Man, I miss ALL the excitement. It’s just like that time in seventh grade shop class (what? I could have taken shop. You don’t know.) I asked for a bathroom pass and when I came back Coach Bragg had cut his finger off with a band saw. Life is So Unfair.
So we’re talking about whether it’s right to bare arms, right? Good gravy. This is not a hard question. Whether you want olives or a twist in the morning’s first martini is a hard question. Whether it’s morally right to go home with guys for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs for someone you love is a hard question. If you like your arms and want to jam out with your hams out (I stole that line from somebody, but I don’t know who) then so be it. If you’d rather keep an air of mystery about them, well, cover those bad boys up and git along, little dogie.
Personally I find nothing so flattering on my figure as a three-quarter length sleeve so that’s what I wear, but if I yearned to go sleeveless and my burning desire to do so outweighed any competing urges then I’d get myself spaghetti-strapped up to high heaven and give everyone two free tickets to my own personal gun show. It might not be the most flattering but as much as I hate to say it; flattering isn’t everything and it’s dangerous to put too much value on what “other people” think.
Case in point: I just bought this pair of Marc Jacobs heels and my first thought when I saw them was “wow, those look like something you could stab Superman with. I love them.”
And I’ll tell you another thing, even though they are most definitely not to everyone’s taste, and possibly the people who Do Not Know the difference between a $600 Marc Jacobs heel and stripper shoes will say unkind things, I will look kick-you-in-the-teeth fantastic in those shoes. It’s about attitude, and if you feel as good in your tank top as I feel in my Superman-stabbing shoes, then who cares what other people say? In the immortal (although edited) words of Jack Black in High Fidelity. “F’ them, let ’em riot.”
The sad truth is there will always be people who recoil in horror when confronted with “teh fatt” just like there will always be people whose idea of heaven is a Rush album, two cases of Cool Ranch Doritos and a bong made out of a watermelon. We cannot fight them; we can only hope they eventually set themselves on fire.
My grandfather once made a comment when asked whether or not my mother would look good in a particular outfit: “Wear it with panache!”.
If you’re not confident wearing a particular shoe or outfit, it’s just not going to look as good. Learn to wear what you want with flair & confidence and you’ll look a million times better :-) And let the boors enjoy their watermelon bong :-)
Comment by Chloe — November 29, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
::secretly hoping they will be too small and fit me!::
Comment by Style Spy — November 29, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Plumcake, you are FANTASTIC! Inside me I was standing on my feet, alternating between clapping wildly and whistling with my fingers (which I can’t do in real-life, but my soul does often), while confetti and balloons fell from the ceiling, banners bearing “F*ck them” and “Let them riot” unfurled behind you, your arms raised as you’re standing at the podium, then the music filled with triumph and independance swelled. Yay you. :-)
Comment by Leah — November 29, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
“The sad truth is there will always be people who recoil in horror when confronted with “teh fatt” just like there will always be people whose idea of heaven is a Rush album, two cases of Cool Ranch Doritos and a bong made out of a watermelon. We cannot fight them; we can only hope they eventually set themselves on fire”
I am speechless in the presence of such wisdom.
Comment by Dowdydiva — November 29, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Oh yeah. Those are some fly puppies. Even if you don’t stab super man or kick some one to death, they accoplish another goal. Pleasing the eye of a fellow fashionista. Or as I like to refer to “us”, those that are “in the know”…
Comment by marleaux — November 29, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Ultimately, this leads to the following question: Should one wear the things one likes or the ones one looks good in. I say: Both, and if that doesn’t work then wear thing that look good on you!
I really like flowerprint dresses with frills in summer but they make me look like an exploded lampshade, so I have actually never bought one. I don’t really go for grey, but it makes my skin look deliciously creamy, so I feel good about looking good and have a lot of grey.
Works for me, must not work for anybody else.
BTW, these shoes are delightful and you should try the Rouge Noir nail polish from Chanel, this would be georgeous!
Comment by teapunk — November 29, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
Thems some aggressive shoes, there. Hmm, but what to wear with them? Nothing says, “I am woman, hear me roar” like a pair of shoes that can double as nun-chucks or ice picks – that’s what I always say and so I’m thinking a black peg-skirt sheath dress like this one:
http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V8182.htm?tab=dresses_includes_designer&page=4
Fabric recommendations include faille, crepe back satin and knits, and it comes with and without sleeves.
Comment by Toby Wollin — November 29, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
For years, before my health deteriorated too much to swim, I took myself — and I am neither “plump” nor “curvy,” but unmistakably and unapologetically fat — out in public regularly in a fire-engine red two-piece swimsuit. At one stage in my life (not the red-swimsuit stage, sadly), I had purple hair. I am neither a shy nor a retiring person. But I would never, in a million years, have the nerve to wear those shoes.
So I say, go, Plumcake! Step on Supe for me!
Comment by Bridey — November 29, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
And by the way, Plumcake — geeze, can you write! (Yes, I did rudely follow up my own post. Sorry!)
