Battle of the Sleeve

 By Erica and Karen

We want sleeves.

We have not always wanted sleeves. Some of our favorite pictures are of us in a sleeveless state. Gravity, however, will not be denied. Clothes may have been invented primarily for warmth, but their highest purpose now is to make us look and feel good. We know how to do that, but we need the tools.  And those tools include sleeves.

We felt vindicated when we read that Betty Halbreich, the legendary Bergdorf Goodman personal shopper, agreed: 

“The one battle we’ve lost is the battle of the sleeve. For some godforsaken reason, designers today refuse to give the option of a sleeve---and women, as a rule, do not like their upper arms. You can work out from now to kingdom come (or so I hear), and the arms are either too muscular or too flabby. So give the option of a cover, I say… Today the designers feel the no-sleeve look is younger. Nonsense—it has nothing to do with age. No one else will take a step for a dumb sleeve!”

Betty is one smart lady.  We don't want to look younger.  We want to look glam.  And for that we need sleeves.