Rick Edwards on style: the rules in print

Unit 2

Anatomy of Clothes

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and

I am like, ‘This is a high-top day’ or ‘This is a bob day’,

but when I get my clothes on that’s when I see.

~Nicki Minaj (a Trinidadian-born American rapper,

singer, songwriter and television personality)

LANGUAGE FOCUS

1 a. Studythematerials which clothes are often made of.

Materials which clothes are often made of

brocade, cashmere, chiffon, corduroy, cotton, crepe, denim, felt, fishnet, flannel, jersey, lace, linen, Lycra, muslin, Nylon, polyester, poplin, satin, sateen, serge, silk, taffeta, tulle, tweed, velour, velvet, viscose, wool

b. With which materials do the clothing items in the table collocate?

Materials	Clothing items
	blouse
	coat
	dress
	hat
	jacket
	jumpsuit, overalls
	pants
	pantyhose, stockings, tights
	scarf
	shirt
	shorts
	skirt
	sweater
	vest

c. Think of one fabric name which can be used appropriately in all three sentences. In some cases more than one variant is possible.

1. The first _______ sweater a man buys should be a black turtleneck. It's classic.

I think Bob (Dylan) quite liked walking the streets of Greenwich Village again. He used to come round to our house on Bank Street armed against the cold in a fur hat, long blue _______ coat and biker boots.

Thadia pulled the soft _______ scarf tighter around her neck, exposing a graceful scarab bracelet on her left wrist.

2. And for the wilder at heart, Michael Kors offers a cheetah-print _______ dress ($1,995).

The one on the left, the younger, was a tall redhead wearing platform heels and a black trouser suit, while the other was older, dark, and dressed in jeans and a _______ vest.

One of the season's most photographed looks was the fetching red velvet _______ coat Miuccia Prada designed.

3. Under her wool coat, Esther wore a flower-print shirt and men's _______ overalls.

Since it was casual Friday, I wore a fairly short blue _______ skirt and a yellow Bob Marley T-shirt. It was a "youthful " outfit, but I was a youthful middle-aged woman.

The _______ jacket will never go out of style, but you can still update it by adding a hooded sweatshirt, suggests Jeffrey Lubell, CEO and creative director at True Religion Brand Jeans.

4. He looked at my outfit, my gray _______ pants and striped white-and-gray shirt with the matching tie, and said, " You look so nice, I should take you out. "

I had thought my Afro and stylish _______ jacket would make me stand out, but I spotted at least three others with the same look.

Conforming to the style to the extent of my budget, I have a new pair of very wide-wale _______ hip-hugger pants which I wear with borrowed boots.

READING

2 a. Which of the patterns in the table below are all-time favorites? Which are hotly tipped for the coming season? Do you think any of them are suitable for men?

Patterns on materials	abstract	geometric	check
ethnic	plain	floral	argyle
polka dot	spot	stripe	pin stripe
animal print	paisley	tartan	fruit

1. Study the meanings of the following words and cultural phenomena.

hummus (n.) – a soft smooth savoury food made from crushed chickpeas and lemon juice

pwoducer (n.) – the writer imitates some peculiarity of speech

plonker (n.) – a foolish or stupid person (slang, light-hearted insult)

Saint Martins students – students of Central Saint Martins of Arts and Design (London, Great Britain)

1. Read the article on the rules in print by Rick Edwards, a British TV presenter and writer

Rick Edwards on style: the rules in print

Garish swimming shorts are fine in the summer, but autumn patterns have dos and don'ts

The Observer, Sunday 2 September 2012

Since the dawn of time, we have been asking the same big questions: will we ever live on other planets? Is it possible to slide out the hummus pot without ripping its cardboard packaging? Can men of a certain age wear bold prints without looking like the "embarrassing dad" character in a prime-time sitcom? The first two are easy to answer: YES and NO. But the third is tough. And with the current proliferation of prints in the shops, it's a question that has been troubling me. Of course I want to wear snazzy printed trousers, but can I?