Comment by Bridey — November 29, 2007 @ 6:03 pm
I find myself wanting a both those shoes and a bong made out of watermelon.
Comment by Chaser — November 29, 2007 @ 6:28 pm
“We cannot fight them; we can only hope they eventually set themselves on fire.”
HAH! Rock on sister Plum!
Comment by g-dog — November 29, 2007 @ 7:01 pm
awesome post.
but this….”people whose idea of heaven is a Rush album” makes me wonder, have you been talking to my boyfriend?
Comment by Elizabeth K — November 29, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
Based on the photograph alone, it appears that the soles of the shoes don’t sit flat on the ground. How does that work? They are interesting, to be sure.
Comment by caitlin — November 29, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
First off- Plum Cake you are mySuper Fantastic Blogging hero- your words of fashion wisdom and humor have made me laugh out loud and I must say, you, Twistie and Francesca totally Rock my fashion world- Love the humor, wisdom and power that comes from this blog- and to all the women who post- Rock ON!! I think it’s important in this crazy world that we figure out a way to support and uplift all women, regardless of their size, shape, color- and the women on this blog do just that. Ok enough of the love notes.
Love the shoes- have my own rocking shoe story. I was at a big corporate meeting yesterday with a bunch of women who, I must say, 98% of them were wearing boring safe black suits, white shirts, black shoes. The 2% that were not, all were women of size and were rocking in good corporate garb with twists. I had on my black suit, white shirt, but was rocking in a pair of 3 inch red patent leather pumps. I had 6 people say great shoes, one of them was the Big Wig from my office. I say Rock whatever look you want whenever you want.
Comment by Kimks — November 29, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
Ahahaha! I
Comment by Angel — November 30, 2007 @ 9:54 am
The 2% that were not, all were women of size and were rocking in good corporate garb with twists
One of my former co-workers, a secretary, was a lady of size and she always looked awesome. She had an incredible sense of style and was always perfectly, perfectly groomed, from her just-been-done hair to her fingernails. I always looked forward to seeing what she was wearing.
The female VP, on the other hand, usually looked like crap. She wore khaki slacks and a polo shirt, capris and sandals (which she had explicitly forbidden when she was VP of HR and wrote the dress code), or her Philadelphia pimp look of the leather vest with the fur-lined edges and the crushed velvet pants. For the kind of money she was making, she could have afforded other natural fibers besides leather.
Comment by class-factotum — November 30, 2007 @ 10:11 am
PS I love Cool Ranch Doritos.
Comment by class-factotum — November 30, 2007 @ 10:12 am
class-factotum – hear hear! If heaven has no Cool Ranch Doritos, it is no heaven I’d recognize.
Flattering is not everything. There is a huge difference between wearing what you want because you love it, and wearing whatever you want because you don’t know any better or because you don’t think you deserve to look superfantastic.
Comment by Tk — November 30, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
“I was at a big corporate meeting yesterday with a bunch of women who, I must say, 98% of them were wearing boring safe black suits, white shirts, black shoes.”
Doesn’t just happen at the “big corporate meetings” – I think at least a third of the female guests at my eldest daughter’s recent wedding were wearing black – and the most popular look was the aforementioned black suit – mostly with pants.
Why is this? This is because it has been drummed into women’s heads through fashion layouts etc. that black is safe; it is slimming; no one will accuse you of trying to seduce the young Assoc. VP of the Powerful Department if you keep your white shirt buttoned up. It is also boring. It is also not good for everyone, depending on their skin tone. It is also the “lazy girls’ choice” – if you are hung over, it takes no effort whatsoever to reach into the closet, pull out the hanger and throw it on. You don’t have to match anything or try to make some sort of clever collection of tweed, plaid, and plain. You don’t have to try to figure out if this blue has too much red in it to go with that other thing. It is safe. And boring. But, if you have no fashion confidence in your own style or your own selections, then I suppose it is better than showing up in khaki pants and a golf shirt(that is a combo that I would definitely outlaw – horrible on everyone). I do have black pants and black skirts – and for those, I also have a fairly complete collection of wonderful tweed, herringbone, and plaid jackets that just so happen to have black as one of the colors so that i can coordinate a zippy blouse, sweater or top with them…and thsoe are never, ever black.
Comment by toby Wollin — November 30, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
1. Those shoes are so awesomely awesome, I can’t even express their awesomeness.
2. What’s so bad about prog rock? At least they sing about something other than girls they hate and/or want to have sex with. Rush has this odd science-fiction-y thing going… I like it.
Comment by Joan H. — December 2, 2007 @ 12:25 am
What to wear with these shoes you ask???!!! Jeans, skirts, a bath towel, They are so superfantastic that they will make anything worn with them pop out loud. Plumcake, I wear a size 8 if you need a charitable deduction for your taxes. Call it the Beautification League of the South bringing haute fashion to the Nascar country and pulling one of the under privledged fashionistas out of the dregs of polos, khakis, and sport theme wear….
Comment by Jennie — December 2, 2007 @ 4:08 pm