I am not much of an aggregator but this short film from
Nowness about senior citizens with extraordinary personal style is inspiring and simply too good to miss. It features one of my style heroes, the impossibly chic
Iris Apfel. Her outsized glasses and effortless mix of ethnic jewelry with couture reflects a one-of-a-kind eye for color, texture and pattern.
Apfel's unique style inspired a 2005 exhibit of her wardrobe -Rare Bird of Fashion- at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum. If you missed the show don't miss the inspiration to be found in the book from the show.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I hate the whole concept of comfort," he says. "It's like when people say, 'Well, we're not really in love, but we're in a comfortable relationship.' You're abandoning a lot of ideas when you are too into comfort. 'Comfy' - that's one of the worst words! I just picture a woman feeling bad, with a big bottle of alcohol, really puffy." - Christian Louboutin
When I read that a sploofy UES shoe service will paint the soles of any shoes Louboutin red - that finished it for me.
I am as happy as any red carpet-walking actress that another awards season is behind us. I can't skim anymore articles or suffer anymore chat show segments instructing me how to get myself Red Carpet Ready. I don't know about you but I'm going to work, the airport, yoga, CVS and I don't feel to compelled to get RCR to do any of these things.
As for last night's red carpet, aside from the trends - red and varying shades of purple, lace, nude, shimmer and sequins- Oscar fashion always falls into five reliable camps:
PRETTY: Romantic, frothy, lacy and sometimes more than a little too fairy princess for grown women. But pretty all the same. The kind of relatable fashion that most women can imagine themselves wearing if they needed to be RCR. Last night Natalie Portman inspired leagues of pregnant women how to do a maternity evening look well. Halle Berry would look stunning wearing a belted garment bag but her floaty nude Marchesa confection led the charge in pretty.
HIGH FASHION: Strong, statuesque types like Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Tilda Swinton dress for fashion's sake and not for wolf whistles. They take risks knowing they will be pilloried by the press. I love them for it and I loved the Givenchy Haute Couture creation that Cate Blanchette wore last night.
STATUETTE: Sequined columns that suggest Oscar himself like Gwyneth Paltrow's liquid platinum gown by Calvin Klein or Amy Adams in a sapphire sequined L'Wren Scott.
TRAIN WRECK: Helena Bonham Carter has been helming this category for years. Her period costume drama sensibilities are okay with me. She lives with Tim Burton. What more do we need to know? Sadly, there aren't enough train wrecks of the Cher in Bob Mackie variety to look forward to anymore. The majority of actresses are savvy enough to hire a good stylist. However, Melissa Leo's hand tooled leather lace number by Marc Bouwer did not disappoint. And the perfect accessory for a certified TW? An F-bomb. Fun!
ABOVE THE SCRUM: There are a few actresses who by keeping things simple manage to navigate the rocky shoals of Oscar style like Helen Mirren in steel gray Vivienne Westwood, Ann Hathaway in an 'archival ' red Valentino and Sandra Bullock in red Vera Wang.
Engineers have compared the construction of a great bra to a suspension bridge. Think about it: are you wearing an architectural masterpiece like the Brooklyn Bridge or Tarzan's rope walk under your sweater? No other garment has the potential to either optimize or undo a woman's silhouette like her bra. Take time to find the right ones. Try them on under a tissue tee or a lightweight sweater to get the true effect ( because everyone else will).
The right bra will:
Provide lift and support.
Sit in the center of your torso ( front and back). The cups should shape your breasts for a symmetrical look (making your torso appear longer and slimmer from every angle).
Have a cup shape and depth that is in exact proportion with the size and shape of your breasts: no spillage over the top or sides, or from the bottom of the cup ( really obvious in tee shirts).
Have a strap width and length that doesn't dig into or slip from your shoulders. If your straps are pulled to the tightest position, your bra is too big.
The band should fit securely across the middle of your back when fastened on the tightest set of hooks. A band that rides up creates VBL ( visible bra line known less charitably as back bacon) that flesh roll above your band. Loose also means that your breasts will drift southward from lack of support. A bra worn on the furthest set of hooks is too big since bras give a bit with wear.
Check how your bras fit every six months because even subtle weight shifts and hormones that cause fluid retention and GRAVITY can change the fit enough that you may need to do some fine tuning.
Start the new year with a new bra. And when you've weeded out any that no longer fit you perfectly - put them to good use. Between now and February 14
Soma Intimates Boutiques have partnered with
Dress For Success and
Bra Recyclers to collect new and gently used bras to donate to women in need across the country as the one piece of clothing that needy women most often lack is a good bra. You can drop yours off at a Soma boutique near you or contact Bra Recyclers for donation information.
