Style Spy

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

2010-09-08T09:53:00.002-04:00

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have a semi-unhealthy addiction to perfume. It is one of the great pleasures of my life, and for people like me, perfume is an art form to be appreciated in the same way beautiful music is.

Please take a moment to read Elena Vosnacki's article on this hideously misguided piece of legislation. In it you will find links to petitions, as well as a link to Robert Tisserand's excellent and more in-depth explanation of the legislation and why it is ridiculous and threatening. And then pass this information on to as many people as you think will listen.

Don't let the name of this act fool you -- this is not about making things safe for you, this is about driving small companies out of business and leaving only the leviathans who will be able to afford the egregious strictures this law would impose.

Thanks!

Eeenie, Meenie...

2010-09-03T09:40:00.003-04:00

Just a little eye candy for your weekend, courtesy of Scott Schuman at The Sartorialist. Enjoy!

Some Rules Are Made To Be Broken

2010-08-15T20:52:00.005-04:00

Well, hello, there! Remember me?

Yes. I've been MIA. AWOL. Call it what you will. I'm sorry about that.

Here's the thing... There are some changes going on in my life. They are good, happy, productive changes that I'm really excited about, but they're taking a lot of my time. And the blog posts also take a lot of time. So they're taking a back seat.

I never wanted this blog to be All About Amy, one of those blogs that's just pictures of the blogger that seem to exist solely to say, ooh, look how cool I am and how rockin' my wardrobe is. I've been guilty of this more often than I like, but the truth is that those posts are easier -- they take less research and time. Right now I don't feel like I have a couple of hours a day to spend looking at fashion shows and websites and blogs hunting down information and photos and links. So I haven't been posting. But... recently I added something to my wardrobe that it seemed worthwhile to share.

The rule lately has been No More Shopping, because really, I'm set. There's not anything I need. I'm always on the lookout for tops with interesting patterns (SO bored with the solid colors) and the truth is, I am a stone sucker for a throw & go knit summer dress. An ongoing rule is No More Black Dresses. I have plenty of black dresses (don't we all). And I'm not a big fan of black -- I much prefer to wear color. I have black dresses, because they're unavoidable, but I typically don't even really look at them on the hangers in stores.

Except...

I found this great black knit dress at the Barney's CoOp here in Austin. They had an extra 25% off all their sale goods, so this wound up being quite the bargain. It's a rayon/viscose jersey knit tank dress -- super-easy, a wide enough skirt that VPLs aren't an issue but still slim, straps plenty wide to accommodate a bra, no fastenings...basically it's perfect. It has the added niftiness of a cunning little slit for the belt to go through so it has just enough detail and architecture to be interesting. I just love it, and I bought it even though it's black. It came with a black belt; I'm wearing it here with a little leopard-print cowhair numbah, because I thought the black belt was booooooor-ing. Also featured are my fantastico tobacco leather Cole Haan sandals from the previous post and a truly darling & perfect vintage gentleman's straw hat. If you click on the photo it'll get bigger and you can see it a little better.

The thing I love most about the dress, of course, is that I can change out the belt. For example,

(Sorry about the Marie Antoinette thing; but I'd had that hat on all day and when I took it off, it was Not Good up there and I just didn't want to deal with it. The downside of the curly is pretty serious hat head.)

this great little red patent double-wrap one, paired up with some darling Gucci sandals I bought a couple of years ago & still wear like crazy because they are still wonderful. (I get more compliments on these shoes, you would not believe.)

The dress also... dresses up quite well.

Gold belt, faboo strappy black sandals with gold stars. Not to get too matchy-matchy, but I do kinda love it.

When it gets a little cooler (IF it ever gets a little cooler -- in the middle of August around here it seems like time & the thermometer both stop moving. It's hot. It's always been hot. It's always going to be hot. Is it October yet?) I think some fun boots

and throw on a little jacket.

I'm doing some traveling at the end of the month, and this is definitely going to be my airplane dress. Comfycomfycomfy and still chic. (If I play my cards right, I'm going to have a suitcase filled with nothing but knits. Clothing nirvana.) This little piece of the Fabulous is by A.L.C, which is a clothing line designed by well-known stylist Andrea Leiberman. I highly recommend checking out her website. The clothes are fantastic -- lots of cool, easy, lean basics that are modeled by teenaged shinbones with heads but many of which could be worn by anyone of any age. The colors leave a little to be desired (for me) -- it's all black, gray, and beige with the very occasional pop of red, but if you're going to make basics, that's the usual palette.

(Update: here are some links to the dress at Matches, Barney's, Madison, and Zoe. I'm also pretty enamored of this one.)

