Naked Fashion
June 20th 2008 08:12
Piercings, tattoos, body art, scarification, waxing, tanning: these are all examples of naked fashion. If you peel back the layers, its easy to see that fashion definitely starts before you even put anything on.
The word fashion brings to mind glorious images of dresses, catwalks and to die for outfits, but fashion starts with your naked self, as scary as that may be. Fashion means many things to many people, but if you search for fashion online, or flick through a magazine, fashion usually tends to translate directly to the clothes you put on every day. I, however, believe that fashion extends far beyond this, and starts at a much more grass roots level.
Naked Fashion is fashion that isn’t just about your outer layer. It encompasses the physical you, and what you do to yourself in the name of fashion and beauty. I’m talking about piercings, tattoos, botox, the list goes on and on...and on.
If I had to do a word association test, the word fashion makes me want to shout about a hundred things at once. Words like Dior, models and Paris. But none of these words relate that closely to my every day life, which is interesting when fashion is such a personal thing. Eventually my ideas of what fashion is has to end up having something to do with me somehow, unless I spend the rest of my days in a nudist colony, which is highly unlikely.
History demonstrates that in all cultures, there is a fascination with beauty, and we have suffered through the years to be considered so. Fashion has stemmed from our desire to be attractive, and trying to alter our physical appearance in the name of fashion and beauty demonstrates the idea of naked fashion. Even at the very basic level of trying to be as healthy as possible, drinking a litre of water a day to help achieve great skin, and washing our hair are all examples of naked fashion. We all know that the better we look and feel in ourselves, the better the external fashion we don is going to look.
Think of the naked fashion of many moons ago, the ancient art of foot binding, practiced in China for almost one thousand years. Although this bizarre and horrendous custom reflected the role of women in China during the time, it was also treated as a fashion trend. Most of us are also familiar with the tradition of neck rings, a tradition which started in Burma and can still be seen on some women today. Although the longer the neck of a woman, the more beautiful she was considered, the number of rings also correlated to the wealth of the family, which just goes to show that even many years ago money was considered an attractive quality!
And think of England during Charlotte Bronte’s era. Corsets were used to assist the common goal of a tiny waist, considered beautiful and fashionable at the time. This trend resulted in damage to internal organs, fainting and broken ribs, so not one that we hope makes a comeback any time soon, but an itty bitty waist is still high on many people's body wish list. In direct contrast, the trend of the Renaissance period was to be a much curvier lady such as those immortalised by the likes of Botticelli.
And these days if you're not blessed with the body you want naturally, there's always surgery. Botox is without a doubt fashionable. Already many a woman’s best friend, the jury is still out on whether this procedure is a good idea or not. First used medically to treat lazy eyes, and now with evidence suggesting that Botox may be able to treat numerous medical conditions such as migraines, excessive sweating, cerebral palsy, and overactive bladders, botox seems to be a good thing. But the fact that the injections contain a poison that causes fatal food poisoning is probably one of the biggest reasons some people have issues with the drug as a beauty treatment, and the beauty effects of the treatment were actually discovered by accident. Regardless of personal opinion, there is no denying that botox is trendy. Just like boob jobs had their day, botox is a must have accessory in the world of naked fashion.
For those of us wanting to alter our physical appearances, and that’s most of us, naked fashion doesn’t have to involve the expense of a cosmetic surgeon. You just have to take a little stroll around your local chemist to see the array of products designed to make us beautiful whilst naked. Cellulite creams, miracle cures for stretch marks, wrinkle eliminating moisturisers, it is hard to know where to start. But rest assured, regardless of your body issue, there is something available on the market to fix it.
