Heck–I accidentally posted 2 blog entries about the Mally Roncal book.
In this time there’s a lot to be preoccupied with: staying free from the coronavirus, shopping for gifts if you do that, and caring for yourself and loved ones.
It pays to take joy where you can get it.
For instance: the Harper’s Bazaar November 2020 issue. The essay “Performance Dressing” was right-on.
Leandra Medine Cohen had championed the ethic of dressing for yourself.
In the magazine she wrote that writing about this online she went so far “as to suggest that if we all tried to dress to reflect our multitudes, we could actually start to become them.”
No doubt because of living indoors during the pandemic she saw things differently today:
“Clothes…hid me when I was vulnerable, magnified me when I wa strong, but their power was limited. This work of figuring out the kind of person I want to be, don’t want to be anymore, and the ruthless self-examination that comes with it, that’s on me.
What a terrifying and liberating and thrilling thing.”
Should the November 2020 issue be on the newsstand still I recommend buying it to have on hand this essay alone.
One thing that Leandra Medine Cohen wrote rings true with me: that testing the boundaries of your style allows you to be more than one thing.
It reminds me of the Psychedelic Furs’ song “Pretty in Pink”: the lyrics get at how the girl will be who she wants to be–until tomorrow.
And who will you and me be tomorrow after the pandemic ends?
The journey to our future selves is worth taking.
There’s nothing better than dressing for yourself. For the person you are today. Changing up your style as your life rolls along.
Remember the 1980s? Those clothes are best left in the dust bin 🙂
Left of the Dial 