Arbiter Elegantiae: Fashion Forecast: Atlas Shrugged

30.3.11

Fashion Forecast: Atlas Shrugged

Okay, so the Atlas Shrugged reference doesn't perfectly reflect the halter top trend, but I couldn't resist using it. If you're not familiar with the allusion, Atlas was a Greek hero or god or something who wound up with the unenviable task of holding up the world. I believe at one point Hercules (or Herakles if you prefer the Greek) had to take over this job in his seven... or maybe it was twelve? ordeals. You can tell I paid close attention in Greek and Roman Myth. Anyway, Atlas Shrugged was a novel written by Ayn Rand during the Cold War, which was essentially a really long rant about how great capitalism is and in defense of property rights. Believe it or not, the Iron Man comic drew heavily upon Atlas Shrugged for some of its material. Cracked has done an interesting article on it. I liked it because it suggested the shoulders, and as you'll know by now Spring 2011 is all over shoulders.

Again and again designers were showing this rather different look. In some cases they featured genuine halter tops, which fasten at the neck and not at the back, and in other cases they seemed to take a tank top design and cut further away from the shoulder area, accentuating that feature. It's a little hard to put into words but the pictures speak for themselves. I think it's a pretty cool idea as shoulders can be very sexy. However, this style does present a little bit of a challenge when it comes to your bra straps, and I'm not even sure it's something bustier ladies like myself can pull off, but I suppose that remains to be seen. Pictures, as per usual, are all from www.style.com.