http://www.manrepeller.com/2012/09/trends-you-must-try.html
TRENDS YOU MUST TRY
When I read the assignment criteria I almost squealed with joy. I knew exactly who to turn to for a strong voice. Leandra Medine writes one of my all-time favorite blogs, Man Repeller. Mixing high fashion with blunt - but hilarious - comparisons, she offers up an excellent example of voice. I hope I can even begin to do her writing style justice.
Ms. Medine utilizes language quite excellently and uses similies help add to a playful, exaggerated voice when discussing midriff-baring shirts. "But if that doesn’t sound lucrative enough, these particular trends
often include baring body parts previously dubbed unbareable. Don’t try
and grammar police my ass on that one, I am deliberately punning like
bad jokes are coming back in style." (para 3).
When describing hair streaks and face paints she states: "And on your head, braids or streaks or a purple uni-brow pointing at
your nose: it’s like Frida Kahlo traveled to Mars and all she came back
with was intergalactic facial hair." Exaggeration and metaphors are used quite regularly, creating an impression of bizarrely vivid imagery. (para 8).
Segwaying into the next topic...when describing hats with phrases like "athletic nunwear" and "these models looked like human blow dryers," she conjures up exaggerated - but fairly accurate - descriptions of this year's "runway gone wild" trends. (para 9).
Pulling from diction, she makes up words a la Shakespeare, coining phrases like "arm party" (a large collection of stacked bracelets) and "nubic hair" (nipple hair).
As hindsight, diving into this assignment with a fashion blog probably wasn't the best choice. An article relying on the descriptions of visuals offers a limited amount of literary details to pull from without overlapping. Come October 21st I'll definitely be looking for an article with more length and variety.
Overall, great blog, but not the best choice...
Haha, I did exactly the same thing! I chose a blog I knew had great voices on it, just the article I picked was...yeah. However, your article sounds hilarious! I think that you have some good points and examples, but I think you could have added a few more of said examples. Other than that, great!
ReplyDeleteHello Miriam!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the intro into the essay, it definitely drew me in. In your body paragraphs, I can easily find your evidence and warrants, but I think that maybe adding a bit more to your warrants would better support your evidence. I agree that using a fashion blog would be a bit hard to write about. Reading the blog, I do believe that the author has a strong voice as well. Though, I did notice that you only had 2 techniques. Maybe you could use imagery as another technique, since the author gives a lot of visuals in the blog such as "He chows on steak, picks at fries and speaks about the capital asset pricing model. He asks your opinion. Your eyes twinkle. “Sandal boots are really in next season,” you offer. He shrugs, wipes his mouth, leaves cash on the table and walks away. Ka-ching!".
Overall, a good essay!
Your post was really entertaining, but I couldn't help feeling a little rushed, like you were firing out examples of Ms. Medine's techniques without giving your readers a chance to breathe. And while you did a fabulous job of pointing out her techniques, this seemed kind of like a "tour" of the fashion blog. How do these techniques come together to create effects and meaning?
ReplyDelete