Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Action Pants

Hi Everyone,

I'm back. I've been taking some time off to continue on the triple weave strip weaving which I referenced in earlier posts. I currently have 6 strips done and have tied on a new warp. I'm simultaneously "over" working on the project and intrigued to continue to see what emerges. This piece appeals to the sampler that I am.

Doug and I cleaned out the closets during the winter break, and I finally decided to give my action pants to charity. I bought the original action pants in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1992. The pants were kind of baggy and had some woven bands depicting elephants, etc. sewn down the outside hems, around the pockets, and around the cuffs. I imagine these pants are meant for the tourist trade -- a Thai friend has said that no Thai person wears those pants. They got the name "action pants" because the year after I bought them, I returned to the US (I was living in Tokyo), moved to San Francisco, and got "action" every time I wore them. Can clothes make one more sexually appealing or do the clothes make one feel more sexually appealing and thus give off messages to others that one is available? So, I guess the question is is the message encoded in the clothes or the way the person wears the clothes or both?

When I lived again in Japan from 1995-1996, I returned to Thailand and bought several more pairs of action pants. I didn't have as much success with these pants. These came to be known as the "sometimes action" or "inaction" pants.

Tied in with this whole issue for me is age and fashion. Towards the end of my action pants wearing days, I felt a little old to be wearing these pants. When does one get too old to wear certain fashions? I've heard that with regular fashions that if a person wears something the first time it comes around, then that person should NOT wear that fashion the second time it comes around. However, these pants never were in the fashion mainstream.

What do you think?