Read Surveys (By Author)
Pauline Smolin
1. When do you feel at your most attractive?
After I exercise my body well.
3. What are some things you admire about how other women present themselves?
Thin is good.
5. What are some shopping rules you wouldn’t necessarily recommend to others but which you follow?
When I find some clothes that fit I stick with that designer- for example mine is Eileen Fischer petite..
6. What are some rules about dressing you follow, but you wouldn't necessarily recommend to others?
Simple, classic styles - one color
11. Is there any fashion trend you’ve refused to participate in and why?
Almost all of them. Because next year those clothes will mark that they are last year’s.
13. Have you stolen, borrowed or adapted any dressing ideas or actual items from friends or family?
Mostly hair styles taken from magazines and the French.
Clothing styles from the French
14. Was there a point in your life when your style changed dramatically? What happened?
I used to wear more colors – not many and also change from winter to summer colors. I noticed it was too much work and so I turned to almost black all the time.
16. Please describe your body.
So-so.
20. In what way is this stuff important, if at all?
Style is aesthetics and aesthetics are very important to me.
23. Do you think you have taste or style? Which one is more important? What do these words mean to you?
style
25. Are there any dressing tricks you’ve invented or learned that make you feel like you’re getting away with something?
Wearing black almost all the time
26. Do you have style in any areas of your life aside from fashion?
Yes. House furnishings, classic simple, monotone, keep forever
38. What are you trying to achieve when you dress?
I want to look attractive and self-confident.
39. What, for you, is the difference between dressing and dressing up?
The quality of the clothing
42. What is your cultural background and how has that influenced how you dress?
Daughter of jewish immigrants, and at first I made terrible embarrassing mistakes with clothes; then I corrected.
49. What is an archetypal outfit for you; one that you could have happily worn at any point in your life? What do you like about it?
black paints and silk shirt.
52. Do you consider yourself photogenic?
Not at this stage.
53. When you see yourself in photographs, what do you think?
I look much worse in photos than I think of myself as looking
54. Are there any figures from culture, past or present, whose style you admire or have drawn from?
I like everything about the French style for women; hairstyles, clothing, put together look.
61. What are some things you need to do to your body or clothes in order to feel presentable?
Makeup; eye makeup
62. How does makeup fit into all this for you?
Makeup is very important.
65. What is your favorite piece of clothing or jewelry that you own?
A necklace.
81. Is there an article of clothing, a piece of make-up, or an accessory that you carry with you or wear every day?
A necklace with the 8 symbols of the Buddha
What’s your birth date? Where were you born and where do you live now?
I never tell age, I’m from NYC and I live in Cinti. Ohio.
What kind of work do you do?
I write plays
Are you single, married, do you have kids, etc.?
two children, divorced.
Please say anything you like about yourself that might put this survey into some sort of context.
Some years ago I went with my son, Lee, and his then-girlfriend, to a wedding reception in a huge artist's loft in Soho. Well over a hundred people were there, of whom in addition to Lee and his friend, I knew the bride and groom and that was it. Lee and his friend took off and there I was—what to do—so I picked out a pleasant-looking man standing near and sort of with a group, yet a little apart, and introduced myself to him. He turned out to be a famous Italian painter, Francisco Clemente. He had recently had a retrospective at the Guggenheim. Anyway, we had a great conversation and when he told me he'd been married to the same woman for twenty years, I asked what the secret was. He said they had the same aesthetics. I thought that was very smart and it was what came to mind when I did your questionaire.