So there ya have it. Just a little reminder to stay open to breaking your rules every now and again, especially when you stumble across a great multi-tasking piece that you love to slip over your head.

As for me, well, I'll be around. I'm not making any promises about how often I'll post, but I'm not going to disappear completely. If you've stayed with me this long, thank you. I do really enjoy the connection to and interaction with the people who read my natterings, so I appreciate your patience. Hope you're having a great summer, and I hope you've had a few great fashion finds of late. I'd love to hear about them if you have!

The Happiest Feet in Texas

2010-06-01T09:25:00.004-04:00

Happy feet. I haz 'em.

Because of these babies right here:

(All photos in this post are links -- click to see details about the shoes.)

This past Saturday, I was doing a little shopping. (Actually, I was doing a little returning, so theoretically I went up to the Domain to make some money. Best laid plans & all that.) As I strode purposefully past the Cole Haan store, I did a double-take/pull-up-short maneuver worthy of Charlie Chaplin when I saw the sign for these sandals in the window of the store. I marched in, I tried them on, I bought them, and I left with them on my hooves, all within the space of about 20 minutes.

Because they are jee-nee-uss. Light as air, comfortably padded, and constructed with no seams. The soles are completely flexible and grippy. I've worn them pretty close to non-stop for a few days now and I am completely besotted. If you go here, you can see a little video from Cole Haan about the line and its "technology." As I've mentioned before, Nike bought Cole Haan several years ago and it was one of the happiest things to happen to my feet in the history of the shoe business. It so happens that I had been girding my shoe-shopping loins in anticipation of looking for some good, comfy summer shoes. I'm going to Boston at the end of August and there will be quite a bit of stomping around on the cobblestones & sidewalks, I imagine, so I've been thinking about shoes to take with me. Problem solved.

The company calls the color silver, but it really seems more like an antiqued gold to me -- I never wear silver, and I have no problem with these. If it's silver, it's a warm silver, if such a thing exists. This shoe also comes in black, but I think the metallic is a great summer neutral.

I almost walked out of the store with two pairs -- the only reason I didn't was because they didn't have the other pair in my size/color combination, so Cole Haan is very kindly shipping them to me free of charge. What's on its way? These right here:

A slightly-less gladiatorial sandal, but still with a good t-strap so that it comfortably stays on my foot. This one is also available in Ivory and Black.

There was yet another one in the line that I tried but didn't buy -- these:

It's another great-looking sandal, but I didn't like it as much on my foot. When I was browsing the shoes on the shelf, my lovely SA Emily (Hi, Emily!) came over to demonstrate for me that these guys have a reversible insole. You can pop the insole out and flip it over -- one side is brown and the other is black. My slightly-baffled response was, "Um, why?" Apparently the company thinks this makes the shoe more versatile. What I think it actually does is make the shoe more rigid, because the footbed of the shoe has to provide a slot for that insole to pop in & out of, so it's less flexible that the other models. Which is not to say it's uncomfortable, just not as bedroom-slipper bendy as the other ones.

The other great thing about these shoes is the price. They are very reasonable, even for Cole Haan, which I have said many times is a brand that I think already gives outstanding quality for the price. I can confidently say at this point I have more Cole Haan shoes in my wardrobe than any other brand, and I have no regrets about any of them.

So. Looking for good summer sandals? Here's some. Two big thumbs up from Style Spy. Go getcha some.

But first, just a small interjection to head off a few things at the pass. Whenever I tout a pair of shoes as comfortable, I get all kinds of questions about arch support and podiatric needs. Now let's just think about this for a moment, shall we? "How's the arch suppport in these shoes?" you ask. Well, pretty good for a pair of mass-produced, flat sandals. But. If you are a person who absolutely needs an orthotic arch support, do you really think these shoes are going to provide it for you? Take a look at those shoes. Do you really think it's possible that they are going to provide the sort of support you might find in, say, a good running shoe? Of course not. It's not possible. Let us please be realistic, people. Looking at a sandal like any of the above and bitching that they don't cradle your delicate little footsies in exquisite, perfectly-designed orthopedic comfort is like bitching that your cat doesn't bark when strangers come to the door. It's a totally different animal. It's not going to do that, it's not supposed to do that, it's not capable of doing that. So, please. Realistic expectations. That being said, I think these are a fantastic solution for the chic-yet-comfy dilemma, and I proclaim my summer shoe shopping finished and complete. If anyone takes me up on this recommendation, please let me know how they work out for you.

