One of the rather less feminist-y things I watch on television (or iPlayer) regularly is James May's Man Lab. James May is one of the comic presenters on Top Gear (another shameful thing that I watch regularly) and in Man lab, he sets out to reinvent masculinity by finding masculine things that men used to be able to do, or he feels we should aspire to do, and explaining them.
The most recent episode had James May visiting Savile Row and a bunch of fashion students in order to reinvent and redesign the boiler suit as something that isn't just for dirty work, but that could be pulled straight from the wardrobe, put on, and serve as everyday wear, evening wear, or indeed any purpose. These designs were then presented at the big student fashion week (the name of which escapes me).
Annoyingly, the only clip available from the BBC has the rather basic versions, modelled by May and his producer:
Youtube contributor slashgirl71 was a part of the show, and although their video only features the same two designs, the response is nice to see:
Of course, the full segment of the show concludes that the idea won't catch on, but I liked it, especially the evening wear version that pretty much makes getting ready for a posh do so much easier. It struck me that a smart one-piece suit would go a long way to solving my issue of feeling like a performing monkey when I have to dress up for an interview or whatever, and one or two of the designs in the programme seemed to me to be ideal. And, some of the more fancy pieces looked like a lot of fun to wear in the right context, too.
I was left wondering, though, what the female fashion equivalent would be. Or indeed, if such a thing is impossible because most fashion for women is already designed with display in mind, even when it's supposedly about practicality?
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