Sarah Mason
Shouldering out power dressing
I hear the term and I think shoulder-pads. Not the nouveau space-age gaga spikes, but square upholstered mega squares that were de rigueur for my mother and her career set in the 80s. The pads gave women the shouldering power they needed while smashing their way through the cigar sucking man-clans at the office. Dynasty [...]
Racy thinking
Once upon a time there was a girl who thought too much. Often chided for asking questions which were nigh impossible to answer, she seemed to be stuck in that annoying, but for most people brief, ‘why?’ stage. This story is about her latest fashionosophy* crisis. On Sunday, she took herself off to the races [...]
Playing with fire
It’s far more offensive than the c-bomb, but unlike the c-bomb there is never an ‘appropriate context’. Fire-crotch. It rates higher on the ‘say that again and I’ll whoop your ass’ scale that than the oft-asked obscure question about my home décor: ‘does the carpet match the drapes?’ Then again, that might just be my [...]
back to the (fashion) future
If I had a time machine, I’d start right from the beginning and fix all of my mistakes. First, I’d get rid of the white spandex frill-necked top with the floral pastel to-the-knee denim shorts which I always wore as a set (girly pirate chic derr). I’d definitely scrap the low slung, boxer-shorts-showing baggy-jeans from [...]
monkey magic
I was once in the enviable position of watching animals all day and being paid for the privilege. And, like most visitors to the zoo, I was obsessively fascinated by primates. Their almost-human appearance is enthralling, grotesque, delightful. They present an irresistible mirror in which to contemplate our own behaviours. There’s the opposable thumb thing, [...]
True colours
When I was in high-school, I had a lot of ‘rah rah’ opinions. I would recite them as often as I could, to whomever I could capture, ignoring the obvious suffering of my prey in the name of truth-telling. In the school yard, at the dinner table, over bikkies and tea at church. But there [...]
the tale of the naughty leggings
I have a legging rule. It doesn’t need any qualification, there are no exceptions. They are very naughty gym clothes that sidled into our unsuspecting fashion stores, hiding between the skinny jeans and hosiery, fooling unsuspecting shoppers and taking a stranglehold. They are not pants. They should never be worn as pants. At the risk [...]
The chick with the stink-eye
Imagine a gaggle of girls sitting at a cafe. I say gaggle because the girls are flapping and squawking like they’re popping out eggs. Observing the animated group, one could be forgiven for thinking that the girls are merely enjoying an innocent girlish kinship. But closer inspection reveals the cause for their play. They are [...]
Getting frocked at the movies
I haven’t been to confession for fifteen years, and even then, it was an ‘I wonder what’s behind this curtain…’ accident. Oops! So, in light of my neglect for spiritual flagellation, here’s a big one: I like frothy movies. And I like them just because the clothes are nice. Whew, I said it. Far from [...]
Kindergarten Bride
For many, getting dressed is a simple question of what’s clean. Occasionally, the process is a little more involved. An outfit for a hot date or a day at the races, for example, may be carefully curated over a few days or a week. But when the outfit planning starts in kindergarten and lasts twenty [...]
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