'YOGA PANTS ARE RUINING WOMEN' AND OTHER STYLE ADVICE FROM FRAN LEBOWITZ

[dietcokediet]

Amazing interview:

http://www.elle.com/fashion/personal-style/interviews/a27447/fran-lebowitz-style-interview/

A few quotes:

What people don't know is: Clothes don't really fit you unless they're made for you. Especially when you wear men's clothes, like I do. American women think that clothes fit them if they can fit into them. But that's not at all what fit means.

People care more about trends now than they do about style. They get so wrapped up in what's happening that they forget how to dress, and they never learn who they are because they never learn how to take care of anything. So much of what my generation was taught regarding clothes was how to make them last. How to wash and care for them.

I think that's part of why visual things are becoming so derivative. Designers now, they all have these things called mood boards. I suppose they think a sense of discovery equals invention. It would be as if every writer had a board with paragraphs of other writers—'Oh, I'll take a little bit of this, and that, he was really good.' Yes, he was really good! And that is not a mood board, it is a stealing board.

It's like any other sort of revealing clothing, in that the people you'd most like to see them on aren't wearing them. And if they are, it's probably their job to wear them. My fashion advice, particularly to men wearing shorts: Ask yourself, 'Could I make a living modeling these shorts?' If the answer is no, then change your clothes. Put on a pair of pants.What's so great thing about clothes is that they're artificial—you can lie, you can choose the way you look, which is not true of natural beauty. So if you're naturally beautiful, wear what you want, but that's .01% of people. Most people just aren't good looking enough to wear what they have on. They should change. They should get some slacks and a nice overcoat.

 

[amincer]

Thank you for sharing this. This is the best interview I've read in a while.
I want to sit down and have tea with her and just listen.

 

[vanitas]

Yes, thanks for sharing this, it's just excellent.

I especially love the section about making clothes last and caring for them.

 

[dietcokediet]

I knew you'd appreciate it as much as I did!

 

[Intrinsicality]

I knew you'd appreciate it as much as I did!

Yep. She said some things that needed to be said.

 

[gettingthere]

My queen

 

[deerskulls]

She is so witty and caustic, my god. WHAT A QUEEN.
I got her books instantly after reading this interview. Can't wait to read them!

 

[curlycue]

If you walked around New York you would think there was a terrible mirror famine. There might be drought here, a wheat famine there, but in New York you have a mirror famine.

LOL.

 

[perkybones]

FINALLY!

 

[Layla]

"I don't go there, they come to me"

 

[Meghan]

This is a sharp contrast from the "Wear whatever you want, you look beautiful in everything no matter your size" nonsense that you hear today. It's refreshing.

 

[littlebirdwings]

Thanks for sharing!!

My husband and I were just in Paris last week and he is seriously the most unobservant person I've ever met but even he kept pointing out the American tourists and laughing about just how sloppy they look.

I also really agree with what she said about taking care of clothing--I used to be someone who would buy something if it was super cheap and I thought I might wear it once or twice. Now I try to save up and just buy really quality pieces and then take care of them.