My favourite examples of naked fashion I have left for last. Firstly, we have waxing. Hair seems to be the bane…okay one of the many banes…of a female’s existence. Hair on your head is aa good thing. Hair on the rest of you is not. Hairy armpits may be okay in some parts of France, but hairy anywhere the sun don’t get to shine that much is generally no longer trendy. The Brazilian took off in a big way in the late 90s, and our most delicate of areas hasn’t really recovered since. Being pretty much back to how nature brought you into the world is still the fashionable thing to do, and many of us pay big dollars, and endure sometimes excruciating pain in order to continue the trend. Team that with armpits, eyebrows (which we are now allowed to grow again thanks to the returning trend of the glamazon), legs, for the unfortunate amongst us, arms too, and it becomes apparent that naked fashion is just as important as our not so naked fashion.
Then, there is my other great love – fake tan. We may have all laughed ourselves silly as Ross became a crispy looking version of himself in Friends during an unfortunate spraying booth incident, but this was completely misleading because those booths rock! Yes, you may smell a little funny for a while, you have to wear the equivalent of a tent upon leaving so you don’t ruin your soon to appear tan, and lord only knows what chemicals can make you gradually brown over the following six hours, but its heaven when that tan hits. Some of my friends swear by the personalised touch of a consultant airbrushing you, but my one experience of being naked with a hairdryer turned on my ass to finish me off has swayed me without return to a little booth that is all my own. Either way, there are no tan lines if you don’t want them, you can wear a white dress without resembling a corpse in just over half a day’s notice, and you don’t risk the nasty Australian sun side effects. The same goes for the home tanning job, but I learnt the hard way that this opens up a lot more room for error when I woke up with stripy legs the day before a major dress-wearing event. And we all have a misguided orange friend. But with practice and patience (which is possibly what I was missing), the home tanning can be an inexpensive and ideal way to be golden regardless of the weather.
This is naked fashion at its best. We all know that the hearsay that a tan is no longer cool is rubbish. People look great when they are brown, and most of us prefer a bronzed look to showing off translucent skin during summer. Ideally, we should be comfortable enough with ourselves to accept our naked selves as we are, but I am a realist. And just as there are fashion trends with clothing, there are undeniable naked fashion trends and as such, I believe that if you can get yourself into a happy place with your elements of naked fashion, whether that be through sporting a tattoo, a nose ring, or getting monthly botox fixes, this will no doubt complement your non naked fashion.
The word fashion brings to mind glorious images of dresses, catwalks and to die for outfits, but fashion starts with your naked self, as scary as that may be. Fashion means many things to many people, but if you search for fashion online, or flick through a magazine, fashion usually tends to translate directly to the clothes you put on every day. I, however, believe that fashion extends far beyond this, and starts at a much more grass roots level.
Naked Fashion is fashion that isn’t just about your outer layer. It encompasses the physical you, and what you do to yourself in the name of fashion and beauty. I’m talking about piercings, tattoos, botox, the list goes on and on...and on.
If I had to do a word association test, the word fashion makes me want to shout about a hundred things at once. Words like Dior, models and Paris. But none of these words relate that closely to my every day life, which is interesting when fashion is such a personal thing. Eventually my ideas of what fashion is has to end up having something to do with me somehow, unless I spend the rest of my days in a nudist colony, which is highly unlikely.
History demonstrates that in all cultures, there is a fascination with beauty, and we have suffered through the years to be considered so. Fashion has stemmed from our desire to be attractive, and trying to alter our physical appearance in the name of fashion and beauty demonstrates the idea of naked fashion. Even at the very basic level of trying to be as healthy as possible, drinking a litre of water a day to help achieve great skin, and washing our hair are all examples of naked fashion. We all know that the better we look and feel in ourselves, the better the external fashion we don is going to look.
Think of the naked fashion of many moons ago, the ancient art of foot binding, practiced in China for almost one thousand years. Although this bizarre and horrendous custom reflected the role of women in China during the time, it was also treated as a fashion trend. Most of us are also familiar with the tradition of neck rings, a tradition which started in Burma and can still be seen on some women today. Although the longer the neck of a woman, the more beautiful she was considered, the number of rings also correlated to the wealth of the family, which just goes to show that even many years ago money was considered an attractive quality!
