The Return of the Smock
I had a few of them in the early nineteen-seventies. One was brown, a kind of synthetic, nylon-type material. It had a square neckline with yellow piping round it and I loved it dearly. I used to wear it with a variety of long skirts; and I still like long skirts.
I'm writing of smocks, of course. Worn for centuries only by farm labourers leaning over gates chewing stalks of barley, in the early seventies they became High Fashion. The other one I particularly remember was made of cheesecloth, which was a material I particularly loved - I felt like a free child of the outdoors. Cheesecloth smock, embroidered flared jeans, oh yes.
And suddenly, after a well-deserved break, the smocks are back. In all the shops, there they are, in a variety of colours including a lot of orange-and-brown prints very reminiscent of the late sixties and early seventies.
But I shan't be going for the smock look this time round. For age has taught me a terrible truth. They make you look pregnant. And if you're too old to be pregnant they make you look both mutton-dressed-as-lamb and, er, fat.
And what's more, I forecast that by the end of the summer everyone will have realised this. So smocks will go completely, totally out of fashion for the next thirty years or so. If you buy them now you won't be able to wear them again until 2037. Still, I expect they'll provide plenty of entertaining photos for the very enjoyable Go Fug Yourself website.
I'm writing of smocks, of course. Worn for centuries only by farm labourers leaning over gates chewing stalks of barley, in the early seventies they became High Fashion. The other one I particularly remember was made of cheesecloth, which was a material I particularly loved - I felt like a free child of the outdoors. Cheesecloth smock, embroidered flared jeans, oh yes.
And suddenly, after a well-deserved break, the smocks are back. In all the shops, there they are, in a variety of colours including a lot of orange-and-brown prints very reminiscent of the late sixties and early seventies.
But I shan't be going for the smock look this time round. For age has taught me a terrible truth. They make you look pregnant. And if you're too old to be pregnant they make you look both mutton-dressed-as-lamb and, er, fat.
And what's more, I forecast that by the end of the summer everyone will have realised this. So smocks will go completely, totally out of fashion for the next thirty years or so. If you buy them now you won't be able to wear them again until 2037. Still, I expect they'll provide plenty of entertaining photos for the very enjoyable Go Fug Yourself website.
posted by Daphne at 3:06 pm
2 Comments:
Thankfully, fashion only dictates what I wear if it prevents me from buying it. Once I've got some smocks, I will wear them until they disintegrate. I love them.
Ailbhe speaks as one who alternates between being pregnant and being very slender!
A smock would just emphasise how close to spherical I am.
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