The editor at Common Sense Fashion has been away for a bit. Pontificating a contradictory new spring trend (while grappling with the flu and a newly defiant one-year-old, but that’s another type of blog). This disturbing, yet oddly comforting trend is THE JUMPSUIT. In the eighties, my glamorous mom had a lovely soft yellow palazzo-panted jumpsuit that I coveted. It had everything; shoulder pads, a flower pin, wide swishy fabric and buttons all the way up. She even let me try it on, but at age 10 the look did not quite work for me. Anyway, I digress because as I have heard some people lamenting the return of the jumpsuit along with all that was ugly in the eighties and nineties, I can’t help but feel a little connection to these items of current fashion. Let’s debate this issue:
1. Jumpsuits are comfortable. Yes, comfortable. I know, not important in fashion, per se, but it’s like wearing your pajamas, and with the ease of one-piece dressing, some people just might be able to pull this off.
2. We can do this with class, if we decide to accept jumpsuits into our fashion vocabulary. See Stella McCartney’s Spring ’09 collection in plain creme. (top photo) I am not a fan of printed jumpsuits. Too much going on. The shortie jumpsuit above in black works of you have a great figure and an auto body shop. Wear with red stilettos.
3. No shoulder pads. Obviously.
On the other hand…
1. Jumpsuits are vaguely unappealing on the sexy scale. Something about them reminds us of Sally O’Malley (Molly Shannon) on Saturday Night Live… “I’m Fifty Years Old!”
2. They can be unflattering. See the terrifying jumpsuit made by Stella McCartney below. You win some and you lose some, Stella. The focus seems to be on the extra-long crotch area. Mmmm.
3. They can be very unflattering if the wrong style is chosen. Check out the Proenza Schouler “jumpsuit” above. I dream of delusional genie? Oh well, this one is only about $10,000. Small price to pay for a fashion experiment. The one next to it is another Stella creation, this time not a good choice.
Remember, to pull of a ridiculous look, you must have confidence. And a sense of humor. Good luck. I might just give this one a try.
