Old Babes

[purejuice]

Is that a leather top you’re wearing in this photograph?
Yes. I wore it when I went to speak at the first meeting of our University of Chicago lesbian and gay alumni association, and I thought it was so sweet for them to invite somebody who wasn’t gay to be their keynote speaker. But I wore this outfit, and they said, “We want to thank you for wearing leather.”

-- Martha Nussbaum, who goes on to scrupulize about marrying again or eating in restaurants when others cannot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/magazine/13FOB-Q4-t.html

I know that people I worship around here worship Martha but I think the booties in this pic, or maybe its the ninja jacket, not to mention that it is leather, or maybe the sum of the parts, is too much.

I can't gank the pic as is the usual practice of the fashion police. I have accused Martha of dressing like a transsexual, not that there's anything wrong with that, but there is something both cluelessly butch and over-fastidious in the way the goddess dresses. Is she channeling Judith Butler or cruising her? One could begin with the too-tan decolletee and the ca. 1988 anchorbitch necklace, going for the Andree Putman PIB look. I think Putman pulls it off. I think. Jury still out on Putman, though Putman definitely has the Old Babe hair problem licked. I think there is a not so very fine line, of which Nussbaum and Putman may be beyond the pale, between Old Babe and what we call in Spanish, a vieja verde. Which is nasty, and the antidote for which is watching the shipboard scene -- the midget doppelganger with the makeup -- in Death in Venice annually. Compare and contrast with the Italian Old Babes of a previous post. Or the adorable Princess Lilian.


Andree Putman

What I'm saying is Martha is not following the Old Babe accessories rule. If you wear the red lipstick, you have to eliminate almost everything else you're wearing, the ca. 1995 Vamp nail polish at the top of the list. If you wear the ninja leather jacket, you do not wear the red lipstick, the Happy Rockefeller Hair Done, the low cut wifebeater, the necklace, the mini skirt, the opaque black stockings and the booties.


Happy Rockefeller

If you wear the jacket, you wear it, I think, with pants. Actually, the mini is good. If you wear the booties, you wear them with pants and not that jacket. Oh Jeez, the wifebeater again. She's got a thing about her bicepses. As I do not. Please. Martha. Dude. Put your shirt on.


Nussbaum in what I have called her Jan Morris outfit, with the wifebeater, anchorbitch necklace, Happy Rockefeller hair and biceps, but without the ninja leather jacket she sports in today's NYT.

And I have to say, viewing the most recent Tina Turner concert, while she certainly is old and certainly is a babe, Tina, grrrl, it's time to pack it up when you can hardly walk across the stage and the backup dancers (BUDs) have to do the heavy lifting. Yikes. Love the Lurex pedal pushers tho. And I'm, uh, relieved you didn't wear the booty short version your BUDs rock. Oh jeezus. I'm not sure that's enough of a credential to award you Old Babe status. Like Putman, however, you do have what is possibly the very best Old Babe hair.

Comments

[atthesametime.livejournal.com]

Martha could wear a garbage and I would think she looked amazing. As everyone around here knows, I have a massive crush on her. I love the biceps, not only because I think women with strong arms are sexy, but also because of what they represent, that an intellectual can make time for both the library and the gym; that it isn't too much to ask of ones self to be both brilliant and fit.

I will concede that the hair in the photo with the book is a bit much.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

there's a way to dress which reveals your gorgeous biceps -- michelle obama is doing it -- and also your changing, fluid old babe sexual identity (susan sontag) without venturing into the realms of skank. is all i'm saying. that's the babe part of old babe.

[atthesametime.livejournal.com]

haha, maybe i am attracted to academic superstar skank? this is a possibility.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

there's nothing wrong with that. i just wish she knew she was skankin' -- most disturbing is the scrupulosity expressed in the interview about not marrying and not eating in restaurants while others cannot, while wearing leather? and other really crusted-out fashion tropes. i respect the ethicists of skank, but not so much the skanky ethicist.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

no, no, no. the real problem is it's fake skank, it's suburban housewife in leather pants skank. the manicure and the hair and the necklace belie it all. i have no doubt she puts a mink coat on over it all to go home when she finished the shoot.

[atthesametime.livejournal.com]

I think she is playing a part in the NYT picture, but I also think it is refreshing that she is willing to do so...

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

i find it deeply disturbing that an ethicist -- and a professor of the young -- should Play a Part.

[atthesametime.livejournal.com]

I feel this conversation is getting more serious than I intended. I don't find it troubling for anyone to want to play a part. If Nussbaum wants to play a role for an evening, or for a photoshoot, why shouldn't she? Now, if she feels compelled or forced to play that part, that is a different story.