Clothes Make the Woman, Women make the Clothes

Lindsay Lohan designed with house of Ungano, and she began the fall
of that fashion house.She wasn't the first woman to try to inspire
bad fashion trends however.Marie Antionette is famous for putting
the aristocracy into bankruptcy with her elaborate hairstyles.

Before the real advent of the Industrial revolution all women
designed their own clothes, except for the elite. They perhaps
followed norms of their class and their culture. Currently there
is a movie which depicts this time.It's called "Bright Star", and it
is about Keats and his lover, Fanny.

Fanny and Keats meet when he is living nearby, writing poetry.
The men's world of sitting around talking about their feelings seems
contrasted to the industry of the world of women you see portrayed.

In "Bright Star" Fanny the lover of Keats makes her own clothes and
a common criticism is that she wears more outfits in the film than is
possible to sew in the short time they two are together. whom he calls
minxtress. It makes me money, she says to her poet lover. In Bright Star
Fanny, despite her talent in making clothing, it is a skill which is
strictly restricted to Fanny herself. Fanny is idealized in her self creation,
but Fanny and Keats never consummate their love. In his "Ode to Fanny"
Keats talks a lot about gazing upon Fanny and how he is happy
to have her around. We see this in the movie as well.

"Coco before Chanel" is another movie which is showing right now,where a woman
has invented herself through clothing. She makes her way in the world
first as a cabaret singer, then as a mistress and then as a clothing
designer who invents the notion of a modern woman. She wears pants, she
crops off ties to suit a woman. And men, and women love her for it. Her
love is actualized in that she has sex, a lot of it actually (and she uses
it as currency).

Neither Fanny nor Coco really realize love, with the object of their desire.
Coco never marries and is a way she doesn't trust maybe. Fanny does go on to marry however, and have children, she has a "normal" life.

In another more problematic way there is an emphasis on women only writing about or being interested in fashion. In Keat's time it would be unacceptable perhaps for a woman to write poetry, but it would be alright for her to make clothes and also
to be engaged in the work of being a muse. For Chanel, clothing became a type of poetry.And where does Lindsay Lohan fit into all of this? Well the Ungano collection seemed to emphasize a type of
child woman aesthetic.In our culture still, after all these year still and perhaps
forever infantilizing someone to keep them from power seems to be a norm.