Category: Let's talk
Ok so I know there are a lot of blind people out there who have the horrible attitude of not caring about how they look, but surely not everyone feels that way.
This is for those who give a crap and or who have a job and have to look presentable in public. I found it interesting.
I'll post the small message from the sender then the link to the survey.
Comments are welcome
Are you interested in fashion and style? How do you get current
info about what others are wearing? We are seeking information from
blind and visually impaired people about their access to information
regarding fashion and style. We would be very appreciative if you would
take our quick, confidential, ten question survey about how you receive
information, what fashion topics you are interested in, and ways that
you think style can be made more accessible. With this data, we hope to
work on projects which will be usable and important to the blind in
terms of accessing current fashion information. We know that there are
disparities in the knowledge of style, and we would like to fill these
gaps. Please take our survey and let us know how we can make this topic
more user friendly. Here is the survey link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NYJ9R3M
Personally, I think there's a difference between caring what you look like and always wanting to be fashionable. I think that you can look presentable without being trendy, and I think you can look trendy without looking presentable.
I tend to wear a lot of neutral colours... i.e. black pants with red/pink tops... Most of my pants/skirts are neutral colors while my shirts/blouses have more colour. Shoes are always black or tan, colours that go with everything. Most of my friends know that I want to look good, be comfortable, but really don't give two hoots about trends; they'll change in 3-6 months anyway. I can't really go wrong, and I have the kind of friends who will tell me is something doesn't look good.
Kate
miss t. anything for me girl! *hugs* for posting these two great articles! petition signed. gizzy
I"m not interested in the latest fashion. I have my own style, or a style I like to go by. I don't use it all the time, but I like to use certain colors. I get opinions of the way it looks by family, friends and people who understand what i want. I'll take it.
To be honest I don't really know what the different styles are. I know how to dress professionally and what wouldn't be considered appropriate for something like a job interiew, but outside of that I don't know a whole lot about how certain other people dress. I'd be interested to know that though. I tend to wear a lot of jeans and polo collared shirts, ir various types of t-shirts that are either plain or that have some sort of writing or point to them. I usually stick to wearing running shoes because shoes are expensive in general and I don't feel the need to have tons of pairs of shoes. I used to wear hats but I lost them when I moved. Also when I have a watch I will wear it, but the annoying thing about the Braille watches is that I always end up busting the glass top on them because of how fragile they are. I don't know what you'd call my style but again I'd like to know the various types. I guess certain groups of people dress a certain way.
I like clothes as you probably figured from a post.
Trends are not what looks good. Looking good is a combination of cut, or how something fits, quality of color, and that your colors match.
Your personality has much to do with how you look depending on how you are dressed as well.
A husky man doesn't look correct in the skinny jeans, or jackets and shirt styles, even thought these are popular, and a thiner man won't look correct if his clothes are to baggy, it just looks sloppy.
The way a blind person can tell how others dress are through the things I've posted in the other board, magazines, and asking others about clotheing.
I'll surely take this for you. It will be interesting.
Agree with kate totally; well said. :)
I took the servey. When the results come back, will you be kind enough to post these if possible?
I'd really like to know what people think.
I fail to understand why not caring how you look is horrible. If I were to say for instance that I didn't care about football, many of you would probably conclude that football just isn't one of my interests. That's not under my control. I can choose to learn more about it but that doesn't automatically mean I will take an interest in it.
As for dress, it is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. If I want to open a can i use a can opener; if I want a job I put on my designated interview suit at a job interview. If a certain type of dress is required in order for me to get something I need then I use it. Otherwise why would I?
Again, why is this attitude horrible?
There is a huge gap between not caring how you look which I think is being used in the sense of not wearing neat clean clothing or taking general care of your appearance, such as keeping yourself clean and getting haircuts on a reasonable schedule and the other end of the spectrum being ultra fashionable and being super obsessed with looks and labels and such. The former is what I believe is being presented as "horrible".
I don't think most of us would care too much if you aren't particularly interested in fashion or clothing or hairstyles and makeup as long as you do reasonable personal upkeep.
