clothes fashion and the like

Warm-up:
We go brave in our apparel* that we may be taken for better men than we be. We use much bombastings*** and quiltings to seem fitter -formed, better-shouldered, smaller-waisted, fuller -thighed than we are. We barbe** and shave often to seem younger than we are. We use perfumes both inward and outward to seem sweeter than we be. We use courteous salutations to seem kinder than we are; and sometimes graver and Godlier communications to seem wiser than we be. 
      — Sir John Harrington, 16th century. (* =  garments, outfit, clothes, the clothes we wear, the clothes we are wearing. ** today we still use "a barber" for a hairdresser,cf a barbers', a barbershop,  but to barbe = have someone shave you/cut your hair/ groom you,  we don't..***Bombast is now only used metaphorically., adjective:bombastic)


Do you agree? Disagree? Is this a typical masculine point of view? Are men only real men when they are sloppily or shabbily dressed ( like me) unshaven, with illkempt hair, and smell of... ..? Is this still relevant today, or oldfashioned?
He was talking about other men - did this , does this, apply to women too?


And ENJOY:
Masses of vocab! in purple, italic, bold .YOU can look it up for yourselves!


Lyrics:(my fisking in red)
They seek him here, they seek him there,
His clothes are loud, but never square. 
It will make* or break him so he's got to buy the best,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

And when he does his little rounds,(to do one's rounds is the decription of a JOB, a postman or repairman etc. It's used ironically here)
'Round the boutiques of London Town,
Eagerly pursuing all the latest fads and trends,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He thinks he is a flower to be looked at,
And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight,
He feels a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
There's one thing that he loves and that is flattery.
One week he's in polka-dots, the next week he is in stripes.
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

They seek him here, they seek him there,
In Regent Street and Leicester Square.(fashionable streets in London's west end) 
Everywhere the Carnabetian( Carnaby street is still with us, but carnabetian as a word is disused) army marches on,
Each one an dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
His world is built 'round discoteques and parties.
This pleasure-seeking individual always looks his best
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He flits from shop to shop just like a butterfly.
In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion. 
* Beau Brummel, 200years ago, on a fashion-victim of his times: " His tailor makes him.Now me, I make my tailor". To make or break refers to critical, deisive, all-or-nothing , succeed or fail, points or moments, and there is even an adjective: make-or-break 


and again,(click for link to wikipedia for background, )same song, with plenty of swinging London, late60s, Carnaby street, etc.



First, or skippable :Quck revision:





Nb Usa bathrobe , uk dressing-gown, aka housecoat, etc
usa pajamas, aka jammies,uk pyjamas, aka various versions, inc skijamas etc
Pants is inner or outer depending on which side of the atlantic.
For many people it is politically incorrect to talk of blouses, since the word belittles women.Shirts only, the men's garment is a power word??!!!
As for underwear, the vocubulary issue  is complicated.
also go to:http://www.languageguide.org/vocabulary/clothes_men/?lang=en&target=zh-tw
Andhttp://www.languageguide.org/vocabulary/clothes_women/?lang=en&target=zh-tw
and http://www.languageguide.org/vocabulary/clothes_winter/?lang=en&target=zh-tw
andhttp://www.languageguide.org/vocabulary/sewing/?lang=en&target=zh-tw
The above four have sound, the following is just visual:
http://www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/clothes.htm#Anatomy


I've not given the ladies enough of a look in:
here's a"taster": Interesting vocab in bold, my fisking in red

On the Subject of Rain Boots…..

January 18, 2008 by Fashion a la Mode

Buying a pair of shoes is usually such a joyous experience for me. I love to browse, touch, try on and most importantly, bring home new pairs of shoes. The odd thing is, I recently had a shoe shopping experience that made me feel more like I was shopping for car insurance, not a fabulous piece of fashion for my feet. So what could possibly put such a damper on (to put/cast a damper on : originally  to control fires , hence to put a damper on the party=aguar la fiesta) my favorite pass-time? The answer is rain boots. Rubbery, floppy, goofy, tacky rain boots!!!

Let me assure you that this purchase was totally out of necessity. Florida girls may not need them but, if you live in a big city, it’s a very bad idea too live without them. So, the only thing left to do was suck it up and buy a pair of so called “wellies”. The real trouble started when I saw how ridiculous some of the styles were. There are psychedelic prints, skulls, ducks and cute little animals. None of these however, would fit the bill (=to suit)for me. Fashion Gods bless those who they will.

So, for any of you fashion-lovers out there who find themselves in the unlucky situation of  needing new rain-boots , here are some choices that just might NOT make you cringe.

Standard black rubber wellington boot, aka  a wellie
aka a  gumboot aka a gummer aka a rainboot aka etc.
This is just one.Most people buy and wear a pair.

This blog uses language I know, but would NEVER use in this context, and expresses emotions I don't feel about fashion, clothes, and shopping, but it should be fairly easy for advanced -level fashionistas who enjoy talking clothes, talking shopping, even perhaps  want to aquire a vocabulary several thousand words beyond their teachers at the EOI (me even): click for the full thing, highly recommended:
:http://blog.fashionalamode.com/2008/01/18/on-the-subject-of-rain-boots/ and other posts on the same blog


Now for something topical:

e='movie' value='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/template/utils/ooyala/telegraph_player.swf'/>

Press for link

From the telegraph, my fisking in red 

Damian Thompson

Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a journalist specialising in religion. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke.

