Althouse: Modesty and traditional feminity.

November 17, 2015

Modesty and traditional feminity.

It's the latest thing.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...: "Modesty and traditional feminity". Is that ad- and retailer-speak this season for "ugly dresses with bad fit"?

My first thought was "looks like somebody's fussy vinyl kitchen tablecloth".; 11/17/15, 9:42 AM
rhhardin said...: People who liked Carol

Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

also liked

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.; 11/17/15, 9:50 AM
fivewheels said...: I thought it would be some kind of faux-Amish getup, which would be a daring choice. This just looks like a normal dress, neither modest not revealing.

I agree with the commenter who said the snowflake pattern looks like Lisa Simpson's head.; 11/17/15, 9:57 AM
fivewheels said...: urgh, "nor" revealing.; 11/17/15, 9:59 AM
David Begley said...: After Cate appeared in "Truth" I have no interest in her. Very disappointed in Dennis Quaid for the same reason.; 11/17/15, 10:14 AM
PoNyman said...: Is that blue or gray?; 11/17/15, 10:32 AM
Unknown said...: Less really is more.; 11/17/15, 11:47 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Modest and traditional feminity, you say?

I say, Hell yeah!; 11/17/15, 12:12 PM
Birches said...: It looks like she's wearing doilies up top. Cate can pull that off I suppose, but not the rest of us.; 11/17/15, 12:17 PM
Bilwick said...: Well, if Sharia law comes to the West, modesty and traditional femininity may save Ms. Blanchett and others from a good stoning.; 11/17/15, 1:31 PM
MikeD said...: Reminded me of the "housedresses" my mother wore in the late 40's.; 11/17/15, 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: She looks dreadful! Neither the style nor the color of the dress look flattering to her. The dress is downright ugly, in fact, and all that demure, dainty laciness contrasts so sharply with her big bones and enormous head (with manjaw) that she looks like a guy in drag. Awful!; 11/17/15, 3:29 PM
Etienne said...: Better than a pantsuit by far.; 11/17/15, 4:27 PM
Christy said...: Oh, how precious! She forgot the season difference between Australia and North America.; 11/17/15, 4:39 PM
mccullough said...: She's a very pretty woman.; 11/17/15, 4:47 PM
Nichevo said...: Meh. Pretty as in fuckable?; 11/17/15, 8:04 PM
traditionalguy said...: It is sexy when the female body is not as visible as it is suggested. Then the terrible men's brains fills in the missing parts with gusto. But since that only works for heterosexual men, it may be unconstitutional to dress modestly.; 11/18/15, 5:41 AM
mikee said...: Lawrence Sterne, in his inimitable "A Sentimental Journey," describes the phases of a female life thusly:

"There are three epochas in the empire of a French woman.—She is coquette,—then deist,—then dévote: the empire during these is never lost,—she only changes her subjects. When thirty-five years and more have unpeopled her dominion of the slaves of love, she re-peoples it with slaves of infidelity,—and then with the slaves of the church."

Today, a coquette is just a hot young actress, deism is replaced with progressive politics and religious devotion is demonstrated with respectable charitable works.

Ms. Blanchett is following Stern's observations from 1768 to the letter, as done by Jolie, Paltrow, Foster and innumerable other actresses over the centuries.; 11/18/15, 11:03 AM
Wayne said...: Galadriel lookin' good!; 11/18/15, 7:00 PM