I love paging through dog magazines. My studio is filled with stacks of
dusty magazines essential to my work as an artist/writer because of the details
they provide in my research for novels or new designs. You can't imagine the
kind of information these magazines reveal about dogs and the people who love
them. Yes, it's the dogs I look at first. But, after that, I always look at the
rest of the picture.
Last month, we talked about how to get more publicity for dog shows and
other dog-related activities; how to make them a more important part of life in
a world that seems to be changing its values faster than we can keep up with
them. This month, with that same purpose in mind, let's take a look at how we
present ourselves to that changing world. Let's look at fashion and what we can
do about it!
No, this isn't Carson Kresley talking to you, although he does come from
my home state of Pennsylvania and a lot of you might know him from the horse
show world. No, this advice is coming from your friend, Ron Hevener, and the
school of hard knocks!
For the sake of this commentary, and to make things more fun, let's not
limit the idea of fashion to clothing. Selecting the right style, fit and
coloring of your clothes is very important, but let's consider fashion in a broader
sense. Let's include our dogs in the fashion statements we make! If you
consider everything from your dog's pedigree to its nutrition, housing and grooming
(Yes, these things change as fast as clothing styles do) you start getting an
idea of how many ingredients go into the formula for making a Fashion
Statement.
Take it even further: Consider the people presenting your dog to the
public (Handlers, come to mind). Think about their show attire, their hairstyle,
posture and expression as they stand with your dog for a picture. The colors
they are wearing might be great for one dog they are presenting, but do they work
just as well for yours? Does their clothing look good with some dogs and not
so hot with others? If you present your own dog in the show ring, that's one
thing. But, if you hire trainers to show your dog for you — and they've got
several different dogs to show that day — how's it going to make you feel if
your dog doesn't look its best for the crowd? Worse yet, what if your dog wins
and for the rest of your life you have to look at a horrible photo? Like they
say, pictures say a thousand words — so you want to be sure they're saying
the right thing!
Every month, I try packing as much into these articles as I can. I want
you to see how big and important your world is, and I want you to get a sense of
how far you can go. I'm not a professor, just someone who was lucky enough to
go pretty far in the fields of interest that I love. OK, maybe as the saying
goes, 'luck' had nothing to do with it and it was all because I made the right
choices. Wrong! I've made so many mistakes there aren't enough numbers to
count them (OK, OK, Elaine Strich: I hear you on the Larry King Show, saying you
don't have any regrets because everything turned out great) ... Maybe that's
true in a high-minded philosophical kind of way. But, I'm not always so
high-minded when it comes to this rocky road called Life and if I can pave the way
and make it easier for you, well, let me do it.
So, we're talking about the broadest elements of fashion as they affect
dog lovers. You know, right now it's the trend to consider breeders of purebred
animals to be designers of the matings they plan. That being said, if the
world of purebred animals is influenced by popular opinion and preference (and we
all know it is) then anyone can see where I'm going with this. I'm suggesting
that the world of purebred animals is probably bigger than the world of Paris
couturier. Probably bigger than the whole shebang of Paris, New York, South
Beach and Milan put together!
Somewhere in one of my stories (I think it's a conversation between the
high society dog breeder Esmeralda von Havenberg and her best friend Blanche),
there is a comment about all this. Esmeralda takes a picture from a London
fashion magazine to the local dress shop and shows it to Blanche Jacobus, the
saucy Blonde who wants to get to Hollywood and make it as a costume designer in
the movies. Just between you and me, I think Blanche is stringing the customer
along, but it doesn't take long for the savvy dressmaker to see a niche for
herself in the show world of purebred animals and before you know it, Blanche'
Creations is launched.
Recently, I attended a seminar about these things and I might as well have
been seeing Blanche and Esmeralda in real life. I was fascinated by the
wealth of information gathered by the two women who have built one of the most
respected horse show attire businesses. I loved their seminar and their roster of
speakers. One of the most interesting was a woman who talked with us about
advertising and photography. These are things that all of us deal with when it
comes to our sport; things which many of us don't fully understand. Part of this
misunderstanding is because we think we're already supposed to know it all!
Well, we're not always conscious of surrounding details when the center
attraction is a dog. Most of us love dogs so much that (when it comes to
advertisements, press releases and articles) we forget about the rest of the picture.
But, we shouldn't forget. We should consider every detail when presenting our
dogs (representatives of our sport) to the public. After all, this is show
business you're in. And the public is your audience.
For the sake of this article, I'll call these women Blanche and Esmeralda,
and I have to tell you, they knew their business. By the time they were done
with us, we had been outfitted from head to toe, and the personal fitness
trainer they brought along took care of the rest.
Now, I'm telling you all this for your own good. In the world of
showmanship, there is no sitting on your laurels. The minute you figure out something
that works and gives you an 'edge,' your competition does it better! With
fashion, once your eyes are opened there's no turning back.
Imagine this: It's a few months later and I'm at the Harrisburg Kennel
Club show. Now, for those of you who don't know, this show held at the old
Harrisburg Farm Show building. Let me just say it's a pretty big deal. Bristling
tempers and clashing egos make for some of the funniest things you've ever seen
and, for the life of me, I wonder sometimes how it all stays together. But,
somehow it does. And somehow, when spring rolls around for another show, the
whole place takes on a mood like the carnivals and country fairs we only see in
movies from long ago. That's the Farm Show building for you. And there, at the
Harrisburg show, is where I saw it.
There were about ten entries ... I had been dozing off to the peaceful
sound of barking dogs when suddenly the handlers went into the ring like a chorus
line and the judge took center stage. I don't know what it was about this
class, but something grabbed my attention. You could see it in the stern faces of
the handlers. You could feel it in the air! Every one of them looked like
they had attended that seminar I went to. Hats! Make-up! Posture! This was
business! This was war!
The crowd leaned forward. Sodas were put down. People looked at each
other in amazement.
There — among the handlers positioning their dogs for the best advantage
— was one young lady who stood out among the rest. She and her dog stood out
as plain as the finest entry you would ever see. No more than twelve years
old, she caught the attention of everyone in that crowd .... "Look at that!"
someone whispered. "Do you see what she's wearing?"
I saw them. And, yes, I could believe it. Before you knew it, everyone
else in the grandstand could believe it, too. There — in front of our eyes —
taking her dog bravely down and back, around the ring and to the end of the line
— was a handler brave enough, secure enough, good enough to (Dare I say it?)
speak to us in the hidden language of fashion. Only a handler with nerves of
steel would have risked drawing such attention to the steadiness of her hands
in the show ring like she did. How did she capture our attention and transmit
this message without saying a word? She took destiny into her own hands by
dressing them in gloves of the purest, cleanest, most pristine white!
Again and again, the handlers circled the ring under those bright lights.
Again and again, I saw the judge watching her. I clapped as loudly as
everyone else when she won.
How many pairs of white gloves we'll see in the ring next time is
anybody's guess. But, that's fashion for you, and that's how you make a statement.
Canada's Guide to Dogs