Good morning, smooth-skinned ladies and rough-stubbled gentlemen! Today we're discussing --
No. No, I can't. Not this topic.
At Male Pattern Boldness we have our standards. The very idea of manscaping strikes me as vulgar and, frankly, a little prurient. I apologize to the vulgar and prurient among you. The staff member responsible for suggesting manscaping will be disciplined.
Instead, refined readers, today we're talking...houndstooth!
Just look what I picked up yesterday for Cathy's new One Pattern Wardrobe contest entry! Two yards (the last two, sadly) of this:
It's a soft cotton twill with, thankfully, no stretch. And then I also purchased -- are you sitting down? -- five yards of this:
A bold, oversized houndstooth double knit. Now look at them together.
Does this not literally scream 1969-1970? Just a reminder, here's my pattern, which had better get here early next week.
I'm thinking the whole enchilada (matching jacket and pants) in the black and white, and the top and shorts in the red and black. Groovy, right? And did I mention they were both $2/yd?
Oh, and then, friends, on a preliminary reconnaissance mission to the Salvation Army -- this:
Does that hat not evoke every late-Sixties Vogue Paris Original pattern that ever made you bark, Enough with the double knit A-line sheaths already!?
Not to mention That Girl.
But back to houndstooth. It's everywhere these days.
So many great possibilities. I am thinking that I'll also want to make the top in a third fabric, maybe a stripe, maybe a solid in a really pow color. What do you think?
Your suggestions yesterday were very helpful, btw. I'm psyched.
In closing, readers, I suppose it's only fair to ask you about manscaping. We are living in a rather in-your-face, no-holds-barred world, alas.
If you must opine on the subject of manscaping, do so, but please, be discreet. A simple yea or nay will suffice, no gory details. There are children reading, not to mention the painfully naive.
Have a great day, everybody!
"Tinsel on a tree" -- forty years later, I finally understand that lyric.
Posts
Love the houndstooth, especially the red.
ReplyDeleteAs to the other... nice to look at, painful to snuggle.
Thank you! Your discretion is duly noted and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWill the red houndstooth be the tunic, or the shorts? No matter since either will be terrific. For the coordinating top, if you go with a stripe I think a wide variegated one would be especially mod. It's such an exciting project!
ReplyDeleteMy Master Gunnery Sergeant Marine uncle used to tell his younger brother (who topped out one step below a general in the Air Force), that you weren't a real man until you had hair on your chest. Marine Uncle (who went by the nickname "Butch" no less) had only a small circle of hair in the center of his chest... Air Force Uncle looked more like he was wearing a sweater.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is more the sweater type... It doesn't bother me, but he is very self-conscious about it and sometimes will shave it. It's like hugging the rough side of velcro.
As to houndstooth... I really like it, but I don't know if I have the confidence to sport a large amount of it at one time. I really like the trenches with the larger print, but I think it might be too eye-catching for me.
I LOVE this post! LMAO. I'm totally into the manscaping. It's equal opportunity.
ReplyDeleteNo to manscaping! Yes to the pied-de-poule! Just add a few gold chains on the garment and call it a Chanel!!
ReplyDeleteOh my, Burka-looking sunglasses... Not "funny", eh :(... Manscaping makes me wail--more than sob :(...
ReplyDeleteLooking FORWARD to seeing Cathy's groovy outfits!!
Rhonda in Montreal (PR)
The houndstooth is totally awesome. But to echo a post made yesterday, the pattern is a bust 34--are you planning to grade up?
ReplyDeleteI love the thought of a huge pop of color. I am a Project Runway fan and Mondo (runner up) was my fav. He did lots of pattern with pops of amazing color and it worked.
ReplyDeleteMy husband just heard the term manscaping for the first time a few months ago. erh.ehemmm, and he started asking all of his friends....do you? don't you? He was very intrigued that a man would go to such lengths.he is not very hairy....I won't say more...so it never occurred to him.
It gives us a good laugh whenever the term comes up. I can't wait to tell him you blogged about it.
Well, if Cathy's shy about big houndstooth, send it up here! Oh I wish I could find that pic of me in a houndstooth cape (with collar, pocket flaps & huge black buttons), black patent leather hatbox shaped purse, and black heels, with elbow length gloves, of course. Yes, the hat! (That was for going to work sedate look.)So, is Cathy doing retro?? I just love that b&w wrap coat if she's not. As long as you don't cut too many seams and match perfectly, you won't make people dizzy when you wear it.
ReplyDeleteI love red&black for underneath: houndstooth top, red or black pants/shorts, red buttons, topstitching, neck scarf cut from houndstooth and fringed, and wide ribbon around the hat (no flowers, no ribbon tails, but a flat bow will do), say wide red ribbon with a black one centered on top. Pipe the b&w in red; topstitch in white. Third colour: hot yellow or grass green for retro; love the yellow & turquoise, too. BTW, real retro would cut the pants in the b&w and wear a hot coloured turtleneck, jewellery and shortie gloves, not necessarily matching. Third pattern: medium sized allover print in red/white/black or b&w stripe, perhaps? Use it for piping something, too?
