girls clothes

sempie Ocak 15, 2022

girls clothes

The scrunchie is back, thanks to VSCO girls - Vox.com
Female-Focused Dress Code Under Scrutiny - New Haven Independent
Dickinson Recap: I’ll Make a Man Out of You - Vulture
Why 'Bringing Up Bates' stars Erin, Carlin, Whitney started Bates Sisters Boutique - Knoxville News Sentinel

The scrunchie is back, thanks to VSCO girls - Vox.com

Posted: 01 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PDT

The Netflix movie, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, had a scene-stealing cameo: a scrunchie. The fabric-covered hair tie is the centerpiece in a power tug-of-war between the protagonist, Lara Jean, and her former BFF turned mean girl, Genevieve. ("We used to be best friends," Lara Jean explains in voiceover, "but post-middle school, for reasons having to do with her popularity and my lack thereof, we are now decidedly not.")

The scrunchie in question passes as a kind of love token from Lara Jean to her pseudo-boyfriend, but Genevieve intercepts it and later flashes it in front of Lara Jean as a show of domination.

"Peter gave this to me. Isn't it cute?" Genevieve says, making a show of tying up her hair. "I love the colors in it."

*To All the Boys I've Loved Before*'s Peter (Noah Centineo) and Genevieve (Emilija Baranac) with the all-important scrunchie.

Thirty years ago, this hair accessory was a similar talisman in the movie Heathers. It was the physical marker of who ruled the school, stolen off the reigning alpha-girl by a challenger. Director Michael Lehmann wasn't subtle about its significance: In the opening shot, a red scrunchie is passed through the blond ringlets of queen bee Heather Chandler. From there, it passes from one Heather to another, as the social standings in the school shuffle, until the main character, Veronica, yanks it from Heather Duke's hair at the end, declaring, "There's a new sheriff in town!"

The scrunchie was so critical to the plot that when Heathers was adapted as a musical in 2014, costume designer Amy Clark made custom jumbo ones that could be seen from the back of the house.

Why is it that this fabric ponytail-holder is always shown ensnarled in power struggles? Could it be that it's not only depicting the swings from friendship to frenemy but also the seesaw of trend cycles themselves? After all, if this type of bullying had a catchphrase, it could be the one from Project Runway describing the ruthless revolving door of fashion itself: "One day you're in, and the next, you're out." And the scrunchie has most certainly been both.

When we think of a scrunchie, we think of a girlish, frilly doohickey commonly housed in a Caboodles. Yet impossibly, it's become shorthand for alpha-girl schoolyard status. Many items of women's apparel communicate power, but notably, they've been lifted from the men's department. Picture the power suit, the briefcase, shoulder pads, even heels — the trademark footwear of femme fatales. As Summer Brennan writes in her book High Heel, "history's first true high heel — a 16th-century Persian man's cavalry shoe — was a grip for the stirrup." Later this footwear morphed into the talons hauts that stylish gentlemen peacocked around in Louis XIV's court to display their rank.

By contrast, the history of the scrunchie is short. Nightclub performer Ronny Revson patented the scrunchie in 1987, modeling it on her elastic-waisted PJs. (Several sources also credit Philips E. Meyers as the original inventor back in the '60s, but he never secured a patent and the accessory remained largely unknown in his day.)

But while the scrunchie's history is brief, the timeline of hair accessories is incredibly long. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, fashion historian and author of Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History, confirms as much. "As long as women have had long hair," she says, "there have been hair ornaments." Hairstyles themselves have also served as a form of communication. "Hair has been a vehicle for self-expression, especially for women because they didn't have the other means of self-expression that were available to men," Chrisman-Campbell says. During the late 18th century, an era Chrisman-Campbell specializes in, women expressed their pent-up opinions in elaborate, ornamented hairdos that acted as billboards for all kinds of causes du jour — championing one composer over another, celebrating inoculation, even commemorating a specific French ship that won a battle against the English — using symbolic baubles woven into their poufs (fake snakes, olive branches, entire miniature ships complete with sails). "Hairstyles were relatively easy and inexpensive to update, so they were very sensitive to changes in pop culture, changes in politics, changes in the news cycle. And I think that's true today," says Chrisman-Campbell.

When it comes to the scrunchie as portrayed in Heathers and To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Chrisman-Campbell compares its significance to the ultimate power accessory — the crown. She notes that in both films it's not just the item itself that's important but its lineage. "It's recognizably someone else's scrunchie," she says, "so it belonged to a certain person and took on her social power." Similarly, a crown's power is compounded by its association with all the previous monarchs who wore it. In these narratives, as is often the case with a crown, there is only one method for acquiring the scrunchie, and that's "taking it by force in a very Shakespearean way," says Chrisman-Campbell.

