Christmas Elegance

This Elegant Blazer by Hubert de Givenchy is Available for a Song

Our sterling friend Peter in Herefordshire is offering this smashing
blazer by Givenchy. Chest measures 48″–read all measurements carefully for a good fit.

Remember the Waist?

Where Is the Waist? Editorial by M-J de Mesterton

Posted on September 14, 2010 at 1:29 PM

Where is the waist? That’s what I wonder every time I look at photos of the newest “fashions.” What is new about the same old tragic clothing-concepts bobbing up again, masquerading as innovative?

For the past ten years, pants and skirts have consistently been manufactured without even coming close to the waist, yet they are touted as the “latest.” To paraphrase General Honoré of Louisiana, someone’s “stuck on stupid.” I thought last spring that the tide of bad clothes was turning, but having perused some catalogues this month, it is apparent that clothing designers  are still denying their customers ample fabric to cover their “plumber’s cracks.”

Snide cracks about “mom jeans” and thoroughly ignorant comments calling anything that indeed does come just up to the natural waist “high-waisted” are still being heard  and read by those of us who actually remember where the waist is located on the human corpus: the place for belts, sashes, snaps and buttons is an inch or two above the navel, depending upon one’s height. The designer of the human body gave us the waist as an elegant way of keeping our pants, skirts  and trousers from falling down; also to enhance our corporeal proportions. The true waist never comes below the navel, and it certainly cannot be found two inches above one’s crotch. Garments are falling down from where they rest on the hips, and the fashion world has insisted on staying down in the gutter after what seems to be a devastating, permanent fall from elegant, figure-enhancing style.

Fashion-victims are afraid now to go against the hideous dictum that you must wear your clothes no higher than the hip. This is a big mistake, because if one follows the lines of his or her body, they will see that clothes descending from the waist lengthen the legs, while clothes that only come up to the hips turn even the slimmest among us into pot-bellied, short and sloppy -looking people who would have been laughed-at throughout the previous decades and centuries.

Wearing six-inch heels to compensate for the bad deeds done to your figure by stingy clothing manufacturers and designers does nothing but make one look even sillier. Extra-high heels will damage both your feet and back, and will not give back the height robbed from you by idiotic torso-stretching trousers and skirts. For men, extra-long trousers do not visually lengthen your legs; rather, they make you look dumpy.

The fail-safe, time-tested method of developing real glamour and style is to dress in natural, luxurious cloths and fabrics from the waist-down; wear two-to-three inch heels if you are a woman, and keep your trousers from heaping into a puddle on top of your shoes if you are a man. And don’t forget the stockings and socks. No one will notice that you are not blindly and self-destructively following bad fashion. But, they will wonder why on earth you look so good, while their trousers are slipping into the mire together with all sense of style.

Now, there is the waist, at the center of the torso–our anchoring feature of elegant style. Pants, trousers and skirts constructed without it are a waste!

© Copyright M-J de Mesterton; September 14th, 2010

Waist-to-Height Ratio and Your Health: an easy-to-use page that tells you how to find your waist, recommends its ideal measurement for your height, gender and age, calculates your body-mass index and displays one’s optimum daily caloric-intake.

    Click Here to Read M-J’s Main Website, Elegant Survival

Remember Rational Standard Dress-Sizes?

Remember normal-sized clothing for women, before the American fashion industry started distorting sizing in order to flatter the anorexia cult? Standard sizing no longer exists–a dress with a 36-inch bust is now labelled as anything between size 4 and size 14, depending upon whom the maker is targeting. And today’s size 12 is now sometimes distorted by being labelled “plus” for the purpose of  charging more for it.  Some of the styles offered by New York City’s Bergdorf Goodman in 1948 started at size 12, and went up to size 20. Originally, “plus sizes” were anything above size twenty. In 1948, this black silk dress was offered at Bergdorf Goodman in sizes 10–16. If a woman wanted something smaller, she had to shop in the children’s section.
©M-J de Mesterton 2011

Elegant Merino Wool Cape Made in Maine

Handmade Wool Cape by Casco Bay Woolworks, 45″ Long

A Most Elegant, Versatile Garment

 

 

Elegant Dressing

See examples of how to dress elegantly, by the writer who brought Classic, Elegant Dressing to you in 2006.  In her latest Elegant Dressing blog, M-J de Mesterton gives explanations of style, instructive photographs, and recommendations for accessories, directing tasteful readers to currently-available, elegant clothes.

Photo ©Copyright de Mesterton 2010

M-J de Mesterton in Elegant Country Clothing: Harris Tweed Riding Jacket, Breeks in Gun Club Check by Johnston’s of Elgin; Both Made in England by Bookster; Lady Northampton Boots and Ivory Leather Gloves

Modern-Day Nostradamus Gerald Celente Predicts Individualistic Elegance for 2010

The Elegant Survival theme, as I have promoted since 2006 here on the web, was noticed by reader Gerald Celente, who mentions it in his 2010 predictions on Fox News. The transcript is a bit muddled, so it is best to watch the video. On the George Noory Coast to Coast a.m. radio show, Mr. Celente predicted a return to making one’s own elegant clothing with retro patterns. Thanks for reading Elegant Survival, Gerald!

©M-J de Mesterton 2010

Elegant Dressing

Elegant, Classic English Coats

The Classic English Chesterfield Coat, Made-to-Measure in England of the Finest Cloth