Of course, I don't see why Cathy couldn't do a current look with so much houndstooth out there and the natural 70s small shoulders showing up everywhere. Yesterday's YSL pic looked like it could be current with the safari/military jackets everywhere and those belts being back. You're lucky to be the right age to do this look; I have to worry that I don't look like I just saved my old clothes.
Manscaping: oh, ya, nothing like a man with 2 day old stubble on his chest and me with more hair clogging the sink. I'll pass.
Heather
Sorry for yammering on, Peter. That b&w check got me going!
ReplyDeleteHeather
Love your fabric choices. Very Mondo of you.
ReplyDeleteGreat fabrics! Hurry up pattern, Hurry!
ReplyDeleteI've met several men with silky smooth legs in the last few months... I thought they were bodybuilders.
My opinion, hairy chest, yea, legs, nay.
All I can think when I see your fabric choices is . . . Mondo. I'm in revolt like many of the PR acolytes against the Gretchen win. I know you don't have a tv, so this means nothing to you . . . but you are tapping into the Mondo gestalt with your dual houndstooth selection.
ReplyDeleteCathy in shorts? In November? This should be interesting. :-)
ReplyDeleteBeth
Very Project Runway this last season if you combine stripes and houndstooth. And I agree with you--let's not go there. Though I guess I could say that my brother had to go in for a complete physical, and when they stick those little disks on you, they shave where they go... and he thought the end result looked so strange that he shaved the rest off just so it would grow back evenly...
ReplyDeleteI really like the B/W houndstooth look with a splash of canary yellow!
ReplyDeleteAnd red houndstooth hotpants will be so cool - can't wait to see!
I'm very particular when it comes to manscaping. (Who am I kidding? I'm particular about *everything*.)
ReplyDeleteChest & legs=no, back/shoulders/ears=definite YES, and, ummmm, how should I address the, um, "lower 48"? Let's just say I prefer my floss to be mint flavored, and leave it at that.
In my humble opinion...
ReplyDeleteYou can never have too many a-line 60's sheath dresses. (I must seek out Vogue Paris Original 2142).
And the houndstooth.... big houndstooth is great on catwalk models, small on the rest of us mere mortals under 6 foot 4.
And the manscaping thing.... I'm glad we're not discussing this subject here today, because I could go on about how I don't understand why men would want to look like women or subject themselves to the maintenance routine. And I'm glad I don't have to bring up the subject of ingrown hairs. That would be really vulgar.
if they really must manscape, then at least do it with wax (be a real man & suffer the pain!),
ReplyDeleteI agree with the cuddling velcro comment - totally true!
absolutely LOVE your fabric choices, can't wait to see Cathy's finished outfits!
I guess I'm put off by the whole "smooth-skinned ladies" thing. Nature made me grow hair, and, SHOCKERS! I let it grow. That doesn't make me less of a lady.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanna 'scape, go ahead, no skin (or hair) off my nose.
Oh, and I *love* the houndstooth.
Oh, no 'scaping, man or lady garden. Way too plastic-fantastic for my taste.
ReplyDeleteUnlike that fabulous houndstooth ...
Hmmmm. No manscaping at our house, the would-be stubble is too much to imagine. Already DH leaves plenty of what I term the "man-made carpet" fluffed about already.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm hoping the red/black check and the white/black check are going into separate outfits. Together they would be too much for my eyes! Otherwise I think they are groovy fabrics.
ReplyDeleteAs to the other.... personal choice.
I adore houndstooth and I adore the fashion era you have chosen. I want to be Marlo Thomas when I grow up. Incidentally, there was a study done recently that shows that most young men up to 25 (in Australia that is)have never seen a pubic hair. Most young Australian women wax everything. A short quiz of my gay friends (obviously not the bears) tells me that they have been manscaping for years before it became something the drug companies could use to sell more product ...
ReplyDeleteThere's a drug for this???
ReplyDeleteCarol, your comment has confused me as well. There is a manscaping drug? Huh?
ReplyDeleteSeems a little sexist to be pro-lady-scaping and anti-man-scaping. I don't think you should expect your S.O. to do 'scape' anything your wouldn't 'scape' yourself.
ReplyDeleteAlso your hounds tooth is fantastic, I have an vintage mutton sleeved pink/black hounds tooth jacket that I LOVE to death.
NAY!!!
ReplyDeleteThis also extends to the obsession with over-trimming male eyebrows. If one is going for an unsettling new wave effect, or needs to keep things tidy for drag, maybe, but otherwise, men, please do not abandon your innate, charming fuzziness!
It took some time to understand, that "houndstooth" is the same, we call in Germany "Hahnentritt". If you translate this you get something like "cocksteps"....lol
ReplyDeleteHowever, I like it very much..I manufactured skirts in green/black (the green is VERY green!)and black/white! Greetings from Germany