And think of England during Charlotte Bronte’s era. Corsets were used to assist the common goal of a tiny waist, considered beautiful and fashionable at the time. This trend resulted in damage to internal organs, fainting and broken ribs, so not one that we hope makes a comeback any time soon, but an itty bitty waist is still high on many people's body wish list. In direct contrast, the trend of the Renaissance period was to be a much curvier lady such as those immortalised by the likes of Botticelli.
And these days if you're not blessed with the body you want naturally, there's always surgery. Botox is without a doubt fashionable. Already many a woman’s best friend, the jury is still out on whether this procedure is a good idea or not. First used medically to treat lazy eyes, and now with evidence suggesting that Botox may be able to treat numerous medical conditions such as migraines, excessive sweating, cerebral palsy, and overactive bladders, botox seems to be a good thing. But the fact that the injections contain a poison that causes fatal food poisoning is probably one of the biggest reasons some people have issues with the drug as a beauty treatment, and the beauty effects of the treatment were actually discovered by accident. Regardless of personal opinion, there is no denying that botox is trendy. Just like boob jobs had their day, botox is a must have accessory in the world of naked fashion.
For those of us wanting to alter our physical appearances, and that’s most of us, naked fashion doesn’t have to involve the expense of a cosmetic surgeon. You just have to take a little stroll around your local chemist to see the array of products designed to make us beautiful whilst naked. Cellulite creams, miracle cures for stretch marks, wrinkle eliminating moisturisers, it is hard to know where to start. But rest assured, regardless of your body issue, there is something available on the market to fix it.
My favourite examples of naked fashion I have left for last. Firstly, we have waxing. Hair seems to be the bane…okay one of the many banes…of a female’s existence. Hair on your head is aa good thing. Hair on the rest of you is not. Hairy armpits may be okay in some parts of France, but hairy anywhere the sun don’t get to shine that much is generally no longer trendy. The Brazilian took off in a big way in the late 90s, and our most delicate of areas hasn’t really recovered since. Being pretty much back to how nature brought you into the world is still the fashionable thing to do, and many of us pay big dollars, and endure sometimes excruciating pain in order to continue the trend. Team that with armpits, eyebrows (which we are now allowed to grow again thanks to the returning trend of the glamazon), legs, for the unfortunate amongst us, arms too, and it becomes apparent that naked fashion is just as important as our not so naked fashion.
Then, there is my other great love – fake tan. We may have all laughed ourselves silly as Ross became a crispy looking version of himself in Friends during an unfortunate spraying booth incident, but this was completely misleading because those booths rock! Yes, you may smell a little funny for a while, you have to wear the equivalent of a tent upon leaving so you don’t ruin your soon to appear tan, and lord only knows what chemicals can make you gradually brown over the following six hours, but its heaven when that tan hits. Some of my friends swear by the personalised touch of a consultant airbrushing you, but my one experience of being naked with a hairdryer turned on my ass to finish me off has swayed me without return to a little booth that is all my own. Either way, there are no tan lines if you don’t want them, you can wear a white dress without resembling a corpse in just over half a day’s notice, and you don’t risk the nasty Australian sun side effects. The same goes for the home tanning job, but I learnt the hard way that this opens up a lot more room for error when I woke up with stripy legs the day before a major dress-wearing event. And we all have a misguided orange friend. But with practice and patience (which is possibly what I was missing), the home tanning can be an inexpensive and ideal way to be golden regardless of the weather.
This is naked fashion at its best. We all know that the hearsay that a tan is no longer cool is rubbish. People look great when they are brown, and most of us prefer a bronzed look to showing off translucent skin during summer. Ideally, we should be comfortable enough with ourselves to accept our naked selves as we are, but I am a realist. And just as there are fashion trends with clothing, there are undeniable naked fashion trends and as such, I believe that if you can get yourself into a happy place with your elements of naked fashion, whether that be through sporting a tattoo, a nose ring, or getting monthly botox fixes, this will no doubt complement your non naked fashion.
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