A few standout trends surfaced at The Golden Globes last night. First, pink. According to Pantone, the color for 2011 is Honeysuckle, which is described as a dynamic reddish pink. Several variations appeared on the red carpet. The most successful looks? Minimalists like Claire Danes and Emma Stone -both wearing Calvin Klein Collection- sidestepped the problem of pink plus ruffles equals grown-up Barbie. Julianne Moore's choice of vivid pink satin by Lanvin looked sophisticated and suggested a kind of 40's meets 70's Hollywood glamour. Her gown has been roundly criticized but I liked the couture flash of fuchsia as a compliment to her coloring.
Look at any of these dresses and suddenly lots of cleavage looks very passé, especially when compared to Ann Hathaway's long sleeved and backless Armani Prive or Angelina Jolie's fluid, subtly beaded emerald Versace and Emma Stone's short sleeved, low backed Calvin. And despite her electro-shock hair and nerd glasses, Annette Benning's grownup and slinky Tom Ford gown created a sexy silhouette while leaving plenty to the imagination.
Target's marriage of high fashion designers and masstige retail continues this fall with three new collections worth investigating at your local Super Store. First up, on August 29th, is a collaboration with fine jewelry designer
Temple St. Clair whose distinctive gold work and motifs are inspired by Florentine art. While her pieces are collected by connoisseurs with an eye for modern classics, it's exciting that the rest of us can access her elegant and ageless sensibility.
ABOVE LEFT: Tucker for Target blouse, detail of Temple St Clair for Target necklace. A dress from Tucker by Gaby Besora the designer's main line. Mulberry for Target bag.
On September 10th, Tucker for Target will bow with separates designed by Gaby Basora.
Tucker by Gaby Basora dresses and blouses have been among my go-to favorites since I discovered her debut collection three years ago at Barney's.
And on October 10th, Target unveils their collab with British handbag line
Mulberry. There are bound to be takes on their newer styles like the Roxanne and the Alexa but I have my fingers crossed for a riff on the classic
Bayswater.
While so much of what is on offer in Target's capsule collections looks tragically trendy, 'young' and too disposable on women past their twenties, there is real potential among this lineup for one-off pieces that may just look sophisticated enough for grownups.
l 'll be honest. It has taken me awhile to come around to leggings in their current incarnation in no small part because of the number of walking disasters I see on the street. But I'll concede that there are many reasons to wear leggings. Like the current look they add to the classic proportion of volume on top/skinny on the bottom. Let's add comfort, strategic shaping and seasonless looking knee and vein coverage to the plus column. But while I am loathe to lay down laws, there are rules of engagement for legging wearers of a certain age.
To my eye, leggings look great and ageless (worn by designers Vera Wang and Donna Karan both in their early 60's) as an under layer. Their looks work for two reasons: First, the volume on the top looks sleek, not sloppy. Vera Wang wears a shift dress that skims her body and her leggings meet the top of her sandals for a kind of chic art gallerist look. Donna Karan, the godmother of easy jersey combinations, wears grecian draping to define her curves. Her cropped leggings offer ideal knee-o-flage. And Second, both looks balance black leggings in tonal combinations for an unbroken line from head to toe.
Hem lengths remain annoyingly short and sales people will tell you that leggings are the solution under any too short dress. Wrong. Shift, shirt and tunic dress shapes work. Flouncy anything does not. High contrast combinations will break your body up into blocks of color which is never a sound visual strategy for looking longer, leaner and youthful. Be a leggings purist and wear black only if your goal is sophistication. Wear them with monochromatic top layers or in tonal combinations like Vera and Donna. Prints and patterns should incorporate plenty of black in the design to unify top and bottom.
Leggings worn in lieu of pants set off my mutton alarm. It's crucial to get the combined proportions just right. A bottom clearing jacket like a boyfriend looks right worn over a top of a similar length in jersey or a knit. A layer with shape and drape under your jacket is key to avoid looking blocky.
The tunic (left) above looks sleek and clears (just) anything that needs to be covered. The same line in a mid-thigh to knee length tunic dress is the right idea. The rock chick intimations of the look on the right are for girls in their twenties. It doesn't matter how in shape you are, dressing to look 10 or 20 years younger (especially in leggings) makes you look older, fact.
What about shoes? Ballet flats always work. And flat or chunky wedge heeled sandals provide the right balance for a covered leg in the summer. When the temperatures drop bring on the booties and tall boots. Avoid the
I Love the Eighties look of leggings and pumps. The
Spanx leggings below are convertible so they can be worn at ankle length or pulled over the top of the foot as a sock compromise.
Simply Vera Vera Wang at Kohl's carries cotton and lycra cropped and full length leggings for $20.
Danskin has a range of cropped and ankle length styles in supplex that run from $25.00 to $35.00 and are available in regular and plus sizes. The next price jump is from $65 to $75 for lines like
Splendid and
James Perse made of a blend of cotton, lycra and modal for softness in regular sizes and
Caslon in plus sizes. They are all available online at
Nordstrom. Long inseams should try
Long Tall Sally for the Alba leggings at $49.
