A Tactile Delight
Fall/Winter 2012
(images via Fashionsnap)
Clothing materializes our social skin - people see us, they see our faces, they see our dress. It allows people to situate us, and to glean some sense of our identity, both social and personal. Whether you dress primarily for yourself or for those who will see you (invariably a combination of both, although it may tip to one side or the other), the fact remains that we spend the majority of our lives in dress. Clothing has become our second skin. Our actual skin is the largest organ in our body, with the average square inch holding over one thousand nerve endings. And so we feel. We feel a tough raw denim, we feel a pre-washed flannel, we feel a coarse and scratchy wool, we feel a delicately spun silk. We spend our lives covered in fabric, so it seems to me a natural urge to want to find the most beautiful and interesting textures and fabrics possible. How does this fabric feel against the skin, how does that fabric feel against the skin? Of course it goes hand in hand with how the garment is cut, how it fits, how it drapes, not to even mention practical considerations, but there is a magic in trying on a garment that feels just right. It is comforting, it is secure, it is beautiful.
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