Perspective Plus

2010-05-14T09:27:00.007-04:00

I am informed this morning by Fashionologie.com that model Alyona Osmanova, who has appeared on some Big Name Runways previously, has been moved to Ford Models' "plus size" division. Here's one of her cards:

Lovely girl. Do please note her measurements. They actually got me pretty stoked -- they're almost exactly the same as mine! Apparently, I have a future as a plus-size model!!! SO!!! EXCITED!!!!

(You didn't seriously expect a photo of me in my underwear, did you?)

Ford Models!! Call me!!! I'm plus-sized!!

In all seriousness, now. Truly, this is not a post about me being not-plus-sized. But the fact is, I am not plus-sized. I typically wear a size 4. Ms. Osmanova's hips & bust are a very little bigger than mine, and she is half a foot taller than I am. Size 10? I don't think so. Also, since when is size 10 a plus size? WTF kind of math are these people using??

If you, like me, read a lot of fashion magazines & fashion blogs, you know there has been an awful lot of yappita-yappita lately about how "plus-size" models are gaining ground in the fashion world, how magazines are being oh-so-very-inclusive and actually showing "curvy" girls in editorials (I'm not EVEN going to get into how much I hate that as a euphemism, my Words-With-No-Meaning Rant ™ requires more alcohol than I'm willing to take in at nine in the a.m. on a Friday), and blah blah freetobeyouandmefishcakes blah.

Do not get me wrong -- I'm all about women other than Stick-Figure Goddesses being photographed in pretty clothes. Hoo and ray. What's killing me is the sickening, self-congratulatory tone of the industry as they pat themselves on their bony backs. Andre Leon Talley actually referred to Crystal Renn's appearance on the Chanel runway last week as "groundbreaking."

Groundbreaking? This?

What a cow, huh? I cannot believe they squeeeeeeeezed her into something from Chanel.

If this is groundbreaking, it's some pretty shallow ground.

Yay for more inclusive. Yay for more-reality-based depictions of women. Yay for more acceptance for all sorts of shapes & sizes & colors & hairstyles & whatnot. But groundbreaking? Let's not get carried away. Do not, as we say in Texas, piss on my boot and tell me it's raining.

You want groundbreaking? Here:

That's you some groundbreaking, right there. Thank you, Ms. Horne. You are greatly missed.

Photos: FordModels.com, Style Spy, style.com, AP

The Idea/Execution Gap

2010-05-08T10:04:00.004-04:00

The idea makes sense, and I understand the inspiration behind it. A woman puts together a nice outfit to go to work every day, but often in the course of said day she needs two types of shoe -- a flat and a heel -- and wouldn't it be cool if you could find shoes you love that had both components. Well, sure, theoretically, I guess. Although not so much if what you end up with is this:

It's not just the colors, which are awful. (And the set comes in a few other color combos, all of which are equally awful, if not worse.) It's not just that they manage to look cheap even on a computer screen, which they do. It's this: usually, when I buy heels, I buy a size 9, sometimes even a 9 1/2, depending on the brand and the shape and other factors. Usually when I buy a flat, I buy an 8 1/2. I think this is true for many of us. Actually, I'd go so far as to say most of us should be more flexible about our shoe sizes and there would be many feet that were happier in their shoes if we were. So. Even if the above shoes weren't some of the butt-ugliest things I've seen in a while, I'd still think this was a bad idea.

Hey. I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

I discovered these because I was poking around on www.endless.com where they have lots of flats & pumps on sale. Personally, I need more high heels like I need a proverbial hole in my curly little head, but a gal can always use good flats. They have a LOT, and a lot of good ones. Click photos for links.

These are Cole Haan, one of my favorite brands. They come in narrow AND wide widths and they are on sale.

All about this color, as you might have guessed.

I know these are desperately trendy, but I like the looks of them. Plus, they actually have a zipper on the back, so putting them on is not a 45-minute process.

Again -- not your basic flat and I kinda like 'em. Woman cannot live on ballerina flats alone, ya know. Just because your shoe doesn't have a heel does not mean it should be devoid of personality.

There's lots more on the website, go check 'em out!

Pretty for Friday -- Something Different

2010-04-30T09:08:00.003-04:00

I totally ganked this photo from Scott Schuman. This isn't my usual Pretty for Friday kinda thing, but I just love lovety loveloveLOVE the way this man looks. He is not only dapper, he is jaunty.

This is what the best kind of dressing can do -- it not only tells you something about his closet, it tells you something about him. Something good. I'd be shocked to talk to this man and discover that he didn't have a terrific sense of humor. Obviously, he has a highly-developed appreciation for aesthetics, which must certainly apply to all areas of his life -- this is a guy I could talk about art with. And self-confidence: this is a Japanese man wearing pink socks. That's not the M.O. of a shrinking violet. What this man is wearing makes me want to meet him and know him.

