Reviews for Mark Borthwick: Not in Fashion

The average rating for Mark Borthwick: Not in Fashion based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-04-05 00:00:00 Matthew Golden This book is largely made up of photographs, interspersed with interviews and short essays. The author provides a glimpse into Syrian women's lives, and the complexity of women's position there. On the one hand, women face many forms of repression, particularly of their sexuality. Yet in other arenas--the gym, at home, and in the bedroom, they have more freedom than one would expect just by viewing women in the streets, where they are generally covered. And once Syrian women are married, it is considered normal, at least in the cities, to buy incredibly extravagant lingerie, the idea being that if you keep your husband happy, he won't stray. I do not have words to adequately describe the lingerie. Victoria's Secret never thought of things like this. Spangles, glitter, sequins, feathers, pictures of Tweety Bird over the crotch that play songs when you press them, blinking lights, pouches for cell phones right over the crotch (WHY?), artificial flowers, bunnies over the breasts that play a song when you pull the ears, heart-shaped chocolates with g-strings inside, angel wings, mixtures of any and all of these things...I cannot possibly give you a true picture of Syrian lingerie.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-11-02 00:00:00 Scott Thomas Such an earnest look at this odd pocket of fashion. I kept trying to read the essay that launches the book, but the almost-scholarly prose just couldn't quite hold my attention. But you have to read it (or at least some of it) to make any sense of the photos that fill the book, in all their full-color full-bleed glory. Is this what Syrian women look like? No, these are not Syrian women. Syrian women are not allowed to be photographed in such naughtiness. These are women from Eastern Europe, modeling lingerie that Syrian men want to see their Syrian women wear, but only in private. Who are those terse men? Oh, they are the designers. If I had to live in this world I'd explode. Thank you, however, for this book, and the chance to sense that anew.