Blue Pill

One thing that I love about Seventies fashion in particular is the affection for... let's call it maximalism.

In general, I think Americans take a maximalist view of life: if a little is good, a lot must be better.

I just read an article about antibiotics in The New Yorker that exposed just one of the myriad pitfalls of this philosophy: we need all different kinds of bacteria in order for our bodies to function properly, from digesting our food to keeping nastier bacteria in check. But the widespread use (and, let's face it, abuse) of antibiotics has led to our personal biodiversity being decimated.

(Digression: the article said if you put together all the bacteria in a person's body and weighed it, it would weigh about 3 pounds, the same as the brain. Here is my question: what does 3 pounds of bacteria look like?)

Anyway, I didn't mean to get up on my soapbox about antibiotics (but seriously, industrial farmers feed antibiotics to animals to fatten them up faster, and no one has thought about applying this reasoning to the dramatic increase in obesity? okay, I'm done, I'm done), but I did want to point out that the only arena in which maximalism doesn't seem to hold sway is fashion. You don't see a lot of in-your-face prints that extend over a large surface area.

Unless you happen to be walking down the street in Jersey City and someone is selling Blue Pill for $10! And you can't believe your luck.

This pattern is completely nuts. It does repeat, obviously, but it is so extensive that it appears to go on forever in new and creative directions, as if Blue Pill is making it up as it goes along.

Photo by Janet Turley

Once upon a time, I would have chopped this maxi off at the knee, but I've grown to appreciate the freedom afforded by maxis, particularly the freedom to put off shaving my legs another day.

And the freedom to create my own little mini-environment by sitting down and letting the broad skirt settle where it may.

Welcome to the State of Dressopotamia! Population: 2 (me and Blue Pill, but you can visit if you like).

If I had to write a manifesto of personal style (a manifesto that is not simply a link to Dressopotamia), I would lay out my tenets of maximalist fashion thusly:

1- You know what your favorite thing is? You can never have too many of those.

2- Nothing you wear to a party can ever be called "over the top." If you're comfortable in it, everyone else will be, too.

3- Il faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace!

Words to live by; words to dress by.


Most photos by Claire Loeb!