Donna Karan Collection leggings are priced at a stratospheric $495 for the kind of luxe lycra jersey used for her ready-to-wear.
It started with an article I read last week in the New York Times. "The Long Road To Adulthood Growing Longer" explained that while baby boomers are the generation that hangs on to a kind of 'perpetual adolescence" forever, now a younger wave of women in their 20's and 30's is following their example.
Apparently, "independence no longer begins at 21" and women now officially take much longer to finish school, leave their parent's homes, achieve financial independence, have kids---and regardless of our age, many women are dressing to show that they still feel like teenagers right up into our sixties.
The day after I read the article, I met with a new client. A well-known writer. Just turned 40. A very talented and very sexy girl with an emphasis on the 'girl' part when it came to her wardrobe. Having been engaged to help her evolve her style but still retain her signature look, ( did I mention sexy?) I went through her closets and found them filled with plunging necklines, tight, short short, faddish, disposable gear. "Young' was putting it mildly. As I pulled out the second short shorts jumpsuit I explained that these looked very Forever 21 to me. Not 'youthful' or hip just flat out young. "But shorts shorts are super cute," she said. And then she layed it on me. "What's wrong with looking young?", she asked as she tossed her very long, layered hair.
So, let's take a second to talk about 'super cute'. On my list: babies in little rompers. Little girls in sweet dresses with bows or tiny ruffles. Teeny tiny flower prints. Puffed sleeves. Baby doll anything. Coltish teenage girls in the outrageous and short looks of the moment. Grown women need to pack away 'super cute' with their yearbooks and move into a sophisticated update of their personal style. Problem is we can't seem to nail down when 'grown woman' begins visually.
Another day and NYC's first sidewalk-searing heat wave. Nothing brings out the short short lengths like savage humidity. I was shopping for a job in the contemporary department at Saks (ground zero for women of a certain age shopping for 'super cute') when I spotted La Romper, a 50-ish woman stepping from the dressing room to take a turn on the selling floor in a cotton romper ( that would be a thigh-gripping pair of bloomer shorts attached to a strapless blouson top). As I gawped, I heard this exchange:
Saleswoman: "That looks soooo cute on you!"
La Romper: "I probably shouldn't be wearing this right? I've always liked to dress for my legs."
Saleswoman: " Oh no. It's great. You should get it! You look FABULOUS".
She did have a pair of well-turned calves along with a braless and drooping bust, slack skin on her upper arms and some cellulite and a riot of busted capillaries on her thighs. In short, a normal woman. Normal aging. Big deal. But I wanted to say "Geez Romper! Why not show off your great calves and cover the rest of the bits that expose the age you are working so hard to deny?" Now, if you are out there thinking "Oh c'mon! She is clearly delusional." Maybe. But aren't the romper-wearing 50-year-olds of the world like distress flares sent up over dark, open water? Isn't a woman dressed like a teenager a livid reminder of how far our culture's morbid obsession with growing old will drive some women to avoid looking old?
There isn't anything natural or even familiar with the way we age now. We can Botox, porcelain veneer, fraxel, lipo, fortify our stressed and aging tresses with miracle conditioners so that we can wear them very long. And as long as media holds up celebs like Madonna and Demi Moore as the standard bearers of aging well through 'yoga and diet' the greater the age rollback among average women.
Our concept of what 'old' looks like is as skewed as our culture's trajectory from Forever 21 to womanhood.
Altering our bodies to look decades younger doesn't mean we won't look ridiculous dressing decades younger. So, here's how I reconcile the mid-20's age I feel in my head with my reasonably fit but middle-aged body. It's my ageless equation ( and the raison d'etre for my book Style Evolution) for looking great in your skirts or shorts or your anything this summer: Concentrate on real body awareness. A clever conceal wherever needed plus a subtle reveal wherever flattering equals grownup style intelligence. Easy.
If your legs look good and your knees are intact - one inch above the knee in skirts and dresses. Don' t care how great those stems are. Sleeveless is not your friend if it puts aging skin front and center. Wear clean-lined or pretty sleeves. And no rompers past college graduation.
The Oscars of fashion is the annual
Vogue-sponsored red carpet fete for the
Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute. But this year's show
"American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity" happens to
run concurrently with an exhibit at the
Brooklyn Museum "
American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection featuring a beautifully curated 85 masterpieces of couture. Along with Elsa Schiaparelli pieces like the surrealist plastic disk necklace crawling with toy insects ( below left) and elegant, here-and-now-looking pieces by Norman Norell (below right), the show has an interesting focus on the forties-a pivotal time in American fashion. Couture customers stranded stateside by Germans in Paris discovered a talented group of American women designers. Claire McCardell, Bonnie Cashin, Valentina (whose designs were worn in films by Garbo and Kathryn Hepburn),Carolyn Schnurer and Vera Maxwell had the business incentive and freedom to express a "national identity' with their designs. Enamored of Schiaparelli's surrealist sportswear like divided tennis skirts and one of the first (if not the first) pant suits they created clothes that broke with the formality and rigor of French fashion.
