If you missed it Friday evening, I posted on “Undressing the Hero: Judith Ivory’s Untie My Heart” for Heroes and Heartbreakers.
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For my birthday this year, I decided to get myself a pair of shoes. My first choice was well out of my price range, but then I remembered a pair of saddle shoes I’d owned and loved back when I was in high school.
Oxfords seem to be “in” right now, and it was pretty easy for me to find a moderately-priced pair from Bass. I’d worn that brand years ago, so knew how they fit, and could order online.
The first time I wore these shoes to my day job, it was with a pair of loose corduroy trousers, a button-front pinstripe shirt, and a cardigan. I felt like a refugee from the 1950s, albeit one that mixed male and female clothing. I also felt quirky, just because of the shoes, which don’t seem to be much in style at the moment. And I realized how much of my personality comes out in my shoes. I like vintage-y stuff, I like quirky stuff, I like to be just a little different.
This, in turn, led me to think about blog posts, and I immediately thought of romance novel heroines, and how much their clothing says about their personalities; also, how much clothing is a part of the genre. There’s the “first look” we as the reader see, and what she’s wearing the first time the hero sees her and, often, the “Miss Smith, you’re beautiful!” moment when she takes off her glasses/wears lacy undies/appears in a cocktail dress. Different clothes, of course, mean different things in different situations, but it’s interesting how often they’re part of how a romance heroine is presented.
I think there’s another blog post or three in there. I just have to ponder it a little more, and dig up some examples.