You know who I didn't want to meet? The schlubby, wrinkled, unshaven, bed-headed (and not in a hipster, on-purpose sort of way), flipflop-and-unpressed-cargo-shorts-wearing young man sciffscuffing across a parking lot wearing, in what could be some sort of genius statement of irony if it had been intentional but I assure you was not, a t-shirt that read, "GROOM." What his clothes said to me were: lazy, slovenly, probably has dirty dishes on the floor next to his couch (or did until he found some desperate girl to wear the "BRIDE" t-shirt), plays a LOT of video games, inarticulate, will indulge in overgrown frat-boy behavior well into his 50s and beyond. Might he be writing the next Great American Novel at home? Maybe. I will never know. Because his appearance repelled me like a force field.

I'm done apologizing for caring about the way things look. Appearances are important. If they weren't, we wouldn't have peacocks or hibiscus flowers. I freely admit that I fall further on the edge of this bell curve than most people, but I'm okay with that. I am going to keep beating this drum. I'm determined to be a Fashion Johnny Appleseed -- spreading seeds of style wherever I go.

Spread a little style this weekend, and have a great one!

Photo: Sartorialist.com

Ceara Sturgis Graduates!

2010-04-28T15:01:00.006-04:00

I'm too angry to write coherently about this. Just go here and read this and read this and watch this:

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

I'm just so sick of this I could scream, and I don't feel like there's much I can do about it. Except one thing. I can publish Ceara's yearbook picture. So in a nice, big, fat FUCK YOU to Principals Ronald Greer and Oscar Hawkins, here's my girl Ceara. If anyone could send me more details about her, like her grades & honors & extra-curricular activities & all the other things yearbooks publish, I'll put them up, too.

If you have a blog or a website, please do the same. Post it on your Facebook page, tweet it, print it on a t-shirt, whatever. I don't care what your blog is about, if you give a shit about this sort of mindless, cruel discrimination, say something about it. Then send me your link and I'll put up a list here. I would love it if Ceara Sturgis has the most published senior picture in the history of senior pictures.

Lastly, as a style advocate, I would like to point out that women in tuxedos have a long and proud history. It's a great look. It's sexy, it's classic. You rock that tux, Ceara.

Photo lifted from Queerty.com

Coco 2010

2010-04-26T09:35:00.005-04:00

Everyone adores a Chanel jacket. You know, the soft tweed, the boxy cut, the braid or the chains, the patch pockets. Everyone adores them, they're the index garment for so many fashionistas ("Someday I'll have a Chanel jacket,"), they've inspired countless imitations and untold envy. Except in me. I find them boxy & frumpy and for me they cannot shake the dowager-having-a-tea-party image, no matter how they are worn. I know some folks swear it's the most versatile garment ever created, blah blah justifytheexpenditureonastatussymbol fishcakes blah. Pair it with jeans to dress it down, whatever. ::yawn::

As I have pointed out before, if you can make Penelope Cruz look dumpy, you've really accomplished something. (Not something you should be proud of, but something nonetheless.)

So. While those jackets are a complete turnoff to me (and no, you're not going to convince me, so don't even bother), I do love that quintessential Chanel vibe that harks back more to the work she did in the 20's and 30's than her late-career resurgence. I love the easy, slouchy knits she pioneered, and it's hard to go wrong with her favored black & white color scheme. I just like to mess it up a little.

Here's me from this weekend doing my version of Coco. It's my black bandage skirt worn with tights and some real-thing motorcycle boots that I bought oooooooh, let's see now, I honestly cannot remember how long ago. Maybe 15 years? (Motorcycle boots are cool. They just are. They always have been, they always will be, and believe me, if I drop a bottle of wine on my foot while I'm in these things I'm not even going to feel it. They? Are sturdy.) The t-shirt, which, yes, is a bit of self-conscious irony of which I do not usually approve in clothing, but I'm being ironic about my obsession with Paris, so I'll give myself a pass. 'Cause I love Paris. What really makes this look gel for me, though, is the cardigan. It's a tipped cashmere cardigan in exactly the right shape and length. Chanel loved a cardigan and goodness knows so do I, but it's very easy to slip into mumsy with them. Keeping it long & lean prevents the mumsy.

I was so happy in my tipped cardigan that I wanted to share the love, so I hit the Series of Tubes to find you some.

Black and white! Cleverly detailed! Fabulous!

Sometimes a little color does a body good.

Kinda perfect.

Sweet but not twee. A fine line to straddle.

Stripes! Gives it a more collegiate air, but livens things up.

Here's the gray one in a great pink.

