Wow, I thought, dressing is selfactualising. No wonder it takes me less than two minutes to get dressed in the morning. I never realized that most of a woman’s dressing time was simply visualizing. I asked, “Do you think this means anything to the man in her life?” “No!” was the emphatic answer. “She’s doing it because it makes her feel good. She puts on something she feels good in and it’s like an armour … you can get out there and do anything.” It got a bit more complicated as Dale explained further. Certainly younger women dress to be attractive to the opposite sex, said Dale, but as they get older, they wear what they feel good in, what makes them feel like an individual. They become more conscious of what other women might be wearing and thinking. Women do compete through fashion … it’s their “plumage”. I wondered how often a woman needs to refresh her armour or plumage. In my googling I had read about ‘SS14’ in London. Dale explained there was a sixmonth fashion cycle, but that didn’t mean a woman needed to start over each time. “One or two new pieces are enough.” I made a note to mention that to my wife. The interview was already paying off.
How fashionable are Hawke’s Bay women? Dale has visited some of the fashion centres of the world, and regards New York women as the most fashion conscious … “very focused on appearing to be put together, which isn’t the same as being fashionable.” With that distinction, I realized I was getting even more out of my depth. Still, I couldn’t resist asking, if New York was ten on the fashion scale, where was Hawke’s Bay? “Way, way down … five” she reluctantly offered (I had the feeling she was trying to be generous). She couldn’t resist giving local men a ‘One’ rating. No high-end men’s shop has ever survived in Havelock North, she noted. But she rallied to the defense of New Zealand women. “It’s our lifestyle. We’re just more casual and laid back, especially here in Hawke’s Bay. After all, what is a woman doing on an average day … taking kids to school, going to pilates, having a coffee with friends, doing some grocery shopping. What we put on in the morning needs to work for all the things we do in the rest of the day.” Aha. Back to my wife visualizing in the closet. Continued on Page 58
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Bloke’s Fashion Quiz Define these fashion terms: 1
Clutch
2
Skin
3
Shoulder robing
4
Suckerinerer
5
Ballerinas
6
Bao Bao Issey Miyake
7
SS14
8
Gingham
9
Mulberry
10
Deconstructed
Men, get half of these right and you might as well put the ring through your nose. If your partner gets half right, kiss your credit card limit goodbye!
Bee in the know ~ mar/apr 2014
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