Monday, September 19, 2005

The Dangers of Reading Fashion Magazines

Reading fashion magazines is a dangerous pursuit. I almost think that they should come with a warning label. Most obviously, and on a serious note, I believe reading this stuff does incalculable damage to girls' (and women's) self-esteem and body image. What female hasn't, at one time or another, closed a copy of Marie Claire or Harper's Bazaar feeling vaguely dissatisfied with themselves? Notwithstanding the fact that fashion journalism can make me feel fat, the magazines are also very effective at fattening my credit card balance. Let's face it, every single page is advertising, designed to make you want to buy things you don't really need. And I fall for it--I have an unfortunate tendency to head for the mall shortly after visiting the newsstand.

But here's a lesser-known danger of fashion magazine reading. It can make you neglect your knitalongs. It can exacerbate mild cases of startitis. I was reading Lucky, and saw an article about the layering look for fall. There was a feature about tiny chunky knit vests with flowy things underneath. How cute. But how likely is it that I will want to wear it next fall? Not very. I thought to myself, I could absolutely make one of those vests. From my stash.

Thus, Laura enters the world of design-your-own-knitwear. Callously, I cast Weasley and Kepler aside to work on this little project. Yarn harlot, indeed--I'm dumping these worthies for a knitting one-night-stand. This is a garment that Fiber Snobs are bound to hate: a trendy shape, bulky gauge, made with two strands of Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted held together. But it will satisfy my desire to indulge in a trend, at low cost in terms of time and money. And it's fun to create your own design. When it's done, I'll have a big reveal. Meanwhile, I'm on my way to buy some flowy things to go with my new tiny vest.

4 Comments:

Blogger Mintyfresh said...

There's never any shame in knitting what you want to knit! Knit on!

7:06 PM  
Blogger msubulldog said...

And no shame in busting that stash, either! :) Can't wait to see it. *I will always look the other way for inspired one-night-stands (mostly because I am so guilty of them)!

9:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I stay away from the fashion magazines. Im all about knitting mags. Those are enough to keep up with. Let alone the latest trends in clothes and makeup and how to lose 20lbs...

I say knit on girl..get out the stash and start clicking those needles together. I have to many projects right now myself.. no more for me!

11:30 PM  
Blogger Olga said...

Ooh, girl, don't even get me started on those fashion magazines. They make me MAD! I was going to blog about this, but then Katrina hit,and it seemed frivolous at the time, but if you'll permit me this little rant:

I only buy Vogue once a year. The September issue, the fashion-bible-so-heavy-you-can-use-it-to-make-coal-into-diamonds issue. And then I think, why? Why did I do this? The people who work there are seriously smoking crack. Like, they think it's totally OK to suggest that you buy a $1500 purse and then sell it on Ebay for $800, and that the difference is to be thought of as a "leasing" fee. Huh? If I'm gonna blow a few hundred dollars on something, it better be something I can keep, eat with, sleep on, whatever.

4:03 PM  

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