Marni. Worth the investment, as is all Marni.

More stripes.

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA LONG V_NECK CARDIGAN

This is why we love Margiela (click on the text for the link). They can take the most basic of garments and make it completely desirable with the smallest twist. Yes, the hemline is asymmetrical and yes, it's meant to be. I adore this.

You'd wear it for the rest of your life.

A teensy bit cutesy, but I'll let it slide.

Delicious blue, so perfect for spring.

Speaking of perfect... Wow. I really, really love this -- it's Exactly The Thing.

And here is Exactly The Thing in pink and gray, another classic color combination.

So that's my fashion "tip" (oh, I'm so sorry but you really didn't think you were going to escape it, did you?) for today. Now go forth and layer!

Photos: Style Spy, Fabsugar

Wherein Style Spy Has Recourse to Merriam-Webster

2010-04-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ya know, my English is pretty good. So I don't care what the nice people at Shopbop try to tell me -- these are some really, really cute tops. Every one of them would be adorable over some capris, or nice bermudas, or some skinny jeans.

But they are most decidedly not "dresses." Good googly-moogly...

A Most Sincere Thank You

2010-04-16T10:45:00.005-04:00

First of all, a most heartfelt and humble thank you to everyone who has had such kind and supportive things to say to me in the last few days. I'm sure I don't deserve it, but I'm very happy to accept it. Please let me assure everyone that nothing horrible or evil or dramatic is going on with me (although the torn shoulder tendon, I have to admit, has caused a fair bit of unladylike language), I'm just busy and a little flaky.

As a thank you, I went looking for something beautiful to show you. So now I'm grateful to you all and I'm also a little bit chagrined, because I found something beautiful and unfortunately I think I'm going to be obsessed with it.

Ann Demeulemeester bird print satin dress. Oh. My. Goodness. Click on the photo so you can check out the back and close-up of this dress -- it's too beautiful. All the Ann Demeulemeester on Luisa Via Roma right now is crazy-making for me. I'm still really hung up on what I think of as that Parisian silhouette, long & lean & slightly slouchy, though still a bit body conscious. The cut of this dress is pretty much my ideal. I would wear the HELL out of that dress.

More useful though, would be the vest version of the print:

The last couple of seasons we have seen the Return of the Separates, which is good. I think this is a direct response to the economic climate -- people are more comfortable spending money on a garment they can wear in multiple ways. Vests are a brilliant way to get at least double- if not triple-duty out of a top. If I went with the vest, I would pair it with a nice, simple pair of lean black trousers, comme ça:

But not those shoes. THESE shoes:

Because as everyone who hangs out here knows I cannot resist a shot of color when everything else is black & white. Weirdly, I thought these were red when I saw them at first (this is what happens when I write before I've had my coffee), and that was what I loved, but now I'm attached to them and don't care that they're not. It took me a while to get on board with the peep-toe bootie thing, and I'm not sure I need any myself, but these are just so beautifully proportioned and strike me as, believe it or not, really useful (great with jeans, great with skirts, great with trousers). So big thumbs up.

Lastly, my finishing touch:

This is from Rick Owens and I made a hungry dog noise when I saw it. My love of the cuff is well-documented. My love of Rick Owens grows over time. This is marvelous.

So. That's what I'd be wearing this weekend if I had my druthers. What do you think? And how about you? What's your fantasy weekend wardrobe right now?

Also and unrelatedly, be sure to check out this. It will make you laugh and laugh and laugh.

Yelling at Me Won't Help

2010-04-14T21:27:00.003-04:00

I've received a couple of comments over the last two days that were so compelling I decided I needed to share them with the whole class:

From yesterday:
"You know, I have followed your blog regularly for about two years. You haven't updated for almost a month, and I'm just about to take you off my favorites list. Perhaps that doesn't matter to you, but it seems like you've invested yourself in this blog, and I thought you would want to know that one of your loyal readers has just about had it."

And then today:
"Look, I love your blog, and have followed it for years, but if you don't start updating more regularly, I'm going to remove you from my favorites and stop checking regularly. It's been FOUR weeks since you updated, and it's awful to find the same post 28 times."

Of course, my first instinct was to think, "Yes, by all means, remove me from your favorites list, sourpuss. I'm perfectly fine with that." Instead I've decided to take the attitude that it is flattering to know that someone enjoys this blog so much that it's causing her this much distress that I haven't been posting much lately.

