Camel emerged as a star color this fall for it's straight forward versatility in a bad economy. Coats, blazers, sweaters or bottoms- we all have something camel that can have another life in our wardrobe. Consider new and more inventive color combinations to keep things interesting in your closet.
Rather than limiting your look to the tried and true combos - black, brown, chocolate and red- we can all take a page or two from Dries van Noten's Fall collection which included one of the most sophisticated and unexpected palettes of the season.
Colors like mustard, shrimp and coral pink, fiery orange red, lavender and mauve combined with camel or beige look incredibly sophisticated. If a color like mustard is not especially user friendly next to your face and neck add it in to the mix as a skirt or pant worn with a camel coat or jacket for a look that is subtle and more grown-up looking than the current rehash of '80's neon brights.
For grownups a refined bootie or shoe bootie -especially in black and worn with black matte tights-always looks sleek and hip. It's good to choose a style with a little edge to nudge your clean lined pencil skirt or pants into Fall's tough chic mood. Done right, this little shoe is an instant 'Look Changer'. Open toed booties are as useful as wearing a negligee in a hailstorm. They don't work much after September anywhere but LA or Miami. Nothing your stylist hates more than the look-destroying combination of sheer or sheer patterned stockings with a bootie ( except perhaps bare legs and 'mature' knees in a too short length). Go with a no-see through opaque like Wolford's Matte Opaque 80 style. They are a whopping $52 but treat them lovingly with hand washing and line drying and they'll wear like iron. Find them at Wolford boutiques nationallly. Spanx has introduced Reversible Tight-End Tights $34 made of reversible matte yarns so that you can wear them two ways. The color range is great for tonal bootie and opaque combos. They also have an extended top to keep your various parts in place. spanx.com
Here a few bootie suggestions that are long on looks but won't cripple your bank account:
1.Colin Stuart Back Zip bootie $99 @victoriassecret.com
2.SigersonMorrison Handkerchief Tie bootie $799 (ouch- pricey yes, but soft, supple, classic with an edge and comfortable) @couturezappos.com
3.Banana Republic Drawstring Cuff bootie $198@bananarepublic.com
4.Via Spiga Elise bootie $225. These are incredibly comfortable walking boots and bridge the gap between rubber sole comfort and pulled together @zappos.com
Slouchy flat boots may be the thing this fall but honestly, I think they look like a mess. Who wants all that elephantine baggage on their calves? Not moi. Especially on women over 40, slouchy styles are too throwback
I've included a style by Maria Sharapova for Cole Hahn that incorporates Nike Air technology into the design for trainer-like comfort.
to look right. Give me the sleek line of any boot inspired by horses and stables. In leather or suede, a smooth and uncomplicated style is the most versatile buy. Especially if you are a girl who likes to tuck jeans into her boots, this is the flat style that will flatter you best.
I love the geometry of a wedge heel. Especially in the season's crop of wedge heel boots sans a platform at the toe. The look is sleek, slightly tough, very leg -lengthening and aerodynamic. The walkability factor is a biggie too. Move comfortably all day long in this style. There is a decidedly kitten-with-a-whip quality to over-the-knee styles. If you go there opt for a simple and lightly adorned or textured pair to avoid appearing in your own costume drama. 
Imagine walking pain free in a pair of high heels without popping a Xanax? Determined to learn how, I recently dragged my tired and swollen dogs to the Backbones and Wingspan Pilates Studio for a High Heel Recovery Clinic. Trudging from the subway to the studio I imagined a scene from the documentary Paris Is Burning and a task master instructor barking "Girl, you better work!" Instead, I was greeted at the door by the zen countenance of Tim Driscoll the studio director and a respected teacher on the NYC pilates scene. Tim along with fellow teacher Cathy Ferrara have developed the clinic in response to clients with all kinds of lower back pain, calf strain and shin splints related to wearing vertiginous heels.
including Pilates, GYROTONIC®, The Feldenkrais Method®,
CranioSacral Therapy and Physical Therapy.
To learn more about Backbone and Wingspan and its instructors or to see
the schedule for other upcoming free clinics, go to
www.backboneandwingspan.com
or see the Backbone and Wingspan Facebook Fan Page.
For studio inquiries, press previews, and reservations:
Call: 212-647-8878 or direct email to
tim@backboneandwingspan.com
According to Tim "The heel is probably the most under-utilized part of the body. When someone can expand into their heels and into the back of their shoe rather than letting their heel shove forward onto the ball of the foot then they can get relief." The key, he explained, is to connect with the upper back of your legs rather than your lower back or the balls of your feet.
To put us in touch with this sensation it was time to walk around the room. We'd been asked to bring a 'challenging' pair of heels. I put on my red patent leather Fendi sandals that slice into my toes like a cheese knife. Walking with all the grace of a middle-aged cross dresser in size 13 pumps, I noticed the woman in front of me. Elisabeth, a slim 50-something was navigating swan-like in a pair of 6" St. Laurent platform sandals. How could she stand it?
Then it was shoes off for mat work designed to identify critical body/pressure points that are engaged when walking in high heels. First, the core since all things balance and posture rely on a strong trunk. Three sets of hamstrings ( 3? who knew?). Asked to imagine these as strings reaching right up into our butts, I tried to visualize my hammies rising up to tether two balloons (or rather, bum cheeks a bit larger than I'd like them to be). By tucking my tail -just slightly- I instantly felt a strong connection right there. Finally, the hip flexors-that 'pocket' of muscle at the very top of your thighs.
