Clothing and Our Effect on Men - Part II

Part I of this paper was posted on this blog, and can be seen in its entirety on my website: www.marionfennell.net.

Clothing and Our Effect on Men - Part II

2. The Beautiful Practicality of Good Will For Men

A crucial aspect of being proud of our effect on men is having good will, the “desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful.”

I began to learn about this in a later consultation when I said I had felt unsure of how to dress when going on a date--not wanting to wear a tight sweater, or to wear a “sack”. For example, my consultants asked:

Consultants: Do you think you can ask yourself: `Should I appear in such a way that he will have to think about me, or is it good will for him to be able to see me as one of many people?’ If you’re interested in what affect [your appearance] will have on a man, that’s part of it. Would you like a man to feel that he can be pleased by how a woman looks, and like himself for how he is pleased? Because most men don’t.

MF: No?

Consultants: No, and they can resent a woman very much for the way they come to feel.

I was so surprised by this! It never occurred to me that a man could feel angry at what is brought out of him! Yes, men need to hear criticism about how they see the bodies of women. But women also need to respect the powerful, mysterious facts of reality which govern how men and women affect each other. With a purpose to have good will, a woman can look very beautiful and encourage a man's keenest interest in the world at the same time.

One of the greatest compliments a woman can receive from a man is for him to feel that she represents the wide world he hopes to know and care for. But unknowingly, our contempt interferes with this hope, preferring to have a man in an exclusive, cozy state of adoration, away from the world. In the Preface to his great essay “The Ordinary Doom”, Mr. Siegel writes:

“To know a person is to know the world become throbbingly specific. It is always the universe on two feet, with two eyes, and an articulate mouth. It is the universe we want to skip.”

How fortunate for me that I had been learning to see a man as representing the universe when I first met Jeffrey Williams, who is now my husband. While working on this paper, he reminded me of how I told him then that I hoped to dress in a way that would have people feel the world looked good to them. He felt it important for me to relate what a good effect hearing this had on him--that he had never heard anything like it, and would never forget it.

3. An American Designer Met the Hopes of Women

In the 1920's, the new direction in fashions also affected a young woman, who became one of the first designers promoted as having "The American Look": Claire McCardell. And as I say some of why her work is still widely respected, I’m not in any way saying that this is the style women should follow to feel proud of their effect on men, but as a means of illustrating the Aesthetic Realism principles I’ve described.

I use a book about her life and work, Claire McCardell: Defining Modernism, written by Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Wolfe in conjunction with F.I.T. Born May 24, 1905 in Frederick, Maryland, Claire McCardell grew up in privileged surroundings, and was affected early by the fashions her mother had made by a personal dressmaker.

After attending a local college in Maryland for two years, she finally convinced her parents to send her to New York City to study fashion design in the spring of 1925. This happens to be the same time that Eli Siegel’s article on the new styles appeared in The Baltimore American, and I wouldn't be surprised if she read it.

The 1920s was an era of much change in America, including in how women dressed. And in his article, Mr. Siegel wrote: "The best style in clothes is that which shows the beauty of [one's] body most with as little perceptive effort as possible." Claire McCardell said she felt that--and here we see the opposites of delicacy and sturdiness--

“Clothes ought to be useful and comfortable. I’ve always wondered why women’s clothes have to be delicate-why they couldn’t be practical and sturdy as well as feminine.”

It is this philosophy that led Ms. McCardell’s designs to be loved by many thousands of women, and for her to be called "the designer for Mrs. America.” She was also among the first designers to popularize separate, coordinated pieces, now called “sportswear”, and was widely admired for creating practical, affordable, attractive styles--many of which are still popular today.

But some of her ideas were at first met with resistance--as being too radical. Yohannan and Wolfe describe Ms. McCardell as caring for biking, skiing, and swimming, and say that she felt, for instance, that the padded, matronly swimwear then on the market, were "repressive", and unfit for the purpose of swimming. In one discussion on the topic, she added coolly, “Swimsuits are for swimming. If it’s a dress you want, I have that, too.”

The “Diaper Suit” was first introduced by McCardell in the 1930s, but was not widely popular until the 1940s. While it may not appeal to every woman's figure or taste, I think it shows "the beauty of [a woman's] body with as little perceptible effort as possible." And it certainly has met the hopes of women for over 60 years now, as I saw styles just like it on the racks last spring.

A young woman today might ask, "So, what's the difference between a bathing suit that was once seen as too daring and is now accepted as `classic’, and my wearing a thong bikini now?-—I’m ahead of the times!" I would ask her to ask herself: "Will the relation of hidden and shown in this swimsuit encourage a man to be more interested in the world, or have him focus exclusively on me?"

Claire McCardell will be remembered by students of fashion for many more innovations than I can show tonight, including her deep commitment to using America’s mass-production capabilities to provide millions of women with stylish, affordable clothing. One is her immensely popular day dress called “the Pop-over” of 1943: a denim, wrap-front with an attached oven mitt! And while women today don’t usually wear a dress for chores, it could be asked: could we be proud of our affect on a man, children, or a roommate by going around in something looking fresh and energetic.

One more example is from 1951: which has this description: “Top-stitched cotton twill sheath dress with slash pockets. Inexpensive and elegant: this credo defined McCardell and helped launch her in the world of working women." [p. 108]

It is, I think, a lovely relation of tightness and looseness, hidden and shown--what women are still hoping for to be proud of their effect on men.

In the final sentences of Mr. Siegel's article of 1925, he wrote:

“It is great fun, and it is needed fun, to watch the world change, and change for the better. How it changes can be seen by things--like fashions in clothes--most historians and sociologists do not use. They ought to use them.” Eli Siegel is the historian and sociologist who did use fashions to see how the world changes, and to understand the deepest hopes of people, of women and men--and I am glad he did!