For those of you who've noticed my absence and have had the good manners NOT to throw a temper tantrum about it, I apologize. It's not because I don't enjoy the blog or value my readers. But life, as all grown-ups know, happens. Jobs happen, injuries & illness happen, family situations happen, all kinds of things happen. There are only so many hours in the day and we all have to prioritize. Since I make exactly $0.00 per month writing this blog, I'm afraid it's slipped down the priorities list at present. Any post that I feel good about putting up takes me a minimum of three hours work, and just at this moment, those hours need to be claimed by other things. I'm sorry if that disappoints anyone, although I'm hard pressed to understand why it would offend or upset anyone.

I haven't abandoned the blog, but I guess I have to say I'm on a bit of a hiatus at present. I hope anyone who enjoys visiting here will rejoin me when it ends. If you don't, I'll certainly understand.

Best,
Amy

Strong. Powerful. Reduced.

2010-03-23T09:59:00.001-04:00

Phoebe Philo's back in town, and there has been much rejoicing. Back in the late 90's, when Stella McCartney was turning Chloé into the It Label for It Girls, Philo was her design assistant, and took over as artistic director when McCartney left in 2001 to start her namesake line. Chloé's success didn't slow down a tick after McCartney left -- as a matter of fact, things went so swimmingly that there were snarky rumors and snippy comments about whether the actual talent behind Chloé had always been Philo's after all. But both of these very nice English girls have only nice things to say about one another and McCartney's own line has been so hugely successful that any questions about her design talents (except for those based on personal taste, or, like some bloggers you know, a reluctance to buy plastic shoes that cost $800) have been pretty well laid to rest.

Philo rocked on at Chloé for five years or so and then she did that very modern yet very retro thing: she quit her job to spend more time with her family. Tears were shed, garments were rent, teeth were ground. Chloé ticked on with various designers, and Philo spent a few years romping about the English countryside with her toddlers.

LVMH hired her to reinvigorate Céline, a 70-year old French luxury brand, in 2008 and since then breath has been held while she cleaned house. The first collection she showed was Resort 2010, trotted out last June. Cue wild, thunderous applause. And all those little beeps & clicks you heard? That was the sound of thousands of iPhones & Blackberries in the hands of pretty much every fashion editor in the world calling the Céline offices and asking for samples to shoot. A new outbreak of Phoebemania has sprung up, and you are going to be seeing a LOT of these clothes in the coming months.

With good reason. They're fantastic.

For Fall 2010, Philo wanted to produce clothing that was "Strong. Powerful. Reduced."

Which she has done. The lines of these clothes, and of all the clothes she's been making, are so pared down and simple and neat.

However, with Céline, you know that "simple" doesn't mean what it does in some other contexts. Céline is a luxury house, it always has been. These are quietly elegant investment clothes that could linger usefully in your closet for 20 years or more, without being so predictable you feel like you're blending into the scenery.

The world is having a sportswear moment these days. It makes perfect sense to me. Times are still tough. It feels wrong to spend my fashion allowance on things that only have one purpose, like a cocktail dress or a pair of uber-trendy, collection-specific shoes. Personally right now I'm obsessed with finding good, multi-use tops; and the last three pairs of shoes I bought? One pair of rain boots and two pairs of penny loafers. Seriously. (Although I haven't gone completely utilitarian, mind you -- all three pairs are patent leather.)

It really is a thrill to see pieces like this on the runway.

Although, lest you forget, this is a French take on sportswear. For great American sportswear, see my old pal Michael Kors.

And good googly-moogly, the coats. The coats!!!

I love leather clothing, I freely admit. (No, not that kind of leather clothing!)

A patent leather skirt? Sign me up.

Yes, please.

These clothes please me deeply, and they're going to please a lot of grown-up ladies who are sick unto death of the tattered goth-glam rocker chick thing or the floaty rich hippie thing. I think over the next few seasons we're going to see a lot of classic clothing spun in interesting ways, and this is good news. I feel like I'll be getting a lot of bang for my fashion buck if I shop for things like this. I know myself well enough, though, to know that sticking strictly to this look is going to bore me pretty quickly, so I'm going to stay on the lookout for those small touches to add for pops of individuality & color -- these are the sorts of times when it becomes really important, style-wise, to know what your accessory sweet spot is, and to indulge it if you can. Never stop working on (and working) that collection of colored tights or statement necklaces or whatever your thing is, because those are the items that will personalize your wardrobe.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep a close eye on Phoebe Philo at Céline. It is no small trick to turn out good, reliable yet modern sportswear year after year; I think it's a much greater challenge for a designer than being able to just wipe the slate clean each season with a radical new silhouette or palette, like some of the more fashion-forward designers can. No one bats an eye if Nicolas Ghesquière does armored leggings one season and neoprene dresses the next, but the devotees of labels like Céline & Kors go to them because they know that there is damn well going to be a good pair of trousers there that they can wear for a hundred years. What makes them need a new pair of those trousers every season? Ah, well -- that's where the magic lies.