In all honesty, I'm writing this a little late. Because the time to get away with in-your-face prints is the summer, when everyone can wear some garish swimming shorts emblazoned with 50s pin-up girls or whatever. Oddly, that's deemed acceptable. But bringing patterns into the autumn months is much thornier. The Hawaiian shirts that have been knocking around the high street simply won't cut it on a rainy Tuesday in late September. Unless you're a Hollywood "pwoducer". In which case, carry on. You don't need me to tell you what to wear (well, you do, but you won't listen).

Anyway, point being that it's pretty much obligatory to be looking for prints in more muted shades. Fortunately some of my favourite brands, like Oliver Spencer and YMC, have come up trumps with darker, smarter patterned shirts. More excitingly, I've recently taken the plunge and bought two pairs of printed loafers. I think they work brilliantly with a sharp, plain suit. But I'm prepared to accept that I might be wrong. Some of the looks I've been getting certainly suggest that I am. As I've mentioned before, it's dangerous to try to "dress like an individual" (because you often end up looking like a plonker), but I think that these shoes give me a bit of much-needed flair. So there.

I think the rule of thumb has to be this: wearing one printed garment means that everything else must be entirely plain. Multiple prints must remain the domain of Saint Martins students. There is, however, an exception. It's an expensive exception, but an exception nonetheless. A Sauvage's digital print suit is stunning. In every sense. It makes my eyes go funny and my head spin. I absolutely love it. If you want to be the person who walks into a party (or your place of work – a very bold move) to gasps of shock and admiration, then this is the suit for you. I might be that person, so I might splurge on it. That's not a euphemism. I hope.

1. Find the idiom in the text

- which means that you complete an activity successfully or produce a good result, especially when you were not expected to.

- which means a practical and approximate way of doing or measuring something.

1. Match the words in the table below with their definitions.

1. snazzy (adj. informal)	a. to be present or to travel in (a particular place or places), especially without much purpose
2. garish (adj.)	b. a type of shoe with stitches around the top, and a wide strip across the top, which a person's foot slides into
3. emblazon (v.)	c. natural ability to do something well
2. knock around (ph.v. informal)	d. to spend (a lot of money) on buying especially luxury goods
3. loafer (n.)	e. unpleasantly bright
4. flair (n.)	f. modern and stylish in a way that attracts attention
5. splurge (v. informal)	g. to make very noticeable

1. Complete the sentences with the words from the table above.

1. _______ on an item of clothing that makes you feel fantastic, whether it's gorgeous lingerie or a pair of killer high heels.

2. Americans wear T-shirts _______ with the names of teams that are successful.

3. She left her job and _______ the Far East for a few years.

4. Animal prints will add _______ to your style, but don't go head to toe; one element of your wardrobe – such as a silk blouse, like Louis Vuitton's leopard-print version (teamed with a black skirt) – will give your ensemble a boost.

5. He was really just filling the pipe, but the way that he looked at her like a new Ferragamo turquoise leather _______.

6. After taking a shower, shaving, and dressing, putting on the pants of his _______ suit of light and very soft gray wool, he was almost in better spirits.

7. His eyes were on her pale feet, her bright pink toenails _______ in the natural light.

1. Answer the questions.

1. How should men wear print according to the article? Why does the writer consider this question to be so difficult to answer?
2. What does the writer mean by the phrase “it's dangerous to try to "dress like an individual"? Do you agree with him?

Unit 3

Dress to Kill

Talking about dresses

I like being a woman, even in a man’s world.

After all, men can’t wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.

~Whitney Houston (an American pop singer, 1963)

Vocabulary Box
Types of dresses sheath dress A-line dress straight dress shift knit dress flare dress tunic sun dress slip dress peasant dress wrap dress	Types of waistlines natural waistline raised/empire waistline dropped-waist/drop-waist diagonal waistline

1 Answer the questions:

2 Read the text and do the tasks

You are going to read a short story by Isabel Wolf A Dress to Die For. Isabel Wolff read English at Cambridge and was a broadcaster and journalist before becoming a full-time novelist. She has written seven bestselling romantic comedies including Rescuing Rose, A Question of Love and Forget Me Not. Isabel lives in London with her partner and their two young children.

A Dress to Die For is included in Great Escapes, a collection of short stories published by Collins and Brown in conjunction with Good Housekeeping.

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