Fashion interlude
This dress isn’t as spectacularly awful as most I feature here. But it’s awful in a particularly odd way, I think. There’s a certain combination of Flash Gordon, Transformers, upholstery, 1950s apron, old antimacassars, and Octoberfest barmaid:
For those who don’t get the Flash Gordon reference, I’m talking about Ming the Merciless:
And for those who don’t get the Octoberfest barmaid reference (is there anyone who doesn’t get the Octoberfest barmaid reference?), here’s an example:
(Yeah, I know, I know. But I gotta get that traffic up somehow.)
And just to balance things out, here are some old antimacassars, in case you’re not familiar with the term:
I agree, Neo, but the same dress on a solid, neutral background would look better. That electric blue with white words makes the whole shebang gaudy as heck.
Barmaids always make me think of Ferris Bueller.
I knew exactly what you meant when I read it.
Good call.
Since I was a child I’ve been seeing references to antimacassars in novels, but never bothered to look it up. I think I guessed that it had something to do with serving food or tea. I’m happy to have that cleared up.
As for the dress, well, I would never have given it much thought, but the word “weird” presented itself immediately.
Is it just me, or does the upper part of her dress look like a black and white cat bursting out of her chest? The triangle in the middle is the nose, the white paws are over her arms, the ears are the uppermost parts of the dress, and the two central stalactite-like markings look like huge fangs or the tongue.
very large version of the photo here http://jess.bo.lt/j4esr
Those white markings are actually the background for things that look like chess pieces.
I’ve got to be honest with you, save for some middling stuff that never sees the fashion show or is safety pinned to an anorexic, I don’t see much… fashion going on at all. Most women wear jeans or pants for heaven’s sake. Peasant or queen, only the middle class even has a chance at getting it right. Did Van Gogh become the ideal? I suppose like all modern art, inanity is the goal. Kings (queens) clothing and all?
It’s hard to believe anyone can make a living designing such crap. And even harder to believe anyone would be photographed in it. What ever happened to the little black dress–or blue jeans and a teeshirt for that matter?
The bar maid certainly has a big……beer.
Antimacassars … sigh … herewith the totally boring lecture from the resident 19th century trivia expert. From mid-19th century and into the 20th, fashionable gentlemen took to grooming their hair with a product known commercially as macassar oil (which was actually palm oil mixed with various perfume oils) and had an unfortunate tendency to transfer to the high back of the chairs that they sat in, to the ruination of the upholstery. Hence, anti-macassars …
http://www.sensationpress.com/victorianmacassaroil.htm
My paternal grandparents had them on their high-backed living room chairs, and because they were children or young adults in the early 20th century, they very likely recalled what they had been intended for.
Nate Whilk: yes, I saw a cat face there, too.
Oh, yes … and the dress is unflattering and hideous, too.
Yup…that is one awful dress. Are those things on her skirt supposed to look like an extension of her legs? If so, she’s been riding too many horses.
But that Octoberfest bar maid is HOT.
BTW, I’ve been breaking my arm patting myself on the back for saying very positive things about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Academy Awards gown here on this blog. Some panel or expert (can’t remember which) recently named her best dressed at that ceremony.
The woman in the strange dress would definitely look better in something simple and form fitting. She has a pretty face, but you have to concentrate hard to tear your eyes away from that terrible dress. The October Maiden is cute, but not my type. I fell for a slim young woman in physics class with red hair, freckles, green eyes, and a pixie smile. And, she never wears strange dresses.
Yeah, cleavage up, traffic up. Never fails.
neo, I beg to differ — This one is definitely up there with the “most awfuls” of all time!
I admire the courage of anyone who would wear that dress.
Wow, it almost looks like it is staring at you, it’s awful!
I wonder if the lady is wearing a friend’s design, in hopes of giving him/her some free advertisement. Or maybe it was free? I know that fashionable togs are ridiculously pricey, and there are very few starlets who can afford to spend upwards of $10K for a night.
There used to be a great shop near Ann Arbor that specialized in knock-offs. If you saw it in Vogue, Glamour or Vanity Fair, you could find it within three weeks there. There was also a Chaldean-owned bridal shop in Dearborn or Dearborn Heights that could whip you up a dresssuit or a formal gown for less than $500 (this was in the ’90s – don’t know what the prices are like now).
Re: Doom’s comment
Van Gogh-inspired fashion is actually much more beautiful. The same designer has a beautiful Van Gogh wedding dress, too.
Say! That is an Octoberfest bier frau!
She certainly puts the “Oom” in Omm pa pa, doesn’t she? In fact, she puts the “pa pa” in there, too.
I believe the “macassar” comes from the Straits of Macassar whence cometh some of the spices or scents used in the hair dressing.
Ok, as one the the two known “Indonesia buffs” on this site (artfldgr being the other), let me take on the “macassar” part of “antimacassar”. The origin of the word is the city of Makassar in what is now Sulawesi (formerly Celebes), the large, starfish-shaped island northeast of Java and due east of Borneo. Makassar, with the alternative name of Ujung Padang, is the main port on southwestern Sulawesi, and would have been well-known to many 19th Century traders. And yes, there are lots of palm oil plantations in the area. Incidentally, it’s also the area where the term “boogie man” comes from. The native people of South Sulawesi are mostly of Bugis ethnicity (boo-gees), who were known as fishermen, sea traders, and when fishing and trading were off, as rather fearsome pirates. So it’s just a short linguistic step from Bugis to boogie. Oh, and the dress in question is awful. I like the barmaid, though.
Ming The Merciless is mercifully better dressed. His outfit WORKS! He looks so much better in his than she does in hers.