ThreadBared Blog’s voice
It wasn’t until I typed “I hate” in correlation with the words “beauty” and “fashion” and “analysis” that I was able to find a blog of similar content matter to my blog called “Threadbared”. I don’t know what that says about me, but I am just going to assume that I write on a niche subject and that I am not a cynical person, who likes to criticize people who just do fashion wrong. It is also interesting to note that if my blog had a name it would be “Bare-faced”. Threadbared also seems to imply the same sort of a name of fashion/beauty related pun with its true meaning being a type of exposure, not physically but unearthing the essence of wear.
The writers of Threadbared are both academics. Mimi Nguyen is an associate professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies. Minh-ha Pham is an assistant professor in graduate media studies program at Pratt Institute, and previous a professor of visual studies and Asian American studies at Cornell.
Their “about” section reads:
THREADBARED is an evolving collaboration between two clotheshorse academics to discuss the politics, aesthetics, histories, theories, cultures and subcultures that go by the names “fashion” and “beauty.” With commentary on how clothes matter, as well as book and exhibit reviews and interviews with scholars and artists, THREADBARED considers the critical importance of taking clothes –and the bodies that design, manufacture, disseminate, and wear them– seriously as an entry point into dialogue about the world around us.
Without even reading the blog at all, I can presume that these ladies are highly intelligent feminist-types who take fashion very seriously, based on their background. After reading through several posts, I can confirm that these ladies are very serious, highly critical, and a little bit cynical in their approach to fashion analysis. I can really hear their voice through their posts, and most of them have some underlying, urgent sounding message that reveals an injustice in fashion. These girls feel completely comfortable putting their true feelings out there for the world to see.
A common technique that is used throughout their posts is to include long sentences within parentheses after a fact. It acts as a sub-commentary to her previous sentence, and is usually loaded with sarcasm. Words of sarcasm are often put between quotation marks. And even without sarcasm, their choices in adjectives are often very upfront and blunt. One sentence that really stood out to me in terms of attitude was a sentence that describes what the world thinks about fashion obsessed girls and how much it offends her.
They’re already perceived as frivolous, wasteful and stupid consumers whose feminine vanity leads them to participate in the irrational and irresponsible consumer practices that are cause of All Of The World’s Problems.
(from the post, “A Pyre to Privilege, Not An Invitation to Gendered Shaming”)
She writes in the point of view of her opposition, which already sets the stage for a complaint. I can visualize her saying this sentence in a whiny voice. Her language is spiteful for what “they” or “the general population” thinks about girls who are into fashion. Although she doesn’t literally say it, it is clear that she is one of “them”, someone who likes clothes, someone that society has so stereo-typically defined as shallow and wasteful. In addition to the excessively overbearing adjectives, she adds even more drama to the situation by capitalizing the final words of the sentence, “All Of The World’s Problems”. There is no louder way for her to write about her spitefulness. She is completely tired of the negative connotation with the association of fashion and consumerism.
This sentence is dramatized, but it reveals some of the personality that both girls use throughout the blog in its entirety. Their critique of fashion is a little harsh for my taste, but they do bring up valid and unique standpoints on the subject because they are so outspoken. The difficulty I have found in writing a beauty and fashion critique blog is in not being overly critical. These such topics are just itching to become long rants, but I find it important to bring a little bit of positive perspective into each post.