This crown comparison brings to mind Taylor Swift's anti-bullying song "You Need to Calm Down": "We see you over there on the internet, comparing all the girls who are killing it. But we figured you out. We all know now; we all got crowns." Unfortunately, the reality is that crowns (both literal and metaphorical) are bestowed only on those with privilege and status. And the Heathers and Genevieves of the world have always conspired to snatch them, and that's where relational bullying can come in.

Signe Whitson, social worker and author of Friendship and Other Weapons, says traditional bullying is a one-on-one fight, "but in relational bullying, it's 'I'm mad at you, and I'm going to get everybody else I know to be mad at you, too.' It's a power-in-numbers kind of dynamic."

Although it's not visible in this picture, a reed scrunchie is holding back the hair of queen bee Heather Chandler (second from right) in *Heathers*.

According to Whitson, relational bullying is also defined by all kinds of physical markers. The classic example is not having a seat at the regular lunch table. But this plays out in various other exclusionary ways, such as fashion. Clothing and accessories are easy targets, she says, because they're so clearly loaded with class and clique symbolism.

Whitson also notes that these abusive dynamics can become cyclical "when people never find their boundaries and never stand up for themselves." Kids can find themselves seesawing, either "in" or "out" with a group — friends on Tuesday and frenemies on Wednesday.

When the scrunchie itself was on the outs, it was labeled a look purely for bumpkins, a punchline on Sex and the City. In one episode, Carrie Bradshaw debates the accessory with her boyfriend as a detail in his novel. "A scrunchie? No woman who works at W magazine and lives on Perry Street would be caught dead wearing a scrunchie!" she says. Later, the couple runs into a woman wearing one — along with a grandmotherly sweater-set and a deep country accent. Carrie's point is proven: The scrunchie is only for the dumpy fashion-illiterate.

Even as a fictional character, Carrie was considered the ultimate tastemaker of the early 2000s — TV Guide declared her the most fashionable character on TV. Her wardrobe launched the sale of countless Manolo Blahnik heels and nameplate necklaces. When she dragged the scrunchie, she slashed its credibility to ribbons.

The scrunchie went from queen bee status symbol to fashion roadkill and then, in another tilt of the seesaw, it rose again to rule the school. Of course, as Chrisman-Campbell notes, fashion trends are generally cyclical, marked by various moments of "minimalism and maximalism going back and forth." But the swings of the scrunchie are strikingly extreme: from the throne to the gutter and back again.

Today, the scrunchie has ascended back to the top of the fashion hierarchy, and VSCO girls have adopted it as a critical part of their uniform. Writer and trend-forecaster Andrew Luecke, who co-authored the book Cool: Style, Sound, and Subversion that documented 100 years of teen subcultures, finds a lot to admire in the VSCO girl, calling her pseudo-preppy style a "Trojan horse." "You sneak in all of this environmental activism under the guise of a preppy style, which isn't necessarily always associated with rebellion or social justice," he says, pointing to the Hydro Flask and metal straw that are also part of their getup.

As the name implies, VSCO girls were born from the VSCO app and are our particular social media moment of 2019. "Their home is YouTube and TikTok," says Luecke. "Greater society or older people look at these platforms as superficial. But if you look at the VSCO girl, you see a really interesting sort of element of social awareness popping up." According to Luecke, the style element — tossing on a scrunchie and a pair of dolphin shorts — can be "a great gateway for getting young women interested in social activism."

Yet it's hard to tell if the scrunchie's association with VSCO girls is a sign of its apex or its decline back down to passé. So many of the VSCO girl videos online have one thing in common: They're trying on the look as part of an experiment or a joke — "Becoming the Ultimate VSCO Girl" or "Transforming Myself Into a VSCO Girl" are common titles — and they're overloaded with self-deprecating humor. "I'm already pretty basic," vlogger Kenna Marie says. Kenna Marie also clarifies in a note below "Please don't take the amount of scrunches I put on seriously. That's the point of the joke."

There is one sad constant between the VSCO girls' scrunchies and the Heathers of yore, and that's how bullying is still present. Skimming the comments on these VSCO girl videos, it's easy to spot a thrumming backbeat of negging, one where girls are being teased for everything from their voices to their hair to their bedrooms' wallpaper.