Claire McCardell had an especially modern design sensibility. With casual and uncomplicated silhouettes, her 'play clothes' pioneered a distinctly American style that broke ranks with the fussiness of many French clothes. We can credit her and Bonnie Cashin ( among others) for the American ideal of sportswear.
You don't have to live in New York to experience some of the collection. The Brooklyn show has a virtual/interactive element too. The museum has partnered with Polyvore, the social networking site where members create and share collages of fashion pictures. Visitors to the
museum's website or to
Polyvore will be able to mix and match the museum's fashions with any image on Polyvore. This should thrill the world's aspiring Anna Wintours to create clever mash-ups of the iconic with the right now. Those who want to see more of the museum's 4000 holdings which include Balanciaga and Yves St. Laurent as well as Americans Scassi and Geoffrey Beene can view them on the
ARTstor digital library.
Utility has replaced Flash. So, for now anyway, it's time to pack away anything tight and excessively girly and to embrace an easy going and 'effortless' mix: dressed with casual, masculine with feminine. It's a look that says " This old thing? I just threw it on with these safari pants and six-inch platforms and I was out the door." Of course, 'effortless' is a fashion myth. It takes some effort to look good whatever your personal style.
During a recent radio interview I was asked to describe what 'effortless style' means. Yipes. Whole articles have been written on the subject, illustrated with the usual photos of Kate Moss and Charlotte Gainsbourgh. My answer: " 'Effortless' describes the woman whose ability to put herself together in the right looks appears to be as reflexive as breathing. She knows herself and dresses for her body." Okay, so it was a start but it doesn't entirely define ES. Lately, I've watched a lot of women in airports, lobbies, stores, restaurants and the street and I've come up with six things that are constants in a seemingly 'effortless' look.
Have a few uniforms
Know your body. If you look best in the structure of a jacket or a lightweight 'signature' coat or in a particular dress shape then go with it. Designer Carolina Herrera wears a white shirt most days. The bottoms vary but the crisp white shirt is a constant. Singer Patti Smith, now in her sixth decade, is never without one of Ann Demeulemeester's mannish, tailored black jackets to add definition to her slight frame. Or legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland (above) whose uniforms included black cashmere cardigan's worn backwards and matching cuffs on each wrist. It is less labor intensive to shop for updated versions of the proven winners in your wardrobe. It's not limiting. It's liberating.
Above L-R Carolina Herrera takes a bow after her F/W 2010 show. A blazer from Ann Demeulemeester's F/W 2010 show. Both images from style.com.
Embrace evolution. Keep your look evolving. For those of you who've read my book Style Evolution you know I am a big believer in steady, incremental change. Small seasonal tweaks here and there keep a woman looking plugged in to now. The french describe someone who is plugged in as trés branché. This doesn't necessarily mean faddish or trendy to the extreme but rather observant, adaptable and youthful.
Opposites Do Attract - Masculine with feminine is a timeless combination. Menswear inspired tailoring will always look great paired with a soft blouse and statement jewelry. Wear dressed-up pieces with shine with utilitarian classics like the trench coat, pea coat, anorak or leather jacket. Jeans, khakis, white shirts and tee shirts worn with dressier pieces strike an easy-going balance between day and evening clothes.
Below L and R Two images from Tory Burch S/S 2010 whose collections mix high/low and an uptown meets downtown vibe. Both images form style.com.
Wear bold accessories. Few things make a visual case for personal style like costume jewelry. A statement necklace, big cuffs, an oversized ring or two- all transform a simple look. Current looking shoes (which doesn't have to mean sky-scraping or mondo platforms) that suggest a trend will add an essential dose of now to an outfit. I guess where words fail, accessories visually articulate a woman's sense of style.
ABOVE Left: Fenton Fallon for J. Crew necklace from a selection on jcrew.com. Dries van Noten accessories from F/W 2010. Lower left: Michael Michael Kors shoe michaelkors.com. Lower right: Ann taylor sandal anntaylor.com.
One OTT piece per outfit -Whether embellished, beaded, feathered, vintage or just plain over-the-top borderline bad taste - let it rip- but keep everything else in your outfit a study in simplicity.
Clothes should fit well. Too tight. Too oversized. Bad fit and looking 'effortless' are incompatible. Having a few nips and tucks at the tailor makes dressing well effortless.
Oh and a seventh tip: Hair should evolve too. Get the best haircut (and color) you can afford. Overstyled or dated hair is a daily look killer no matter how great your outfit.
