Almodovar & a Lesson in Style

Ever since my honours year in gender studies when I was first introduced to Pedro Almodovar, I have been mad about his films... Well, whatever I can get my hands on here in sunny South Africa. Limiting sadly though it is.

But there is one that I have watched over and over again, and utterly fallen in love with, and that is Volver starring Penelope Cruz.

While first and foremost, what I love about this movie is the motley crew of women who band together to help each other out of just about any and every jam they encounter. It truly is a film about women empowering other women.

Beyond this, the cinematography of Almodovar's films is always a feast for the senses to behold.

But all the more beyond this, I fell in love with the fashion.

Having fallen in love with Spain when I was only 16 years old and visiting there on holiday with my grandparents at that tender age... Give me a rundown villa in Spain to spend the rest of my days any day!

But returning again to the glorious costuming of Volver... It was bright. Bold. Patterns often clashing but somehow working all the same. Thrilling. Women so unapologetic.

And I thought on my own sense of style.

So often in one of my many funks, I simply resort to the plain, the wall flower of my wardrobe.

But no more.

Once upon a time I was an exuberant creature.

An addict for fashion, but always bending the rules in the many unconventional outfits I wore to school dances, often inspired by characters like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction or Minnie Driver in Grosse Point Blank...

I wore long and cumbersome denim skirts for these affairs. Or Balinese silk wraparound skirts. Or black three quarter flared pants far more than I can count, and of course with a long white blouse when I emulated Uma in Pulp Fiction. So unlike the prom dresses that abounded.

But after a long hiatus, now it is Volver that has solidified my love of fashion again and the clothes I find in thrift stores all the more.

I merrily clash prints where I feel they in fact complement each other. I embody an emboldened femininity. And I celebrate a passionate exuberance... Well except for my lazy days where I spent all day in my robe!

And there are many women in my life who have come to embrace an essence of self in their everyday wardrobe, that I figured, well, why not feature them too!

Inspirational and wholly authentic as they are...

A celebration of the mercurial power of fashion, beyond the dictates of 'what's in' or 'what's cool'... But just wholly unfettered by societal expectations... Women who completely embrace their essence, their 'isness', whatever shape that takes on any given day!

So watch this space! A site for womxn and by this particular wanton womxn, there is so much more to come...

xxx

Untitled by Maria Tolstoy Sinclair