How do you combat toxic bullying when it's so entangled in girlhood? Whitson sees one emotion as the solution — anger. She feels it's critical that all kids, especially girls, understand that anger is OK. "Girls are still more socialized [to believe] that anger equals bad, and that a good girl wouldn't be angry at her friend," she says. Standing up for yourself, setting boundaries, and acknowledging your feelings are ways of ending any abusive cycle.

Thirty years ago, Heathers ended much this way. Veronica emerges from the scorched earth, defiant. She crowns herself with the red scrunchie, announcing that this era of abuse is over. Today, VSCO girl videos tend to end with the usual chorus of "like and subscribe" but there are also sign-offs like vlogger Bailey Dedrick's. With hair half up in a scrunchie, she closes with, "I don't know if this video is bad ... I wish it was probably better," possibly anticipating the mix of praise and snark that unrolls in the comment section below.

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Female-Focused Dress Code Under Scrutiny - New Haven Independent

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 12:07 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Female-Focused Dress Code Under Scrutiny New Haven Independent

Dickinson Recap: I’ll Make a Man Out of You - Vulture

Posted: 01 Nov 2019 05:00 PM PDT

Dickinson

I Have Never Seen 'Volcanoes'

Season 1 Episode 2

Editor's Rating *****

Photo: Michael Parmelee/Apple

In this era of Peak TV™, any new entry has to prove that it's giving us something that we just can't get from any other show, and this is extra true for any Apple TV+ offering, which has to inspire viewers who've already shelled out precious cash for several other streaming services to add one more to the pile. I assume that it was in this spirit that the writers of Dickinson decided to build an entire episode around the idea of Emily Dickinson having her first orgasm, which — say what you will about the volcano-eruption-as-metaphor — is certainly something you won't find anywhere else.

Em and Sue are now snuggling in bed together, as future sisters-in-law are wont to do. Em laments that she can't marry Sue, even though Sue says Em would be a terrible husband (no practical skills, too small to scare enemies). On cue, Austin pops in, clueless: "I don't know how the two of you fit in such a tiny bed." Again, the tone of this show is in such an odd place that I'm not sure if we are supposed to be genuinely concerned for the emotional mindfuck it would be for Austin if (when?) he finds out that his sister is hooking up with his wife-to-be, or just laugh at how obtuse he is about the whole thing.

Downstairs, it's time to meet my new favorite character: Maggie the maid. Em explains that Maggie is here so Em can be free "to take dictation from God," and Maggie reports that she, too, is a poet. "The limerick scene in Dublin is wild." Mama Dickinson feels totally displaced by this maid, even though it seems like there's definitely more than enough work to go around. This fear of her impending obsolescence will haunt her for the rest of this episode and maybe the entire season.

The fashion on these men of Amherst is A++. I would 100 percent wear Austin's robe. Meanwhile, Sue is still wearing her mourning dress. Or does she just wear black a lot? Does she have other clothes? Em reads in the newspaper that Professor Hitchcock is giving a lecture at the college about his lab on Mount Vesuvius, but Austin isn't interested and Em isn't allowed. Fortunately for Em, her father has written an essay on the proper place of women (don't worry, she totally skimmed it) to clear up this confusing matter: Girls aren't supposed to get education because they don't need it for their lives of chicken-plucking and bonnet-tying or whatever the fuck. Austin tries to flirt with his betrothed by announcing that girls in school would be "too distracting." Oh, Austin. He then says he and Sue have to go do this "little ritual" that he claims involves eating chestnuts at the Vesper Bell, and I write in my notes, Is that a euphemism for oral sex?

The girls head to the dressmakers. Vinnie wants one that will give her wide hips so she looks "really fertile." Betty, the dressmaker, is here to abide, and to keep the secret of Sue and Austin's engagement. Sue is supposed to go clean out the boarding-house lady's dead husband's clothes, since she can't bear to touch them, and Em joins her for what turns into a flirtatious game of dress-up, to the tune of Lizzo's "Boys." Is this tailoring improbably impeccable, considering these are the borrowed clothes of a dead male stranger? Yes! Do we really care about that? Eh, not really. The clothes are fabulous. And while one would have to be stupid to fall for these "disguises," Em is confident they won't get busted because "boys are stupid."