Was Charlie Gilmour wearing Savile Row when he dangled from the Cenotaph?

By Damian Thompson Politics Last updated: December 10th, 2010

115 Comments Comment on this article

I wouldn’t have said so, judging by the photograph above, but the Cambridge undergraduate son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmourdoes like to look his best, even when defiling the memory of the war dead. Insults to the fallen are so much more daring if the protester’s clothes hang just so when he’s dangling in mid-air. And, as all well-heeled(=comfortably off, rich) anarchists know, that requires the assistance of an expert tailor!

Let me quote from a little piece run by The Times earlier this year:

Bespoke(=made to measure) tailoring is attracting a younger, style-savvy (savvy =knowledgable, knowing) crowd. We ask three dudes, and their tailors, why the suit fits…

Spencer Hart dresses Charlie Gilmour, 20, student and son of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour:

Charlie: I’ve always loved good-quality clothing. My style is vintage stuff and skinny jeans — leggings-style HandM girls’ jeans that no man should really wear! My parents said that if I got into Cambridge, they would buy me a Savile Row (where London's best tailors have been for 200 years)suit. All the other tailors seemed a bit fuddy-duddy,(=conventional, fussy, oldfashioned, carca) with fox-hunting stuff in the windows. I’m not into that aristocratic thing. Spencer Hart is modern and chic, with nothing fusty(A fust originally was viciated air in a place , fusty, unventilated, hence fusty = too unchanged, too stable, too conventional, in need of metaphorical fresh air) about it. They made me two suits — a single-breasted day suit and a slim-cut dinner suit, which is useful, as there are all sorts of feasts and formal occasions at Cambridge. I wear it with an almost Edwardian clipped-collar shirt and a slim, mod-ish(not modish from the french, but like the mod style from the 60s mods and rockers) dog-tooth-check tie. I haven’t worn the day suit much yet, but if I’m ever having a work crisis, I put it on and it gives me a sharp frame of mind (idiom: a frame of mind, to be in a frame of mind approx= a mood) I never feel better than when I’m wearing my suits, and people take you more seriously. They fit perfectly.

Nick Hart, founder and designer: We made Charlie two suits: a slim, grey day suit with one button and a notch lapel, and a dress suit in a midnight-blue fresco (open-weave) fabric with a skinny, shawl-style collar (a one-piece rounded lapel, which is signature Hart), plus a round-collared shirt and bespoke tie.( I know all the words here, but the preceding sentence is meaningless for me) Charlie is the perfect client — he’s the next generation for us. Our style is a highly edited version of a world many men aspire to be part of — classic, iconic Hollywood. The product looks simple, but much is involved in the DNA — it’s about subverting subtle elements. You walk in, everyone notices, but nothing loud(in clothes, loud =untasteful attentionattracting, typically the sorts of colours and patterns older americans prefer , approx= chillon.) is going on.

Hmm. Well, everyone noticed, that’s for sure.

Tags: Charlie Gilmour, David Gilmour, Savile Row, Spencer Hart, tuition fees

Further reading:Fairly simple, reccommended:http://www.englishteachermelanie.com/2010/02/vocabulary-spotlight-on-fashion-week.html

Only for obsessive fashionista nut-jobs with a few weeks' spare time (I'd try not to let some of my daughters read this, life's too short.):
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33020/33020.txt

The incident behind the above piece,from the telegraph


Will Heaven
Will Heaven is an Assistant Comment Editor and the Deputy Editor of Telegraph Blogs. He writes about politics and religion and is @WillHeaven on Twitter.


Should Girton College, Cambridge rusticate Charlie Gilmour?
By Will Heaven Politics Last updated: December 10th, 2010
124 Comments Comment on this article


“My intention was not to attack or defile the Cenotaph,” said Charlie Gilmour, son of the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, earlier today. “Running along with a crowd of people who had just been violently repelled by the police, I got caught up in the spirit of the moment. I did not realise that it was the Cenotaph and if I had, I certainly would not have done what I did.”
Reading these comments – and looking at the picture of Gilmour hanging stupidly from the Union Jack – I hardly imagined the wally(wally =gili, sin que sea tabu) would be a student himself. Surely just a spoiled drop-out, or an wannabe (wannabe= wanttobe, wouldbe) anarchist, I thought. But as Victoria Ward reveals, Charlie Gilmour is a second-year history student at Girton College, Cambridge.
Personally, I don’t think it reflects well on Cambridge that one of their history students doesn’t recognise the Cenotaph when they see it. But aside from his unadulterated ignorance, there is something base about Gilmour’s behaviour that an institution like Cambridge shouldn’t tolerate. It calls to mind the case of Philip Laing, the moronic Sheffield Hallam University student who was photographed urinating on a war memorial – and who was sentenced to 250 hours community service because of it.
An Oxbridge-educated colleague tells me that Charlie Gilmour risks “rustication” – being sent away from the university for up to a year as punishment. Given all the “feasts and formal occasions” he so enjoys attending, that’s the least Cambridge could do.
Tags: Cenotaph, Charlie Gilmour, student protests