It’s like they pulled the coat onto their shoulders, looked in the mirror, and let out a sigh, deciding they were above pulling their arms into the silly extra fabric on the sides.There are many possible explanations for this phenomenon. Just off the top of my head:
1. It's not yet chilly enough for the coat I want to have with me later in the day.
2. I don't want this expensive-to-dry-clean coat in contact with my armpits.
3. This way it's like a cape and capes are nice.
4. It says: I am am a woman of elegance and grace. You might have to worry that a coat worn like this would fall off, but I don't.
5. The eschewing of sleeve-wearing brings back no bad memories for me. That is, I don't remember the 1970s when everyone decided that the way to wear a sweater was to put it on your back and tie the sleeves in front of your neck like a scarf.
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It's hard to beat going topless for an attention-getting look.
I lived in Princeton during the seventies. I saw that sweater guy ten times a day. He was everywhere.
Those were dark days.
If you're afraid for the coat to come near your armpits, maybe you need to re-work your anti-perspirant/deodorant.
I'm pretty sure I never did the tied sweater thing. But maybe I did.
Like omigod, not only that, kids are wearing knapsacks on only one shoulder!
Ann, what made you such a robot? Not a trauma, we know you've never had one.
Terry said...
It's hard to beat going topless for an attention-getting look.
Have you tried bottomless?
I like it: easier access to the breasts.
Like a skirt is easier access to the ass than pants.
Bring back tube tops.
I am Laslo.
please please please!!
Anything that connotes undressing has begun is a step in the right direction.
This is also why women should never wear shoes with laces.
I am Laslo.
A woman wearing a skirt with no panties and a coat as a cape is at the Magical Number of Zero in steps necessary to remove clothing to initiate anal sex.
A woman wearing a skirt with no panties but no coat as a cape is also at the Magical Number of Zero in steps necessary to remove clothing to initiate anal sex.
But she can keep the cape: doesn't make much difference to me.
I am Laslo.
Guys were still doing that sweater thing in Paris in 1986. Maybe they were tourists.
When pink sweaters made the man...
I see this as the start of what could be farce, later being repeated as history. Or possibly fashion:
Back in the days of Seinfeld, Sue Ellen Mishke who always went around bra-less, started wearing one as a top when Elaine got her one as a gift.
Now, women have started to wear sports bras as tops when engaged in athletics. I foresee a time when women will wear something like a sports bra in more business like colors and materials, with a blazer or other kind of jacket.
I look forward to it. Especially if they wear their jacket as a cape. Jackets could even come with a fastener that connects the top near the neckline, to prevent the jacket from falling off.
Althouse, didn't your mom wear her coat like this when you were a little girl? I remember wondering as a kid how all the women kept their coats from falling off. Everyone wore them that way. This is retro.
For the record, it is legal to go around topless in NYC.
Eschew is such a pseud word.
It does look silly and affected with the fashionista types--however, I've been known to drape a cardigan when I want a bit of warmth over my shoulders but having my arms in the sleeves would make me too hot.
You can get away with a less tailored fit in a jacket if you wear it over your shoulders.
Especially if it's cut to hug your curves and then you put on a little bloat.
I think it looks nice and Jimmy crack corn.
Anybody who has a strong negative opinion about such unimportant and harmless things really might want to consider how they got to be that way.
Life is short.
Maybe some of the women in these coats don't have arms. Industrial accidents, maybe.
When having doggy-style sex with a woman with no arms you have to be extra careful she doesn't suffocate in the pillow. Because she doesn't have elbows to rest on. So her face is probably smack-dab in the pillow. And she's getting relentlessly pushed from behind. And she can't push away from the pillow. Because she doesn't have arms.
So: when having doggy-style sex with a woman with no arms you have to be extra careful she doesn't suffocate in the pillow.
I hope this helps.
I am Laslo.
When I was in college in the 50s, we could tell who had an 8 o'clock class because they had the sweater like the photo by noon. They wore it on for early lasses and then took if and draped it as shown when the day warmed up. Of course that was southern California.
That was a very common look then.
"took it off..." Damn autocorrect.
Laslo-
Have you tried something like this?
Word of advice: Don't try this on a hill.
And remember to set the parking break.
"Althouse, didn't your mom wear her coat like this when you were a little girl? I remember wondering as a kid how all the women kept their coats from falling off. Everyone wore them that way. This is retro."
I can't remember that, but I do remember having a device that held a cardigan sweater together at the neck. It had 2 clips connected by a chain. "Alligator" clips, possibly bejeweled, and maybe 4 or 5 inches of chain.
