The (official) end of woman as tent

In a city with a climate that redefines torture as a woman in pants between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I think I bought four skirts, three dresses and umpteen sleeveless tops to add to what I thought was a sufficient summer wardrobe (not that such an animal exists). I'm still sick of my summer clothes with 4 weeks to go, but at least we're done with this animal.

For the last few seasons, women’s clothing has been in flight from women’s bodies. The tent, the trapeze, the bubble, the baby doll—call these dresses what you will, the dominant shape (if that word is justified) has been one that renders a woman shapeless. Such styles deliberately obscure traditionally eroticized parts of the body, the breasts and hips and waist, managing the bizarre (and, let’s face it, somewhat disturbing) feat of making women appear at once infantile and pregnant. In a sea of nightgowns, art-class smocks, maternity blouses, and Mrs. Roper–style muumuus, we are left with only arms and legs and—according to the New York Times “Styles” section, anyway—the very naughty clavicle. Many women, in some desperate but understandable bid to feel sexy, have taken to wearing their dresses alarmingly short.

But those baffled by volume, those bored by it, those heterosexual and male, should take heart. This fall, women’s clothing and the female body once again get intimate. I’m not talking about the return of eighties-era bodysuits, or tight mohair sweaters with plunging décolletage. Still, silhouettes will be longer, slimmer; clothing will be more structured. Suits, jackets, and trousers have ousted the dress. Waists are visible. Breasts, if not exactly showcased, are at least detectable. Shoulders, absent for some time now, are once again important. Gone is the soft and round and globular (and the layers, ruffles, and Empire waists that often played accompaniment) in favor of the hard-edged and angular. At last, women will ditch the diapers of the baby-doll dress in favor of a sharper, slicker aesthetic.

There is something to be said for fabric that stays away from your body (anytime the temperatures are above 85 degrees), which is why I'm softening my earlier stance on all things flowy, but I never liked the baby-doll, Tinsley-esque look. It's like waxing the Full Monty - there's no need to portray ourselves as infants.