Images: Style.com

Lemonade

2010-03-16T14:17:00.005-04:00

Blech. The weather is... blech.

However. If you DO have to go out into the blech, wearing a pair of bright red patent rainboots (with tassels on the zips!) certainly helps your frame of mind. I heart Cole Haan, as has been well-established here.

Not exactly the same, but close enough:

(click for link)

Also available in purple! Or, if you're less adventurous in your foul-weather gear, black or gray. Trust me, they'll make it almost bearable.

What I'm After

2010-03-15T09:49:00.003-04:00

I'm suggestible. This is what I've been seeing and this is what I'm now wanting:

This is Celine S/S '10. Phoebe Philo is back in the design saddle, now at Celine, and she's working some serious magic over there. So far, she's shown two full and two mid-season collections. Everything has been extremely streamlined and modern and right up my alley, although I'd love a little more color, of course. People are responding to this more favorably than I expected when I first saw it. I wasn't sure at first if the hubbub was just because everyone was happy to see Phoebe Philo working again (she took several seasons off after her massively successful stint at Chloe to do the full-time mom thing), but the clothes are getting a lot of editorial coverage, so it's not just the cult of personality, I don't think. The clothes are really, really good, and deserve the coverage.

Of course, this collection just sends me -- it's exactly what I want to be wearing now, all neat & tailored and narrow and slick. I am feeling very UNflouncy these days. The thing that's specifically speaking to me is that damned leather t-shirt. I am now officially DYING for a leather t-shirt.

Ridiculously impractical, especially since I live where I do. (It was in the low 80's here yesterday -- we'll have a little chilly here & there over the next couple of weeks, but winter is effectively over for us until... a long time from now.) But I am completely smitten with the way that looks.

Here's a long-sleeved version from The Row, F/W '10. (Great collection, by the way. Say what you will about those Olsen girls, they make pretty terrific clothes.) It's slick, but I prefer the short-sleeved version. I also much prefer that beautiful camel-colored leather to the black -- it looks richer and less predictable.

Of course, I could probably make an exception for something black from Hermés...

Oh, that makes me want to cry a little. I so adore what Gaultier does for this house -- the man is a dab hand with leather. This is F/W '10 and the whole collection is extremely delicious, check it out.

I still prefer the warmer colors, though.

This is Philip Lim S/S '10. I posted about this collection when he showed it. I'm such a huge fan of his -- his clothes are just GOOD.

Besides the leather t-shirt, I could certainly go for one of these

Celine, again. So good.

So far, lots & lots of interweb searching is turning up a whole lotta Not Much, but I'm anticipating that by fall we'll be swimming in leather t-shirts. At least I hope so. Right now, the nearest I'm hitting it is this:

Dear Shopbop... Two words: New. Models.

This actually might be more useful, given the climate here, but I'm much less in love with it. Also, I think that color is actually more of that pinky-beige than full-on caramel, which is what I'm really after. Probably I need to spend the summer steeling myself for the disappointment of not being able to find this elusive, perfect, caramel-colored leather t-shirt of my dreams. Maybe if I save up I can afford the actual Celine one. Probably not. I'm rather fond of my kidneys. And keeping a roof over my head.

The other thing I'm really feeling lately is this silhouette in pants:

These are Philip Lim, too, also from S/S '10. I posted about these before -- I am just loving that pleated, slouchy pant with the pegged bottom. I don't know why, it's very mysterious. But look how wonderful in real life:

COLOR!!! Wonderful, wonderful COLOR!!

Love the sleeveless trench. And the brogues.

This makes me positively FAINT with desire. Oooooooooohh, that's good.

So that's going to be my next mission, I think, the perfect slouchy, pegged pants.

What are you on a mission for these days?

Photos: Style.com, Street Style Aesthetic, The Sartorialist, Garance Doré

The Big Squeeze

2010-03-02T12:10:00.004-05:00

Quick! Those banded elastic BCBG "power skirts" (that's actually what they call them, which cracks me up) that I'm always raving about are on sale at Nordstrom.com

(Click for link.)

These things are crazy versatile, much easier to wear than you think, and make your ass look like a million bucks. Seriously:

My ass? Not really that good. It's all about the skirt.

I just bought a backup black one, because I've had this for about 6 months and I'll bet I wear it every other week. A fantastic garment, and I don't see them on sale very often. Go get one!

Photos: BCBG.com, Style Spy

Mod Squad

2010-02-28T23:20:00.006-05:00

I got so excited looking at this collection.