On the other hand, we live in a visual world and people judge us on how we look, what we wear and a million other things. Some people judge others unfavorably if people wear jeans and tshirts, others judge unfavorably if people wear expensive designer clothes or are super concious of their appearance.
Never fear, there will always be someone who disapproves of something about us no matter what we do.
I rarely wear makeup for various reasons and I know some women think I am crazy for that.
I think they're crazy for giving up fifteen extra minutes of sleep to slap goo on their faces.
They're happy their way and I'm happy mine. It's all good.
I don't where make up either at all. I don't like it. But I think the key is veing yourself and dressing in what you feel good in
I hate the feeling of makeup on my face... especially my eyes... it feels goopy and heavy and gross.
As for not caring about clothes... there's a big difference between not caring about trends and not caring AT ALL about how your present yourself (cleanliness, general tidiness, grooming, etc.) I am sure that on some level, most if not all people actually want to be presentable to others, but I think where we blind people are at a disadvantage is if no one told us that XYZ was socially unacceptable, or that it's important to shower regularly, wear clean clothes, brush your hair, etc.
That all being said, Not caring how you dress because you want to be comfortable is one thing, not caring at all is just lazy and sloppy.
Kate
Make up smells, too. I've had to change my shirt after some woman touched me and got that harsh powder smell on it. Not all makeup smells that powerfully, but some scent is unavoidable.
Well one good thing about this is that it is all an opinion lol! All I'm gonna say is that some find it ok to wear swet pants in public and others would never dream of doing a thing like that lol! But yes, is you are ok with looking crazy and it doesn't bother you that people stare then thats ok.
I think that blind people are unaware to the amount of attention sighted people pay to what someone looks like. And I am not saying they should be judgemental if you wish in this sort of way but that is just how the cookie crumbles. If someone has a funky sound to their voice a blind person would be the first one to say, "dude, whats up with his or her voice!".
Yeah it's true. I've noticed that when I talked to people and told them my likes, like the fact that I like rock music the most they are surprised because apparently I don't look like your typical metal head. I always have short hair and I don't have any tattoos or piercings. And though it is impossible to completely avoid being noticed, I do dress to my personality --- that is, I wear darker clothes as opposed to lighter stuff, and it's usually plain. I mean a lot of my shirts have writing on them but they aren't striped, checkered, etc.
I would understand, Kate. But here's my take on it. Yes I was told that it's important to shower regularly since I was a little girl. But whilst some blind people are unaware of the importance of taking care of their personal hijeen, there are also some, and I mean some, of those blind people that think that they can't see how they look so who cares? Really now? I guess we are unaware to some extent how sighted people judge us based on how we dress. But I also think that it's how we feel, and smell. I sure as hell am very nitpick about my showering and such, but here's why. It's not for others to notice I'm clean, and have my regular hair cuts and smell good. It's because I feel good not smelling like sweat after being out a whole day, you name it. We have a natural oder, and it wouldn't feel good not to shower regularly or put on the same clothes for days after showering, or use perfume over the sweat, or where the same pair of under ware for a week, after all no one else will smell, right? Yuck! I'm not saying this is only the blind, all those people we pass by in the metro or bus that have us holding our breath for a while... Pardon my ramblings, my point is that it depends on how comfortable we feel with what we do with our physical appearance and hi geen. that's it.
You're supposed to support the fashion industry, the little kids in sweatshops working it out for you 16 hours a day you bad bad blind people!
One hundred years ago, it was fashionable for ladies to have a bird they liked to look at killed, preferably by having its kneck wrung, then stuffed and put on a hat so they could run around being cute and fashionable with a dead avian over their skulls full of mush. More people have died due to textiles acccidents than in coal mining or other heavy industry endeavors.
Know what else? Fashion as an industry, which the original poster is hoping you will support with yo' hard-earned dollars, was started after the invention of the sewing machine, because clothing makers couldn't make money from clothes that don't wear out. Hand-sewn clothes simply can't last as long as machine-sewn ones. So you convince people that every other year they need to blow money on Chinese and South Pacific labor, very little of which the Chinese and South Pacific kiddies get any of, in order to look presentable and be cool.
