The first prize would have to go to those good old pairs of transparent stockings (those that ruin any decent look, mainly due to the light they reflect, that sheen we can spot miles away, and that screams “fake” loud and clear), and then it’s just about following the list: mixing navy and black, coordinating shoes with accessories (especially in color, big no-no), wearing sandals with socks, showing underwear, wearing white after labor day, wearing UGG boots out in the street… surprised? The inventory continues and demands consideration.
#Faux pas origin full
It wouldn’t take too much thinking for the dear reader to recall a full hand of unthinkable combinations, non-transposable rules, or even forbidden items that should, under no circumstance, ever see the light of day. It would be more or less like saying: “Believe! Do it! Dream! But not too much.” In a world where we’re taught to believe that imagination, art, the exploration of one’s identity, well, Fashion, are limitless, the ultimate paradox is realizing that it is also a world filled with barriers, boundaries, and prohibitions. We’re talking about those “lines in the sand” that separate the black from the white squares on the board, and that interrupt this fantasy of total absence of limitations. The theory of freedom of expression we so quickly associate with creativity is undermined by “understandings”. But before that, time out, because discussing prohibitions in a creative context seems (and indeed it is) highly paradoxical. However, when the subject at hand is Fashion, the etymology of the concept goes further into a universe that not only condemns certain choices, but orientates our own perception of what is acceptable, or not, to wear.
An awkward or tactless action within a certain social context, something like a slip, a mistake that becomes a cause for disapproval. The concept of faux pas can be defined as a wrong move. Pawn moves forward, and the question arises: do we all play by the same rules? In the chess game that is choosing what to wear each morning, we’re cornered by underlying rules that dictate what we can and cannot do, how we do it, and that determine the limits of what Fashion considers as “fair game”. Language becomes a technicality when it comes to assaults to good taste – or what we’re used to considering as such.
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