Sexual enhancement in fashion.

I’m sure I’m going to put my foot in it here. So be it.

Sexual enhancement in fashion. Ok — that lead me to say one word — “PURPOSE”. What is the purpose to have sexual enhancement in a garment? Why is the person wearing the garment in the first place? It is NOT to look “nice”, “pretty” or that other heinous word “cute”. Kittens and puppies are “cute”. When one is on the prowl, it not with the intension of looking “cute”.

A wearer of sexually enticing clothing is wanting to look desirable, HOT, enticing and to a certain extent, entertaining.

The wearer does not want to look…. “boring“, “dull”… and heaven forbid, mechanical, or processed, over done… ahem, and dare I say …. Cheap, used, or uninspiring.

With that in mind, I ask… “Who is designing great sexy stuff?”

And I really run up a little dry. Let me tell you why. Perhaps it is age… I’m not exactly twenty so the same design themes that make a person look hot at twenty don’t work when you are closer to… oh, god… eeeeek… I can’t to say it… 50… gulp.

In the past, fashion has had some wonderful designers. Versace was amazing for men’s and women’s wear. He knew how to be provocative. Picking up one of his books like Men Without Ties and Do Not Disturb was like buying pornography at the time. It was very, very overt and sexual. His clothing begged comment. Some would say his men’s wear was too gaudy or too colorful. But it was FUN to wear and very sexy. Yes, you had to have a body to pull of a shirt that had 30 different color put into it.

(Just to give you a reference, a typical newspaper/magazine today is printed with 4 colors. A garment or textile may be printed with 8 to 10 a. But 30?) The shirts were museum quality because of the technical difficult to make them. It is the equivalent of wearing a Hermes silk scarf next to your skin. You FEEL desirable. Fur has that same tactile quality next to skin.

But quality aside, there was a tougue and cheek quality to his clothing. It was sexy but also kind of humorous. He took what can be a very intimidating process of wearing something sexually enticing and made it light. It was not fetish wear. Unlike the latex/ leather wear of of batman and catwoman (which tends to be more costume) his clothing was very decadently over-the-top luxury.

Please take note also, for some sexually enhancing clothing IS costume. The gay culture took this to a new level with the Village People each identifying with sexual icon. Gianni Versace however took sexually enticing clothing to a new level. Wearing Versace was like having a good glass of gin before going out, it took the edge off things and made the wearer at ease. Think Agnes in the film Auntie Mame. “Drink this and you will feel fine.” Wear Versace and you will be great! Sexually enticing clothing should put the wearer at ease not feel over exposed and nakedly vulnerable in public.

So what is “sexy”?

Think of it in this perspective. What is “sexy”? I once worked at a design house and took a poll of everyone in the office. Thank god I didn’t work at a company like IBM. I would have been fired in a NY minute. The most profound response I got was from my boss of all people. Sexy is a feeling. It comes from within. What a person wears is immaterial as it is what gets that person to unwind and discover that sexuality that lies within and makes a person glow, be confident and open up to anther person. Unfortunately for some, that may be drugs as this is a very intimidating process to dress with the intention of getting somewhere. In a word, it can be torn up jeans and a t-shirt (ok… ick on that one for me).

It can also be a sweatshirt (Jennifer Beals in Flashdance) or a Brioni Black Tie like in a James Bond film.

For some, it is more fetish-esque. Some people equate showing more skin as sexy.

I personally think a costume like what Cher wore to the Oscars is without a doubt sexy, but is also the attitude that she brought to the table with it. She came across with an attitude that said “oh…. Am I over dressed for this party?” Which of course makes the viewer burst out laughing. It is disarmingly funny and at the same time draws the viewer in and invites a conversation. What clothing does that now? What clothing designer can make clothing that is both sexually-enticing and funny at the same time? Damn… hell if I know.

And for men too, the problem comes in with many men not wanting to deem as working too hard for it. I ask you…“How many times have you seen a beautifully desirable woman with an arm charm hack with a five day scruff with shirt tails hanging out & jeans at her side? Men have to have confidence to wear sexually enticing clothing of substance. Most American men just don’t possess that je ne sais quoi to pull it off. Most do not want to be viewed or labeled as “gay”. So they don’t try. What rubbish.

