I've been attempting to understand fashion more these days. I'm working at a women's clothing store here in Fort Worth and picking up pointers from my coworkers. There are some key tips I've learned in the last two week which I think I'll share:
1. One size does NOT fit all. A perfectly good pair of wool tights ruined is evidence to that.
2. Invest in essentials. Staples like a black blouse or a good pencil skirt are vital to the success of a wardrobe.
3. A cardigan is an underated accerssory. Use it wisely.
4. Tight is rarely a positive adjective.
5. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
The last bit of advice is possibly the most crucial. Lots of designers and outfits go horribly wrong when they choose to embellish. Or rather, overembellish. Any loyal Project Runway fan can tell you that.
You may wonder why I bring this up, but hopefully the parallel between clothing styles and literature styles as not been lost on you. Think of Ernest Hemingway as a literary Vera Wang. Simple, to the point, elegant, and most prominently, timeless. The brooches, patterns, and ruffles that make some clothes gaudy can be compared to the overuse of adjectives and adverbs. This, I think, is one way a modern stylistician might approach literary theory. Each composition a garment, each sentence a seam.
Beginning Theory P. 203
I like that you made a comparison between authors and stylists. In a sense both are artists and both have the ability to embellish with pearls and sequences or adjectives and adverbs. I would have never thought to compare Ernest Hemingway to Vera Wang, but I can see the connection now. Both are artists and both can be considered the best in their respective fields. I believe that this is a good way to look at literary theorists’ approaches. They take all the pieces of the work and focus on them. These pieces are the sentences and how they are presented, along with the characters and developing plots. Then after all the pieces are sewn together they focus on the work as a whole. The focus on the whole work includes everything from sentences and characters to plot points and narration. In both the case of the fashionista and the author, the process toward completion and the overall presentation are equally important in helping define the work of art.
ReplyDelete