of the nuisances that has come into clothing with the advent of total factory production.

That's another thing we always do with Harobed Designs clothing; we always allow generous enough hems for both the outer jacket or "shell" and the inner lining, plus we include a generous amount of trim, so if someone wants to lengthen one of our jackets slightly, they can. The center photograph of the apple green jacket - actually, it's what is known as 'shot silk', meaning it has a blueish cast in certain lights - shows the depth of the outer hem as well as the depth of the lining hem and the amount of trim available. The final photo shows this jacket on the runway.