Jean Paul Gaultier did some beautifully provocative work for Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour. Again, perhaps a bit like costume, but then again,…ya have to start the conversation some where… right?

I think perhaps society is bored with sex. It is so easily available at the drop of a hat in many flavors, shapes and sizes. Log on to the internet, and it is everywhere. Like the song goes from the musical Q, “the internet is for porn”. It is in most films and television. I tossed my TV years ago. It is very easy to find fetish wear clothing. And yeah, for some, torn-up jean and a tight t-shirt work. But what if one wants to take it up a notch? Good luck. Calvin Klein and Abercrobie make great underwear and give the promise of sex in their ads. But do they deliver in the clothing? No.

I think Rick Owens is the next great white hope. His work is very sexy and now. He plays with transparency and lengths/proportion that really evoke a freshness. He brings much to the table. Personally, I see his clothing and I think he designs with himself in mind. That’s not bad thing. There are worse roll-models and the man is Hot (with a capital H).

But he is not universal. Then again, neither is Versace and Jean Paul Gaultier. I wish I could find a really good men’s wear designer that would take sexually enhancing garments to that next level. I have yet to find a designer. Versace is dead. Or sexuality is dead? Beaten like a dead horse. Can someone enlighten me? Or am I jaded? OK… don’t answer that.

Valerie Mendes, Amy De La Haye. 20th Century Fashion. Thames & Hudson London/New York 2005

Gianni Versace Do not Disturb. Abbeville Press, NY 1996

Gianni Versace Men Without Ties. Abbeville Press, NY 1994

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Richard Martin Gianni Versace. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY 1998

Sue Jenkyn Jones Fashion Design, 2^nd Ed. Watson-Guptill Publications, NY 2005

Influences in fashion: Film

Fashion and film have had on ongoing dialogue since it’s early inception. Both reflect society’s culture, economic climate and views on society. Both rely on each others contributions to society to provide the creative energy to move the dialogue forward.

Clothes are never a frivolity: they always mean something. James Laver

“Filmmakers aspire to seduce.” They want to tell a story. Clothing helps convey the story (Slipper & the Rose). It helps with the development of the film’s character (Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp). It can provide motivation and inspiration for story, plot and momentum in movie narrative forward (Devil Wears Prada). The audience is there to be receptive to that story with hopes of being enmeshed in the visual experience as well as entertained or informed. They want to escape their present environment to learn, laugh, feel an emotion or find a new understanding in the dark, quiet, and safe walls of the theater.

Film making dialogue with costume and fashion had it’s origins in New York. Adolph Zukor (founder of Paramount) bought the rights to La Reine Elizabeth (1912). This early film starred Sarah Bernhardt – a stage legend. To convey the story, Zukor hired couture designer Paul Poirot to convey the story of the English Queen. Poirot, designer that he was, presented the audience with an ultra lavish, exotic Italian Renaissance costume epic. Americans made the discovery that films were no longer a cheap nickelodeon pastime. They were and could be considered, in fact, an art.

Clothes, clothes, clothes — everybody knows, you can’t get on in the pictures game — without clothes, clothes, clothes. Nance Mode, 1918, Motion Picture Magazine

The US at this time was primarily agricultural and rural. Besides entertain, film was a means to really enlighten and inform in illiterate population. The stars of these films became America’s royalty. The film industry embraced this as a method to promote the film. The star’s wardrobe was a means to market the film, elevate the star’s status & and promote this whole experience thus ensuring a good return on the investment and provide a momentum for the next film. Besides promoting the grandness, films used costumes and clothing to legitimize the film experience. One can’t forget that prior to the GI Bill after WWII most of America was illiterate, rural, and somewhat back ward. When this changed, so did movies (more on this later). This was a new media and viewed with much skepicism regarding it’s relevance. It was, and by some still is, corrupting society.

Designers such Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon) helped legitimized this media as she herself was a multi-pronged media machine. Lucile, as she was known, was a frequent contributor to Hearst Publications, and regular columns in Good Housekeeping and Harper’s Bazaar. She helped make movie fashion and styles acceptable dialogue as she herself was a household personality much like Oprah. Other costume designers included artists like Erte. Many early costume designers like Howard Greer (who worked for Lucile) and Travis Banton came from the couture industry. Adrian would later come from the movie industry and build a successful couture business because of his film involvement.

