What, may you ask, do German MTV, Grease The Musical and Tuscany have in common? Not much. Granted. But Friday morning, in Tuscany, on our hotel TV we came across German MTV playing You're The One That I Want from Grease. Apparently this is completely acceptable. In Germany.
Watching the video, however, I got to thinking about the effect clothes have on peoples perceptions. Sandy changes, completely, the way she dresses and looks in order to get Danny. This clearly challenges today's commonly accepted wisdom that women should dress for themselves and not for any man.
I have always been of the opinion that a woman should dress for herself and never for a man. This philosophy probably explains why I rarely wear heels and the poor state of my underwear drawer! But I do believe that women often look most sexy when they are comfortable and even at their most casual. Sure, a corsetted dress and killer heels look amazing, if the woman wearing them is confident enough to pull it off. But equally, a woman in the supermarket with her hair pulled back, a pair of jeans and a jumper thrown on can look just as sexy.
Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue, is renowned for her attitude that it must be uncomfortable to be fashionable. Indeed, she never wears flats and even went so far as to outlaw Uggs in French Vogue offices, saying, "I do not like comfortable". This argument does not carry much weight with me. Yes, I have been known to wear extremely beautiful and yet supremely painful heels but never in a manner in which I might be described as "sexy". I love fashion and I love to look and be fashionable but running a very close second is my desire to be comfortable. When I am comfortable then I can worry about feeling sexy.
I return to Sandy's outfit in the video. How can anyone dance in `sprayed-on' leather trousers and skyscraper heels?! Only a film star could carry that off, I'd be flat on my back in minutes if I tried that!
So my advice is this, if you feel comfortable and happy in what you are wearing, the rest should take care of itself.
Love, SG