Next, we lay down on mats and for the next 30 minutes Cathy led the group in a series of exercises designed to help us open up the pelvis and to feel the hamstring/bum connection. With our knees bent and our calves and heels flush with the top of the ball, we were directed to place our arms at our sides, palms down, and to raise our bums until we created what Tim Driscoll calls a 'suspension bridge'. Visualize what a suspension bridge looks like and this make perfect sense. Ahh! An immediate release of tension in my flexors. Please try this at the gym or at home if you have an exercise ball at the end of the day to work out tension.
Finally, we lay on our stomachs and raised both our arms and feet - just slightly- off the matt in a kind of semi-superman in flight move. Again, ever so subtly I could feel a connection to my core, my 'tethered balloons and an engagement in my hip flexors. All the sensations came together and I was ready to try on those tortuous Fendi's and take a spin around the room.
So, try this little sequence the next time you slip on any heel over 3 inches. Breath -not a deep belly breath- but so you expand the width of your back. Lean ever so slightly into your back and feel how that subtle movement puts you into your hammies and bum connection which simultaneously opens up the hip flexors. In making these connections you will feel a subtle shift back onto your heels and away from the balls of your feet. This works. Check out Tim's blog for more about high heel recovery http://pilatesiconoclast.typepad.com/universalprinciples/high-heel-healing/
Backbone and Wingspan is a unique fitness studio dedicated to the
functional principles of movement explored through a variety of methodsincluding Pilates, GYROTONIC®, The Feldenkrais Method®,
CranioSacral Therapy and Physical Therapy.
To learn more about Backbone and Wingspan and its instructors or to see
the schedule for other upcoming free clinics, go to
www.backboneandwingspan.com
or see the Backbone and Wingspan Facebook Fan Page.
For studio inquiries, press previews, and reservations:
Call: 212-647-8878 or direct email to
tim@backboneandwingspan.com
Not likely. As long as there are women there will be a lust for great bags but if you are debating whether to pay your mortgage or buy a new Big Bag this fall there is a new spin on "It' emerging. In the past few weeks as I've shopped for my styling gigs I've had a look at lots of this season's bags in the $1200 Plus Club. As it is you can barely swing one of last season's "Must Have Bags" without hitting 20 more brand new bag lines. In this economy it's survival of the ' It' -est.
A recent web blast from barneys.com announced that a $2500 Rochas bag is not an "It Bag" and that the idea of "It" in general is "corny' and so "last century". So true and merci, Simon Doonan. But here's the catch. The new "It' in town - she's quiet. La Rochas is sans logos, hardware or any other details like fur, fringe, biker studs and chains that adorn many styes this Fall. She's subtle. Just a passementerie detail on the front. So it's the same old game enticing us to spend far too much to belong to a new club of bag mavens - The Stealth On The Down-Low Luxury Club. Makes the LVMH logo mania of the past decade seem quaint. Other members of the club? As noted by fashiontribes.com the new shadow Birken is a leader in the quiet luxe pack. No hardware- just thousands of dollars of gorgeous leather. Even Balanciaga has forsaken the usual hardware for its new and gorgeous suede mailbag.
The prices are insanity. The looks are great. So steal good ideas from the top. When you shop for a new bag in your price range look for the following details for a bag that won't look 'so last season' in 4 months.
Little hardware if any ( sorry Jimmy Choo but 8 buckles on a bag are 8 buckles too many)
Color blocked leathers ( clean and simple combinations of color and textures replace logos and 'stuff')
Snakeskin -a great neutral especially in gray tones or subtle metallic
Soft grays in leather or suede ( neutral but not just another black or brown bag)
Or buck the trends all together and go for a bag that is both groovy and green like the Fleabags tote at fleabg.com. Friends and inveterate flea market shoppers Shira Entis and Alex Bell designed their roomy tote as the solution to carrying dozens of ratty plastic bags filled with their market finds. The result is a bag that is a timeless, ageless and very fashion savvy mix of style and responsibility. The totes are produced in New York of eco-friendly hemp, vegetable tanned leather and are handmade in limited editions.
Distill the elements of personal style and much of it is about what is on your head and your feet. Hair and heels. One thing I have learned in years of styling fashion images - the clothes and jewelry may be gorgeous enough to launch a full-throttle riot but if the model's hair is somehow 'off' (fussy, stiff with products, lank, stringy) then the image is blown.
This goes double for shoes. A too low heel that doesn't enhance the line of a model's leg, a toe that looks dated or a style that just plain looks insignificant is an outfit killer. Real life is no different.
This spring/summer season most of us have shopped our closets instead of buying new clothes. If you feel the need for a spruce-up or that you are looking past your sell by date, spend your money on a good haircut ( maybe a few highlights and some color while you are at it) A good haircut and a flattering color can erase pounds, years and make the same old clothes suddenly 'new'.
After a dreary selling season, most shoe departments are heaving with spring shoes on sale at up to seventy five percent off. Time to trawl the sale racks for a bit of trend. And I don't mean a six inch heel or a platform that resembles fetish wear or an orthodic but something you can walk in that is bolder, or chunkier, or a little higher, or strappier, or flat with a subtle nod to gladiator style ( but skip the grommets, buckles and multiple ankle straps however and you may be able to wear them next summer too).
Especially if you are over 40, wearing a shoe that is au courant is the best way to stay in the style game. So throw a little trend around on the streets. A shoe with some presence is a sure way to make last year's skirts, cropped pants and dresses look updated.
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