While costumes could elevate the movie, censorship caused by the condemnation of a costume deemed too revealing virtually guananteed the movie to be a success. An early example of this was Theda Bara filing a lawsuit for $100,000 against the Chicago censorship committee Better Films Committee of the Women’s Club of Omaha for refusing to give the movie (Cleopatra - 1917) a permit. The film, of course, booked solidly and grossed over a million dollars.

Film makers knew costumes helped to promote a sexual dialog between the stars and their adoring fans. This continued for years and still does. Women drooled at a bare chested Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1921) or Clark Gable in In Happened One Night.(1934) and at Brad Pitt in Troy (2004) The Gable film caused a drop of 30% in the men’s underwear market when he undressed and was not wearing an undershirt.

“We clearly found the formula for success in these romantic comidies of marrage and entrigue laced with a series of handsome leading men and a never-ending parade of fabulous gowns.” Gloria Swanson

“I want clothes that will make people gasp when they see them. Don’t design anyting that anyone could buy in a store.” Cecil B. DeMille.

As society has changed (particularly after WWII), movies have changed. With each decade, society has found itself examined in film and as fodder for stories in film. As stories in society have changed and evolved, characters are more dynamic and three-dimensional. Beside the need to be entertaining, films have needed to be more real whether the story is biographical or fictitious. Plot and plot structure has become more complex and strategic. The requirements placed for the costume, physical or emotional, are more demanding than in early films. As film viewser, there is a need to see the upside of a character as well as the dark, complex human frailties that make up the character. There are levels of sub-text that need to be conveyed in a costume that give depth and meaning to the characters as well as propel the storyline. A costume, and at times lack of one, gives a film an tension that heightens the anxiety of the watcher. The audience too can also be part of the film… in the sense that the character becomes easily identified with. The viewer feels that they know instinctively the motivation of character just by viewing what he/she is wearing. They become to identify with the character and at times, the viewer is one with the character. Traveling the film journey together.

“I really prefer not to play glamorous women in movies because my heroes in film, for the most part, are usually people that you wouldn’t know unless someone like me brought them to the screen, like everyday people… It’s about the reality of people’s lives and getting inside them, and letting you see what’s going on and how much the character is like the person’s that watching.” Cher

As our movies have changed, fashion and how we act as consumers have changed. The film viewer sees him/herself in the movie’s characters attempt to try to. So in turn, they act out by taking the lead or suggestion of the costume designer by following a style presented on a character in a film. That may include running to the shoe store to buy a pair of Manolos (Sex in the City) or cutting the neck ribbing off a sweatshirt like Jennifer Beal’s character in Flashdance.

The audience looks at the fashion in movies and the character arc and development and decides to take a risk. Many times the risk is successful as the fashion is what society is waiting… primed for a new fashion experience. The trend of men wear band collars after the movie The Sting or the rush of white suits after Saturday Night Fever are just a couple examples. Whatever the case may be, film shapes our society. The costumer applies his/her skill and craft can either reflect or challenge society’s views of fashion in their critique of it on the screen.

Deborah Nadoolman Ladis. Dressed. A Century of Hollywood Costume Design. 2007. Collins Design. Harper Collins Publishers NY

W. Robert LaVine. In a Glamorous Fashion. 1980. Charles Scribneer’s Sons. NY.

Maureen Reilly Hollywood Costume Design by Travilla Schiffer Publishing Co. Atglen, PA

Dale McConathy Diana Freeland. Hollywood Costume. Glamour! Glitter! Romance! Harry N Abram, Inc. Publishers Art NY

God and the Christian movie industry.http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7765255&page=1

One final thought: Growing up in rural Michigan. Movies and fashion were really a wonderful escape. One of my fondest memories was watching movies and also that of my dad taking me to the city library (the library was an hour away.) They had the most splendid book called Hollywood Costume. Glamour! Glitter! Romance! It had a gold brocade cover and lots of beautiful color photos. Everytime I went to the library I checked out that book. I had the book out so many times, the librarian would just laugh as my dad would roll his eyes. I think I was about 8 or 10 at the time. About 30 years later, I was in the library and looked the book up. It turned out there were only two people who ever had a chance to check out this book for four years … me and someone else.