This is just high school all over all on steroids, except in this case we're not talking the occasional swirly, we're talking thousands of children, many of whom are around age six or so, working in deplorable conditions so you can have your fashion.
You already know there are fair trade groups for food products, even coffee. There is no such fair trade groups for the fashion industry. That tells you all that you need to know about this.
I know this is supposed to be about the blind, but human rights violations are universally problematic, and trump any footsy playing about this being the blind or not.
Look, I live right next door to one of the most premium uptown, or some would say uppity-town, shopping districts in Portland. I can walk up two blocks and get a freak show of countless simians walking down the street staring all mesmerized into clothing shops. They resemble a bird with a mirror. I realize the fashionable types will have to do something unpresentable like look up the word simian in the dictionary, but we won't tell.
All this would change if fashion people would enact their own industry-based fair trade policies and even make it fashionable to buy homegrown products the way the locavores do it. But my betting money is on that they won't, far too many big words and heady concepts like human rights are involved.
The only reason they refer to things like people going out on the street unpresentable like some kind of homeless person, is they cannot do any better in defending what they're doing. Sorry, I know what the homeless are like: down the street in the other direction from the shopping zoo, I can see these who look and smell bad wearing the same clothes for who knows how long, injecting themselves whatever they can get from the kitchen sink. Hardly a resemblance to any of the blind I have ever met, and hardly a resemblance to any person like myself who buys clothes every few years, will go pay to get a sport coat cleaned or a uniform pressed when necessary, but not afraid to just go out on the streets in jeans and T-shirts.
But if you're into fashion, great. You've got company: seal clubbers, people who ran around with dead stuffed birds on their heads, and a current industry who easily could but does not have any fair trade or fair labor policies unlike so many others now. I'm betting it will never be fashionable to buy homegrown or fair trade in clothes, the way it has become so for foods, because again, far too heady concepts like human rights are involved here. But, keep staring, simians. Keep waddling down the sidewalk with those really overstuffed clothes bags. Clothes you may wear once and then give to the Goodwill in six months so that a poor family can buy them and find out how long they won't last because they're made of really low quality materials and under really bad conditions.
These kinds of human rights violations the fashion industry is into are one thing, but thinking it's cute is altogether something else.
Leo, I understand your post. But I wasn't talking about the homeless. These people have no way of keeping clean and such, unless they go to shelters. I'm talking about the people who have more than enough clothes to change, or who have enough clothes to keep clean, and they don't care to keep clean There's a difference between poverty and just being plain nasty, mind you. I lived in Mexico, for three years after the 11 I was here. And Even though I didn't have the clothes I have now, and the same washing system we have here. You'd have me warm up water and shower, even if that meant not being able to warm water some days. Even if we had to wash our clothes by hand on these special sinks that had lines like a washboard and a drain, you'd see me washing my clothes and school uniform once a week. So I think that if you have soap and water, there's always a way to keep oneself clean. Of course, then you have people who have limited water recourses, and well at least they wash up when they can. I'm not talking about people who can't, but people who can and don't care to. The problem with stores like garget and such, is that the clothes is cheeper. But usually there are tags on the clothes that say made in the USA or something like that... of course e clothes is made in China, and so it's cheeper... But then you also have some ritch people who buy clothes and where it once or twice and then give it away. My biological mother's boss is like that. She'll buy $400 dresses, where them once and then give them away. And you are right about the clothes that is bought, warn once and then donated to good will, only to find out that after buying it and washing it, the strings start falling off or the color raids.. How unfortunate...
Yeah, more people need to care about how they smell too. As for clothese, dennim shorts or jeans for me depending on the time of year of course, sweatshirts, T-shirts.
I like clothes, but I'm careful about who I buy them from and where they are made.
I don't buy the fashion, I buy quality, so my Levi, Wranglers will last me 10 years, and still be Wranglers. They've not change sense like 49.
