Beauty

Saturday, 30 August 2014

We dress, we are dressed

Ksenia Vagner, Allure Russia Editor-in-chief. Photo © Allure Russia

Still from the “Pretty woman” movie. © Allure-Russia

Still from the “Yves Saint Laurent” movie. © Allure-Russia

Yves Saint Laurent used to say that the best way to dress up a woman is to fold her in the arms of the loving man. As a matter of fact every bedragged piece of cloth turns into a queen’s gown if the woman wearing it is loved. Let the two beauties put on dresses of the same cut and you will see the difference. The one wrapped in the cloud of love will amble along resembling an airy cloudlet herself. The other one, still waiting for happiness, will be setting right the invisible creases and folds, moving her shoulders back and front to test the resistance of seams, stooping and straightening herself up again – anxious to meet love round the corner.
It is not only in their arms that men fold their women. They сan at least approve of the purchases made by their beloved or oppose them. At most they can do the shopping for them. On the one hand it is nice and exciting. You feel like a child again. He takes care of you, pets you and spoils you. It is good to be a little girl under the protection of a noble knight. To feel helpless and coquettish at the same time (Oh, it’s not all for me, is it?). In this case even the common act of trying on your husband’s gifts transforms into the act of love – you stand in front of him with a happy smile on your face, running your fingers along the buttons or jerking a zip while he is directing in a tender voice: Turn round, step back, take a seat… He is dressing up his muse, the little lady of the big house.
It may be different though. When they dress up a doll. They never ask her opinion, the doll has just to face the fact. The doll has to meet the standards. And it has nothing to do with pampering and passionate role play. It is self-affirmation of a man at the expense of a woman. Reluctance to accept her as she is (with all her seams and stitches), selfishness and ambition to control everything. I used to know women of the kind, timid and fearful, with their ego fully suppressed, obedient on the face of it but unhappy deep in their hearts.
I stand for the happy mean. Men are welcome to speak their mind, and contribute to the cause of shopping not only financially. But let them remember Yves Saint Laurent and feel inspired by his words.

Ksenia Vagner, Allure Russia Editor-in-chief
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