This is the last sentence of a NYT T Magazine article by Nick Haramis titled, "What’s Behind Fashion’s Rediscovery of the Bare Midriff?
It might be that in exposing the waist, designers are also revealing their hope for a bolder and better future."
Are you ready to diagram (or at least think about diagramming)?
As much as this procession of bare midriffs was a form of immediate wish fulfillment in a time of isolation, uncertainty and protective layers, it was, too, an invocation for the future — an attempt to manifest, by exposing one of our most defenseless, most provocative zones, a future in which we might once again let our guards down and see our bodies not as vessels for disease or targets for injustice but as sources of power.
It's easy to get started:
It's a lot of work to complete the diagram, but feel free to jump right into the meaning... if you can. I can get you started on that too. Your midriff is defenseless and provocative — though I have not seen your particular midriff, and it may provoke something quite different from what the toned, sleek runway-model midriffs provoke — but it means something different in the future from what it meant in the past, because in the past we had the isolation of the lockdown, and moving into the future, we're trying to reengage with social life. It's one thing to dream about a defenseless and provocative midriff when you're home alone and can't go out, quite another to venture into the world again — it's hard enough with a fully covered torso — with your bare belly exposed. But what if we could take our defenseless and provocative midriff out in public with a better, stronger attitude, as a
source of power? Then it might help us get over our dismal feeling that our body is a vessels for disease or a target for injustice. Maybe! It's all in the mind. Expose the space from the bottom of your breasts to the line reached by low-rise pants. Just get it out there. Think: power!! And then maybe you too will have emerged —
truly emerged — from the lockdown.
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33 comments:
The bare midriff trend should really accelerate when the food shortages kick in.
Do math. It would be easier.
Navel-gazing never goes out of fashion in the NYTimes. The fuzz found there can be spun into article length skeins. Sound and furry, signifying nothing.
but feel free to jump right into the meaning..
Women look GREAT! and Seeing More of them is Even BETTER!!!
Woo!! Wooo!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
We no longer need to mask our midriffs. Let them breathe freely.
A nice female midriff is always a pleasure to see. Sad there are so few worth seeing.
What it is, what it was and what it will be.
Diagramming mostly gives really bad analyses of what's going on in a sentence.
E.g. "For him to say that is hurtful." Diagramming has "him" as object of "For." But that's not what's going on. "Him" is objective case because it's the subject of a non-finite verb "to say," and "For" is a marker of the subject of a to-infinitive.
In no sense does "For" make sense as a word, let alone one with an object.
Diagramming is a cruel hoax run on children in middle school.
Sounds like a variation on the old saw that rising hemlines mean rising stock prices.
1. I agree with your interpretation.
2. Omfg
Navel maneuvers.
Easier to diagram, but I never claimed to be looking for another source of power. This works for some, not so much for others. I don't see YMMV used much any more, but that's my take in the shortest possible space.
Couldn't diagram this then, won't diagram it now. I like to practice scales and arpeggios, particularly major/minor sevenths in keys I rarely use. This makes me think of that.
When you're reading and the hard stuff just comes out at sight, people think you can play. That's a good thing. You get phone calls from those who offer money for time.
/stream of consciousness
Expose the space from the bottom of your breasts to the line reached by low-rise pants. Just get it out there. Think: power!! And then maybe you too will have emerged — truly emerged — from the lockdown.
In other words: you gotta show some skin to win!
"see our bodies not as vessels for disease or targets for injustice"
Progspeak. They turned bodies, especially kids' bodies, into vessels of disease, and they defined bodies as targets of injustice, while promoting the mutilation of kids' bodies.
"but as sources of power"
The power to impose prog body norms and demand assent, no matter how flabby or misshapen the midriff.
"Midriff" is a very old term in the English language, coming into use before 1000 AD.
In Old English it was written as "midhrif", with the old word "hrif" literally meaning stomach; in Middle English it was "mydryf". The word fell into obsolescence after the 18th century.
The word was revived in 1941 by the fashion industry, partly to avoid use of the word "belly" which genteel women considered undesirable in reference to their bodies, as it has connotations of obesity.
Is it strange for a man to use "our" in writing about what is apparently women's fashions? Does his being LGBTQQ and Canadian make it alright? But is it women's fashions he's talking about. Maybe he's baring his own midriff.
99.9% of people that dress this way shouldn't.
"It was..."
...a dark and stormy night.
I don’t want to see more bare midriffs unless we also see more fat shaming.
If I were to list the most vulnerable parts of my body, midriff would be low on the list. To fully empower us, females must put away the protest pussy hats and bare crotches. Males, dicks out for Harambe! And wear open toe shoes, because toe stubbing must be empowering! Or forget shoes at all, because stepping on Legos at home and gum on sidewalks is great! And show some nipples, you male and female empowerment units. Maybe with clothes pins attached, because it is empowering, right!
Navel gazing meets the male gaze....I don't see that many bare midriffs, but it's been a cold spring here....I go to the Central Park Reservoir for my walks. It's popular among joggers. The girls now wear tights that are extremely form fitting. There might be some kind of Spandex or Lululemon magic going on because a disproportionate number of these girls are extravagantly fit and attractive. Is the hot new erogenous zone the derriere as opposed to the midriff? Asking for a friend.
I suspect this "trend" will do little more than expose a lot more muffin tops.
"Rudder amidriff, sir."
Masturbation = Lone Justice ?
Why just for women? Bring back the '80s where the young male actor, such as Johnny Depp, often appeared with one of those cutoff football jersey shirts baring his midriff. And it would have utility today for those men who can't find a shirt long enough in the front not to expose the bottom of their belly.
I'm keeping my midriff in lockdown. You're welcome.
Ye Gods and little fishes! Who can plumb the depths of shallowness in the New York Times?
If you're going to write a sentence like that, at least use the Oxford comma!
This Times piece and your commentary on it misapprehend the tectonic changes occurring in the portrayal and display of the female body in our society. First, the changes occurred well before the pandemic, so hanging the story on that is dumb. Second and more importantly, haute couture no longer plays the primary role in dictating what is a desirable body shape, how it should be displayed, and what should be worn to cover/uncover it. That role has been thoroughly democratized through the interaction of ordinary young women and their influencers on Instagram and other social-media apps. The toned, spindly haute-couture regime has been unceremoniously overthrown by a celebration of ripe plumpness in the tummy and ass — a look that throughout human history was understood as a signifier of fertility and prosperity. Somehow around 1965 our culture’s body ideal began being dictated by gay men and rich, bony-assed white women, but that era has now thankfully ended. Vive la révolution!
My midriff is so advanced it shows itself.
Run, Haramis. Run on, Haramis.
"In Old English it was written as "midhrif", with the old word "hrif" literally meaning stomach; in Middle English it was "mydryf". The word fell into obsolescence after the 18th century."
Thanks. That made me look it up in the OED:
"Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian midhrif < the Germanic base of mid adj. + the Germanic base of Old English hrif belly (cognate with Old Frisian href , hrif , Old Saxon ref (Middle Low German rif , ref ), Old High German href < the Indo-European base of classical Latin corpus : see corpse n.); compare (with different first element: see middle adj.) Middle Dutch middelrijf (Dutch middelrif , (rare) middenrif : compare middleriff n.), Middle Low German middelrif ."
It was surprising to see the famous HTML code "href" in there as a word — "Old High German href."
The bare midriff trend should really accelerate when the food shortages kick in.
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right time to show off sixpacks and bony-ribs
I don't comment enough just to express my happiness in following your blog lo these many years.
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