I could sale my 501's after I waish them 50 times and where a hold in the ass pocket, for more then I paied new.
They are made in China, or some are, but all factories are updated.
If I can find a product made in the Us, I by that.
Cheap makeup smells, not the quality kind.
Fresh faced women with nice kept skin are lovely though, so you don't need 15 minutes. Sleep in, and wash your face when you wake up. Healthy skin glows, it really does.
It is what women are paying all that money to achieve with Makeup.
A light foundation is nice, but clown paint, naw.
Voyager, I love an undressed woman, but how do you get to the store?
Haha Ryan, I believe your style is considered a cross between casual and preppy, which would explain why people are surprised about your music choice.
I'm not super trendy because that can get really expensive, and sometimes they are kind of stupid. But if I really like an idea that everyone just happents to be wearing at the moment, I'm not going to deny myself. I like dressing up and looking nice, but I can't lie, weather and mood play a lot in to how I dress. In the winter you'll se me in jeans, yoga pants, hoodies etc. Certainly not every day, but if I had a long night the last thing on my mind is assembling a cute outfit lol. When it's warm out, I love to accessorize, wear make up, get my nails done etc. but that's a personal decision, like Dolce said, I just do it because it makes me feel good.
I refuse to wear makeup for the reasons people have already stated.
So many people who help blind people find work stress the importance of makeup but let me say I didn't wear any in the interview for my current job; I did for my previous job interview though. as long as you're dressed nice and your hair looks neat, that can be good enough I think.
I hope blind woman do think all sighted women wear makeup? They really don't.
Good makeup is like anything else quality, it is light on the skin, and feels better.
To get an idea, not that you'll start wearing it, call for a free consultation at one of the upscale stores. The sales clerk will apply it and show you what makes you look great.
Just a fun experience.
Forereel, I didn't mean to imply that I walk around naked .LOL Again, I wear them and get what I want - neither arrested nor molested.
I wear absolutely no makeup and my hair is buzz cut. Most of the time I dress the same - shorts, t-shirt like thing and running shoes even in the winter. BTW this makes some people uncomfortable. I can't imagine why - they're bundled up, so my choice doesn't affect their body temperature in any way. If we're going somewhere nice and my friends are saying that the people there won't be dressed like that and I'll make them uncomfortable, I can be convinced to wear long pants and a nice shirt. If I'm being interviewed, as I said, I have designated clothes for that as well. They're a means to an end.
What I don't understand are the emotions. Cute? I was raised on that word and still don't really understand/feel it. Out of curuosity I've asked many people (especially women) why they dress up. I often get answers like, "I can't dress up at my job, it's a party and I'm here to have fun, so I'm dressing up."
Fun? Hmmm. Most of them don't want to wear the same kind of thing over and over and over like I do. I know it's true, I don't see it as wrong, but I don't experience it.
I shower because I like showering every day, but somehow I get the sense that it's different for them.
I know you didn't, but I couldn't resist teasing you.
I like to dress. If feels good.
I don't mean dress up, but I do like to look nice, and good clotheing feels good.
I shower for the same reason, but mainly to clean my body. I workout almost 5 6 days a week in the mornings, so will smell soon if I don't.
Voyager, I am not a woman but I live in a very female environment, a wife and a daughter plus her family is largely female, her father being the only exception.
I have also raised birds.
All I can say is that those females that are mesmerized by shiny things and trinkets and clothes rather resemble birds to me. I always made sure the birds' environment was very visually appealing because that form of stimulation is not just decoration, it's a biological imperative for their well-being. I am pretty convinced that many women fall into this same situation. And that we should not consider what they are after as decoration, but as a necessary bviological imperative. The Wife is as much a woman as any other, but does not possess this aspiration to all things shiny and cute. She is extremely visually acute, more so than most people. She would be an investigator's dream in that she remembers what she observes, and makes those observations in great detail.
Cute is just a description of something visually appealing, in a rather infantile or childlike fashion. A fine suit is not cute. An evening dress is not cute. But a summer dress that denotes youth and fun in the sun may be seen as cute. This has been my observations.
