Varieties of the Fantastic in Fiction

I found this piece enticing, nonetheless. It follows the fashion trends in women’s clothing and centers around one designer in particular who revolutionizes the fashion industry. I started to ask myself the reason behind the desire women possessed to disappear. Continuing throughout the story, I noticed that the dresses became more elaborate; going the extra yard as even imitating architecture. It was bizarre to read about the impossible lengths the women in the story would reach to stay in touch with the latest fashion trends.

One dress contained in its side a little red door, which was said to lead to a room with a bed, a mirror, and a shaded lamp. Another dress, designed for the wife of a software CEO, rose three stories high and was attached to the back of the house by a covered walkway. (176)

People spoke hungrily of new, impossible dresses – dresses worn on the inside of the body, dresses the size of entire towns. Others proposed an Edenic nakedness. As the new season approached, it was clear that something had to happen. (177)

Whereas the story did contain the fantastic elements of embellishing, or exaggerating, the size of the garments, I believe the fantastic element of the story is the obsession the women have over owning a part of the “fashion trend.” The obsession for staying in trend with fashion started long ago and normalized women following a “dress code” in order to be seen. However, the story uses that desire, obsession, and reverses it, making the women obsessed with being unseen.

The four men rushed over to the other dresses, yanking them up, knocking them over, tearing them with their fingers, but the women had disappeared. Later that day they were discovered in the kitchen of a neighbor’s house, dressed in old bathrobes, and talking among themselves. (177)

For a time the new fashion caught on. Women donned immense dresses and then quietly withdrew, wandering away to do whatever they liked. Dresses, freed at last from bodies, became what they had always aspired to be: works of art, destined for museums and private collections. Often they stood on display in large living rooms, beside pianos and couches. (177)

On the other hand, it seems as though the women enjoy not “actually” being seen as the center of attention, but, instead, their image. Celebrities are a prime example. They dress in designer on red carpets, hoping to be the best dressed at the party, cameras are flashing, interviews are conducted, but do you really think they want to be there? Granted, many actually do want to be there, but seasoned celebrities often enjoy playing the part, but not actually being the part.

At the end of the story, Steven Millhauser draws the readers back in when he connects the story to the physical world again. As a fashion trend retires, people who participated or who have witnessed the trend in its prime, reminisce on the archived fashions, like mullets, poofy hair, rat tails, or neon in the 1980’s, for example. Almost like a fever dream, they remember the trends and think of how silly it looked or wish it could make a comeback.

At dinner parties and family gatherings, people recalled the old style with amusement and affectionate embarrassment, as one might remember an episode of drunkenness. (178)