Sweater clips at eBay.
The cutest no-sleeve water-resistant coat with rabbit fur was on sale in Paris, unfortunately, not in my size. You would wear the coat with a sweater, how light of a sweater your choice, and it makes for perfect autumn wear, especially in warmer climates. Could be trending. Check your catalogs. And Laslo, you're a strange cookie. Is there anything spiritual about you, or are you just muddy waters since birth ?
Pink scarfs, at that. It must engender a different perception from the ivory clique.
Historically, actually using the sleeves on a coat or jacket is something of a novelty. Look up "colley-westonward'
Unless I'm very much mistaken, the sweater-around-the-neck was an 80s fashion, not 70s. That picture of Judd Nelson is definitely 80s.
"Unless I'm very much mistaken, the sweater-around-the-neck was an 80s fashion, not 70s. That picture of Judd Nelson is definitely 80s."
The "Preppy Handbook" came out in 1980, so it refers to the 70s. I think the sweater thing was part of the preppy look. I'm pinning it in the 70s, even if it persisted in the 80s. It was a 70s trend as I remember it. I was living in NYC, so maybe it hit you people of the hinterlands later.
I still have my college-era down camping vest, with YKK nylon zipper and cargo pockets. That and some wide, wide ties.
My kids used to wear them for Halloween but I think they're getting closer to being back in style.
If only I'd saved my sky-blue corduroy bell bottomed Levi 501 jeans.
Coco, it's a gag. Laslo is a good guy, the anal yada yada is shtick. shhh don't tell him I said so.
Professor
The "Preppy Handbook" has it's origins in the 1920s. It's a tongue in cheek book on Ivy League Style clothing. "Preppy" first entered pop-culture with the movie "Love Story". The look obviously originated in the Ivy League 1920s, but went mainstream post WWII on college campuses and main street. It's peak popularity was in the 50s and ended about 1967. Ralph Lauren can be credited with it's slow resurgence in the early 1970s.
If your interested.
http://www.ivy-style.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-ivy-league-look.html
The women obviously need a man to help them put their coats on. They probably sit on chairs a foot away from the table, too.
I can remember my Mom wearing her coat the same way. Usually because it was too hot to put in on all the way, and too cold to not have a coat.
Frankly, I like the look. If women want to treasure fashion over comfort that's OK with me.
Yes, I know the preppy look was a traditional style. The book was funny because it was about some people who were beyond fashion. I'm connecting it to the sweater tying thing for some reason, perhaps not a good one. Something about my personal memory. I think tennis and tennis sweaters are involved.
Ann Althouse: "Unless I'm very much mistaken, the sweater-around-the-neck was an 80s fashion, not 70s. That picture of Judd Nelson is definitely 80s."
The "Preppy Handbook" came out in 1980, so it refers to the 70s. I think the sweater thing was part of the preppy look. I'm pinning it in the 70s, even if it persisted in the 80s. It was a 70s trend as I remember it. I was living in NYC, so maybe it hit you people of the hinterlands later.
That you chose a picture of Judd freakin' Nelson to illustrate your 70s reference doesn't fill me with confidence that you're remembering your decades correctly. :)
My recollection isn't so much based on what I saw on actual people out here in "the hinterlands," but what I saw in movies and TV shows. And a Google search seems to agree with me - I'm finding several sites referring to it as an 80s fashion and none referring to it as a 70s fashion.
The first people to do it may have done it in the 70s (or even earlier), but it didn't become a "thing" until the 80s.
Now, if they draped the coats over their head as a hoodie, I would take notice except for a rainy day. Wearing a coat as a cape seems a style choice of little note.
Professor
You are correct, one can find images from the 1920s of tennis players wearing their sweaters tied around their necks. For that matter jocks have always wore their sweaters and sweatshirts tied around their necks or waist after a workout.
Some polo players and military have draped their polo coats or trench coats on their shoulders as weather and body temps require. They wear them like traditional bench warmers.
Michael K @ 9:30AM above got it right. In spring and fall it's cold in the morning so there is a need for a sweater or jacket, but not by noon. This wouldn't be interesting or strange if boomers hadn't started to dress like refugees in around 1968. ;-)
Pelisse
"I was living in NYC, so maybe it hit you people of the hinterlands later. "
You people?
How long since you were banished to Siberia^H^H^H^H Wisconsin?
"Some polo players and military have draped their polo coats or trench coats on their shoulders as weather and body temps require."
There's an iconic photo of the Green Bay Packers doing just that in the Lombardi era. Its probably in Instant Replay.
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