I think we try in some cases to draw too distinct a line between decoration and function, while we should consider that for some people an extremely visually-rich environment is an important substrate to their well-being.
Consider what would happen if you took these cute-lovers out of industrial society and put them into nature. They would be looking all day at colorful fruits that are good to eat, shiny water that is good to drink, the reflection of the sun off many different surfaces. The horizon, multi-colored rocks of many shapes and sizes. The human visual sense is the most developed of all primates. Their interest in, and I would go so far as to say need for, all things shiny, makes a ton of sense from an evolutionary biology standpoint.
If you can visit an aviary, see how the environment is managed for a flock of birds.It's very similar, and they constantly need new things to look at.
Perhaps if some of these fashion types got out more, away from the shops and into parks and things, they would experience a fulfillment of this very need. I've done some clandestined if informal experiments on some young girls in my own sphere of influence: Take them first to the rose gardens here when everything is in full bloom. Let them wander first among the flowers, the trees, see the shiny creek and all the shapes of rocks and sculpted land their eyes can muster. Yes, this also is man-made, but nonetheless proves the point. Then take them to the uptown shopping area next to where I live, and they are likely to be more interested in food and going home than to stand around staring at artificial shiny objects in windows. You can't say it's a phycial tiredness issue: they're teenagers, and they could otherwise walk for hours through malls staring at multi-colored shiny things.
But it's just an artificial way they try to get that very real biological need fulfilled. Similar to how we meet that real biological need of birds in a cage. The older I get and the more I observe people like that, the more I become convinced of this. And, the more I see what they're doing as expressing a need.
And if it's going to be my wallet they want to empty first, I'm going to see to fulfilling that need first by taking them to look at all sorts of neat shiny colorful things in nature first. Sort of think of it as eating lunch before going grocery shopping, because you know it's unwise to shop when hungry. It's just their natural appetite which, if not satisfied properly, will leave them remarkably unfulfilled. But most of them don't understand or acknowledge it, they only see it as superfluous.
And, I think what is in nature is probably going to suit that need better, if only the fact their biology evolved to support that, not the harsh and symmetrical fabrication known as industrialized fashion.
And we're just the same even though we have no sight. Go stand in the wind and walk through the trees, hear the birds, take in natural sound with little noise pollution, and you will feel fulfilled in ways no artificial noise construction can do.
Um, Leo, how do I fit in? Smile.
Maybe the cute deal is cultural, because girls are always talking about getting that cute evening dress, or cute suit around me when I grew up. Beautiful, or cute were terms used.
Girl, your looking cute! She's beautiful in that suit.
Back to me, who is not a teenaged girl,, but I like to look appealing, am a also a bird?
I think looking appealing, though, is very different than that mesmerized stance you see in Uptown next to shops. Guessing maybe you hit up the Men's Warehouse or other establishments. I have also. You know what you're after and go get it to complete that look you want. What I'm talking about is that need for visual fulfillment where they stand mesmerized at shop windows, or even in the mirrors.
I'm not even convinced they're conceited or vain when looking in the mirror for hours, as some would have you believe. I think it's just a biological need. But maybe I am wrong.
Don't know. I think every home with a teenaged girl needs 2 bathrooms. One for her, and the other for everyone else. Lol
Thanks, at least Leo understands lol I come from a family of girls too and he is so right
Now, if you have "girls" you have to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels, a black robe, and lots of schedualing forms to post on the bathroom door.
Post 28: some of the most interesting observations I've read on these boards for a while.
Where I live I have a bathroom to myself, but I don't spend time putting make up and such. Leo, I understand where you are coming from. My mother and sister and ands and cousins are like that.
Try taking them into nature first, before shopping, and see if they spend less money.
I wonder if there is a correlation between human women who are like this, gay men too, and ancient gatherers in our evolutionary past. Only instead of running water and fruits, the fashion industry seeks to fulfill this basic imperative, similar to how a prostitute does with sex.
This is somewhat explored in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, where children are conditioned to hate nice-looking things in nature, in favor of loving commercially-made things instead.