Life is a jungle.
While C.S. Lewis and Rudyard Kipling may have mentioned this fine metaphor in their own literary works, we fashionistas need only the inspiration of Fashion's First Woman to find the kernel of truth in this phrase taken up even by the likes of Guns n' Roses. Without Eve, the first woman to ever accessorize and take up the mantra ‘dress yourself' with gusto, it is doubtful we would spend as much time as we do on our own passion for fashion.
Blessed in our very own Garden of Eden, we Notre Dame students are attempting to prepare for the jungle of life that lies beyond a du Lac diploma, and as Eve so poignantly displayed, no entrance into the great big world can truly be effective without proper attire (although note today the inclusion of fig leaves into one's ensemble is entirely one's own personal prerogative). In this contemporary Garden of Eden, like Eve, we too have pesky snakes driving us to our very own apples that threaten to ruin our paradise existence.
Some reptilian thoughts of doubt come to mind: "Walking up or down the Main Building staircase shouldn't affect my graduation prospects because I was in heels, right?" "Is there enough popcorn left in Coleman-Morse to drown my latest fashion sorrows?" "The Starbucks line is a legitimate excuse for class tardiness, isn't it?"
Unlike Eve, we 21st century fashion lovers are privy to a fashion accessory that combats juicy apples, and most importantly their snake purveyor, better than Fashion's First Woman herself could ever have imagined. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and when there's really no other way to beat them? Just wear them. Bonjour, cher snakeskin!
Part of exotic materials used as the hallmarks of high fashion brand creations, the use of real snakeskin is seen by many (including PETA enthusiasts and Reese Witherspoon) as endangering the snake population. Whichever ideology you follow, snakeskin is now used as a general pattern by most clothing lines, and is also manufactured in faux materials (so simply check before you purchase).
In any event, the snake motif has been emboldening fashionistas for centuries. First with Cleopatra, then charming turn of the century Louis Vuitton travel luggage customers. In the 1970s, the material staged a coup in the United States, inundating the popular fashion imagination on cowboy boots and belts, allying the fabric with the attitude of Western explorers ready to battle any rattlesnake that came their way.
The key to accessorizing snakeskin is to make it the key piece of your outfit. Depending on the color of the snakeskin pattern on a top, for example, (green, brown, etc) choose a monotone color pant or skirt. Snakeskin bags add an exotic factor to a simple jeans and T-shirt outfit, or can complement an evening look of high heels and killer LBD. If desirous to match multiple snakeskin patterns, stay in the same color palette. Whatever you do, have no doubts when wearing this killer pattern.
This fall, as it turns out, skin is in.