Naturally, they get made by George right away, but he does not blow their cover, even though they have not even prepared fake names. (Em introduces herself as Lysander Periwinkle, Sue as Tybalt Butterfly.) Inside, Professor Hitchcock talks about the lab as a paradoxically sexual place where the pressure is always building, building, BUILDING!!! To emphasize this inescapable point, George makes a model volcano. Imagine being so far in the past that a seventh-grade science-fair project could blow your mind. As this entire class of men learns about volcanoes-as-orgasms together, Em cannot contain herself and blurts out that upon eruption one "BECOMES A FIERY BEAST!" Her hat pops off and her hair pours out. Hitchcock is exceptionally cool about the whole thing and actually wants them to stay, but Sue and Em hightail it out of there, breathless with joy at their corset-free life.

At home everything is bad again (this, I assume, will be a recurring theme) because a man from Amherst came to narc on Em to her dad. (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN SO FAST.) Vinnie realizes she's been knitting all day? I worry about her. Papa Dickinson demands Em cut out the antics and, perhaps the worst punishment of all, makes her read his essay for real this time. I imagine it's like the worst of David Brooks, no? Em's mom swings by to tell her daughter that her entire purpose in this pointless life is to make her father happy, and to want anything else makes her a bad person who is unworthy of all the material goods that surround her. (I mean, if Em were allowed to go to school and get a job and earn money she would be able to acquire her own pencils and bed frames and whatnot, and everyone would be free from this garbage arrangement, but this has clearly not occurred to Em's mom, who is on the scene about a century too early to read The Feminine Mystique.)

Em asks Maggie to teach her how to make bread because this is her repentance, and I'm not 100 percent clear on what Em is sorry for. Going to school and defying her parents? Or just the fact that they are upset, even though she believes she was right to go to the lecture? Am I supposed to be nodding along as Em brings her apology bread to a dad who does not believe his brilliant and talented daughter should be able to go to school?

Time to unwind by playing footsie and snuggling with Sue, who is sure going to miss sleeping in Em's bed. "I just can't stop thinking about Pompei," Em says, which reminds me of that part of Becoming when Michelle says Barack would stare at the ceiling with a pensive look on his face and, when asked what was on his mind, would sheepishly reply, "I was just thinking about income inequality." The girls sleep in these sexy-prairie nightgowns that I think are like what Taylor Swift used to have her friends wear during slumber parties. Sue tells Em that she knows what a volcano feels like. DOES SHE EVER. And that is how they both fit in such a tiny bed.

Why 'Bringing Up Bates' stars Erin, Carlin, Whitney started Bates Sisters Boutique - Knoxville News Sentinel

Posted: 24 Oct 2019 12:00 AM PDT

"Bringing Up Bates" documents the lives of the Bates family, which includes Gil and Kelly Jo Bates, their 19 children and nine grandchildren. Maggie Jones, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Earlier this year, three "Bringing Up Bates" stars decided to start their own business, and now we're getting to see how it all began on the reality show.

Sisters Carlin Stewart and Erin Paine and their sister-in-law Whitney Bates launched their clothing store, Bates Sisters' Boutique, in April featuring 15 styles of dresses.

BATES: 'Bringing Up Bates' stars Tori and Bobby Smith are expecting baby No. 2

The store has grown and now carries additional dresses along with shirts, jackets and skirts, but Erin admits the venture was "a shot in the dark" on the latest episode of "Bringing Up Bates."

"We don't know how many dresses we're going to sell," Erin said. "We don't know what sizes to buy the most of. I mean we don't know anything. I mean literally ... but if nothing else, this is something that we all love. We're going to have fun together."

BATES: 6 storylines 'Bringing Up Bates' may explore when season 8 returns from break on Thursday

How Bates Sisters' Boutique began

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The idea of starting a Bates clothing boutique had been floating around awhile before Whitney, Erin and Carlin took the plunge.

One day while the three spent time at Erin's house, Carlin said if no one else was going to start a store, then she would, according to Whitney. Erin and Whitney quickly joined her.

BATES: 'Bringing Up Bates' Q&A: Katie and Lawson talk family's show, changes, new additions

Erin said their goal is to provide dresses that are affordable, comfortable and stylish.

"One of my biggest things for the business is to help other young moms and girls find dresses that are affordable but also comfortable and stylish," Erin said. "And I think the girls are right there with me, and Carlin of course and Whitney are most stylish than I would be (considering) I'm more about comfort."

"Bringing Up Bates" showed the three working on their business, its website and coming up with a return policy.

BATES: How 'Bringing Up Bates' star Trace Bates introduced Chaney Grace to his family

"I'm really excited to get to work with these girls," Whitney said. "I'm really enjoying it, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future."

Carlin, Whitney and Erin are part of the Bates mega-family of East Tennessee, which includes Gil and Kelly Jo Bates, their 19 children, seven sons- and daughters-in law and 10 grandchildren.