Saturday, September 11, 2010

Androgyny a la Woolf


I'm sorry I'm doing so many of these literary themed posts but I've been going through books from high school for a few days and it reminds me of passages that I love and so I start reading and then that turns into "that reminds me of (insert name) A/W 2010 collection" and then I can't think of anything else and they're addictive. I hope people don't mind. That said, we had to read a large amount of Virginia Woolf in school, in senior year it was To the Lighthouse and A Room of One's Own. The second I picked up A Room of One's Own, I remembered that not only is it all about androgyny but also that I bought two copies at the time and the one I was holding was covered in annotations. So I started looking through the annotated copy and came upon this gem of a passage. It didn't really fit with most of the ones I've posted since it isn't explicitly about clothing but it's still well-worded beautiful inspiration. And who doesn't love a bit of androgyny?
"It is fatal to be a man or a woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly. It is fatal for a woman to lay the least stress on any grievance; to plead even with justice in any cause; in any way speak consciously as a woman. And fatal is no figure of speech; for anything written with that conscious bias is doomed to death. It ceases to be fertilised." 
- A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf, 1929

By columns, from left to right: Zara Lookbook: Crossed Checked Blazer ($129), Blucher with Flap ($149); ASOS MANOMAN Leather Buckle Lace Up Flat Shoes ($109.53); Salvatore Ferragamo "Nearly" Driving Loafers ($312); Nine West Stavo ($69); Tod's Heaven Lacetto ($425); G-Star Roll Sleeve Stripe Linen Mix Shirt ($126.38); Zara Lookbook: Short Cross-Over Blazer ($79.90); Mango Paperbag Waist Trousers ($75.66), ASOS Retro Style Oversized Face Metal Strap Watch ($37.07), Fred Perry Chino Trousers ($134.80).

So go and dress like a man! Because according to Virginia Woolf you'll never achieve anything if you're just a woman. Not vouching for that but you'll certainly look fantastic with some of the menswear pieces! I bought a blazer at Zara recently and I can barely bear taking it off.

Also, I know La Roux is totally over-used when it comes to talking about androgynous style but she's over-used for a reason. She's just so perfect!

And FNO in Georgetown was lots of fun! The weather was perfect, there were lots of people out and it's was an amazing atmosphere!

Thanks to last.fm, Piperlime, Neiman Marcus, Bluefly, ASOS, and Zara for the images. Collage by me.
Posted by Maria at 2:53 PM
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8 comments:

  1. Thank you! Well, I love orange so I've got various orangy-coral lipsticks but I think there I was wearing Égérie from the Rouge Coco line.
    xx

    Redhead in Law

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  2. Love these literary themed posts, darling!
    Fabulous collage!

    xoxox,
    CC

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  3. Thanks, I'm still trying to spread the literary posts out a bit. If I could talk about the relationship between writing and fashion all the time, there'd be no shutting me up :)

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  4. love 'room of one's own.' cool post!

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  6. I feel a little weird commenting on all of your posts, but I keep thinking of things to say (which usually doesn't happen when browsing the typical fashion blog, so I commend you!).

    I read A Room of One's Own this past summer, as well, and I both loved and disliked it - of course Virginia Woolf writes with an eloquence that can only come with five hundred pounds a year, but I wholly disagree with most of what she says about the origins of genius and such. I don't know what to say when people ask if I liked the book or not - that is, I liked the writing, but I didn't like the message.

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  7. Haha well I posted another essay on your blog so I think we're even :) And I felt that a lot of Woolf's ideas were interesting and thought provoking and fundamentally outdated. Financial independence clearly makes writing easier - not being interrupted during a particularly productive session in order to attend to daily tasks is beneficial to all; both men and women would be helped by 500 pounds a month. As for many of her other points, I think that taken in context they make sense and are accurate but for me the quality of the writing far outweighs any issues I do have with the content. When it finally hit me how stylized and beautiful the writing was I just wanted to sleep with it under my pillow. Possibly an exaggeration but still. Have you read To the Lighthouse? If not, I highly recommend it. And if you enjoyed Woolf's writing, Death in Venice by Thomas Mann is indescribably fantastic. My next lit post will quote it :)

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  8. I loved Death in Venice, although I was required to beat it to death with a literary stick. :] I actually just got an excerpt for To the Lighthouse to analyze along with Kate Chopin's The Awakening (which has some riveting passages but is an essentially boring book. If you've read it, I can't stand how Edna doesn't seek independence as she claims, only dependence on someone else; plus, she's ridiculously noncommittal).

    I ordered this very nice honeycomb ring from Etsy a few weeks ago, and I'm really excited for it to arrive - I think you might appreciate the shop - search for designerica under Sellers. Some of my favorites are the tomato necklace and the button ring.

    I replied to your reply here: http://www.thevintages.net/?p=1015&cpage=1#comment-921

    If you leave me another essay, I might have to make a page for 'Comments from Ginger.' :]

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