The Houndstooth Collection
As part of my set of clothing made in houndstooth and black materials, I am making a corset, as well as a skirt, jacket and trousers. The idea is a kind of corporate-wear collection, like a suit, with the jacket and either trousers or skirt, and the corset will fit in with the outfit. Worn with a white shirt for maximum corporatability. Given that both the corset and skirt will be houndstooth it may be impossible to wear them together without blinding people, but I may make another black skirt as well.
Normal business-wear, at least how I perceive it, having never met any woman who has to wear any kind of suit for work, generally consists of a suit jacket and either dress trousers or a skirt, where the skirt is only about knee length - a little longer or shorter or at the knee. Perhaps heels would be worn, perhaps make-up. The whole idea seems to be to make the woman dress like a businessman while still remaining traditionally feminine and looking nice. Looking nice and being traditionally feminine is of course not a criteria of good business or successful office work, however good and successful business-wear does tend to require the woman to look this way.
Then there is the interesting idea of the jacket and white shirt, and suit trousers, which when worn by women, can easily be translated into something sexy in a movie, a fashion magazine or an advertisement. In these settings, there is always a certain sex appeal of the woman in the suit, and the theoretically severe and work-related attire portrays a different image. It can be made slutty with an open shirt - or even no shirt merely a bra under the jacket, while the rest of the attire remains the same. A skirt can be worn with a shirt, tie and jacket, but the choice of shoes, length of skirt and pantyhose can change the entire image and amount of respect accorded the woman.
In the past, it was generally assumed that a woman must look good, and must look sexy, to advance in office work places, and high heels and short-ish skirts helped here and I'm sure men appreciated it, and no wonder. However, now the advice is against looking too attractive at work, or attractive at all, as it hinders one's advancement and attracts criticism. Given that the women's suit seems to be naturally attractive when done well, although with all sorts of strange connotations to it to, if a woman is required to wear this attire to work, must she instead make an effort to look bad? Can she not dress well and look attractive, which is a natural consequence of dressing well? This seems to be a bit of a conundrum.
Add to this the fact that, in many women's opinion, a man in a suit is an attractive man - or at least a more attractive man than he was out of a suit (I mean in other clothes, not just necessarily out of the suit). I think most women would agree that there is something quite attractive about a man in a suit, especially, of course, a well-cut suit that suits him, whether they be admiring their own man or the men they see in town or at work. This makes a man's business wear an attractive attire, just as a woman's business wear is attractive attire, however the attitude is now against women being allowed to be a attractive in such circumstances, whereas of course men still will be.
Thus, I find it amusing to add to my collection of women's business-wear, a corset. Which, despite not being worn anymore by almost all people, and despite having not in fact ever been seen by most people today, still has a multitude of connotations, which no doubt range from fascinating to almost pornographic to disturbing, and probably many other things, anything but mundane.
So, is a woman's business suit sexy? Or not? Should it be? Is it really equivalent to a man's suit or how could it be? Are men sexy in their suits? So is a visible corset with a suit a juxtaposition or a reasonable extension?
And finally, wouldn't it suck to have to wear a specific something to work everyday? I'm glad I don't. Which is of course why I find it amusing to investigate such clothing and to, eventually, make and wear some. I have half a corset and half a skirt, and I already have a white shirt, and those wide leg black trousers from yesterday, they will do although they were not what I was thinking of. The main problem will be the jacket - I started making one ages ago, but it was a bit of a disaster and I don't want to find and buy a boring pattern, I wanted to make my own but I think it will be too tricky than I can be bothered with, especially the collar, I hate doing them.
Normal business-wear, at least how I perceive it, having never met any woman who has to wear any kind of suit for work, generally consists of a suit jacket and either dress trousers or a skirt, where the skirt is only about knee length - a little longer or shorter or at the knee. Perhaps heels would be worn, perhaps make-up. The whole idea seems to be to make the woman dress like a businessman while still remaining traditionally feminine and looking nice. Looking nice and being traditionally feminine is of course not a criteria of good business or successful office work, however good and successful business-wear does tend to require the woman to look this way.
Then there is the interesting idea of the jacket and white shirt, and suit trousers, which when worn by women, can easily be translated into something sexy in a movie, a fashion magazine or an advertisement. In these settings, there is always a certain sex appeal of the woman in the suit, and the theoretically severe and work-related attire portrays a different image. It can be made slutty with an open shirt - or even no shirt merely a bra under the jacket, while the rest of the attire remains the same. A skirt can be worn with a shirt, tie and jacket, but the choice of shoes, length of skirt and pantyhose can change the entire image and amount of respect accorded the woman.
In the past, it was generally assumed that a woman must look good, and must look sexy, to advance in office work places, and high heels and short-ish skirts helped here and I'm sure men appreciated it, and no wonder. However, now the advice is against looking too attractive at work, or attractive at all, as it hinders one's advancement and attracts criticism. Given that the women's suit seems to be naturally attractive when done well, although with all sorts of strange connotations to it to, if a woman is required to wear this attire to work, must she instead make an effort to look bad? Can she not dress well and look attractive, which is a natural consequence of dressing well? This seems to be a bit of a conundrum.
Add to this the fact that, in many women's opinion, a man in a suit is an attractive man - or at least a more attractive man than he was out of a suit (I mean in other clothes, not just necessarily out of the suit). I think most women would agree that there is something quite attractive about a man in a suit, especially, of course, a well-cut suit that suits him, whether they be admiring their own man or the men they see in town or at work. This makes a man's business wear an attractive attire, just as a woman's business wear is attractive attire, however the attitude is now against women being allowed to be a attractive in such circumstances, whereas of course men still will be.
Thus, I find it amusing to add to my collection of women's business-wear, a corset. Which, despite not being worn anymore by almost all people, and despite having not in fact ever been seen by most people today, still has a multitude of connotations, which no doubt range from fascinating to almost pornographic to disturbing, and probably many other things, anything but mundane.
So, is a woman's business suit sexy? Or not? Should it be? Is it really equivalent to a man's suit or how could it be? Are men sexy in their suits? So is a visible corset with a suit a juxtaposition or a reasonable extension?
And finally, wouldn't it suck to have to wear a specific something to work everyday? I'm glad I don't. Which is of course why I find it amusing to investigate such clothing and to, eventually, make and wear some. I have half a corset and half a skirt, and I already have a white shirt, and those wide leg black trousers from yesterday, they will do although they were not what I was thinking of. The main problem will be the jacket - I started making one ages ago, but it was a bit of a disaster and I don't want to find and buy a boring pattern, I wanted to make my own but I think it will be too tricky than I can be bothered with, especially the collar, I hate doing them.
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