This is Fall 2010 from Trussardi 1911. Oh, I just LOVE this -- this is exactly the kind of thing I want to be wearing right now.

I'm really thrilling to this sort of late-sixties/early-seventies just a bit mod thing. I want lots of straight sheaths made of heavy ponte knits and graphics and skinny trousers.

Everything slim and neat and smooth, with high-cut armholes and narrow sleeves. Just fantastic.

Yeah, they're leather walking shorts. So??? Nothing wrong with that.

Trussardi 1911, you might have guessed, was founded a century ago as, I believe, a glovemaker. Eventually they branched out into luggage and accessories, and started showing menswear in the 80's. Designer Milan Vukmirovic took over a few years ago and this is his second womens' collection for the label. He's hitting it out of the park, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, this jacket makes me want to cry. That is SO good.

Suede coatdress with slithery zipper? Yes, please.

I haven't yet run into any of this stuff in person -- apparently it's pretty luxe. The vibe I get from this is European hipster with both money AND taste. (And we all know how infrequently you find those two things in one person, sadly.)

Coat for the ages. Or at least several good years.

I adore houndstooth. It's been having a minor moment the last few seasons, and that makes me really happy.

As does this dress. Oh, my goodness, could I rock that dress.

Inspired by the slightly mod vibe of this stuff, I went forth to the vintage stores to see what I might find to scratch this itch. And?

Jackpot.

Truly fantastic little white Alain Manoukian minidress. Neat as a pin, fits me like it was cut for me, absolutely perfect. Worn here with some black leggings and my indefatigable Stuart Weitzman Goliath boots. And the leggings are a must; this thing is most definitely a minidress. If I want to do anything besides stand -- sit, for example, or go up steps, or get in & out of a car, or, um... sneeze -- I need the leggings.

Look at the great seaming on this. (Click the photos to make them bigger.) The scarf, by the way, is another great vintage find I've had for a while.

Isn't that fun? This scarf makes me happy.

The mini & leggings were also really cute with a pair of black patent flats, but by then I was sick of taking pictures of myself.

I have a feeling I'm going to go back to this Trussardi collection for inspiration quite a bit in the months to come. What do you think? Anything there you like?

Photos: Style.com, Style Spy

For The Hard-Core Among Us

2010-02-23T10:07:00.002-05:00

Absolutely worth forty minutes of your time: designer Narciso Rodriguez, J.Crew CEO Millard Drexler, Elle Editor-In-Chief Roberta Myers, and my absolute favorite fashion journalist Cathy Horyn discuss fashion and the business of it on Charlie Rose. Watch it here.

It's the Little Things

2010-02-21T14:00:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday, some of you may remember, was Valentine's Day. I happened to be enjoying some early dinner at a nice-ish restaurant Sunday, and so got to witness a small parade of folks who were obviously out to celebrate with their significant other or longtime partner. This meant some people made an effort - it was a bit dressier than usual for a Sunday evening in Austin.

There was a commonality among most of the women who were dressed up, exemplified by one pretty 20-something. Overall, I'd give her look a "B." She had the right idea: she was wearing an LBD, she managed to find a coat that looked warm and was still pretty, she had on heels (although she was bare-legged and the heels were strappy sandals, which is just foolishness when the temperature is in the low 40's and dropping -- Style Spy will deal with this anon) and earrings and overall looked like she cared enough about her date to look nice for the occasion. (Which is really what we all want isn't it? To know that we inspired a bit of effort on someone else's part?) I'm going to take off points because her ensemble was ALL black (it's a Valentine's Day date, dear, not your great aunt's funeral), the aforementioned bare legs, and for the fact that when she turned, I could see hanging over her shoulder this monstrosity:

Only hers was worse because the leather accents were a garish bright red, and the monogram pattern was two-tone so that it was even more obvious.

::sigh::

I'm going to spare you my rant on not wearing someone else's logo, name or initials anywhere on your person unless you are a Nascar driver or dressed in your occupational wardrobe. (The UPS guy has to wear a UPS badge when he's delivering, that seems fair. But are you the Ed Hardy guy? The Louis Vuitton woman? I thought not.) That's not what this is about. This is about the fact that, while it may have been her favorite handbag, or her most expensive or newest or whatever, it is most decidedly NOT an evening bag. Dear ladies, if you are old enough to get dressed up and go nice places, you should have at least one evening bag tucked away in your closet. If you carry it to the office, or the grocery store, it is not an evening bag. And I don't care how much it cost, I don't care if it's a $2500 Bottega Campana -- it's not an evening bag.

I'm talking about something dressy, preferably made of satin or another special-occasion material, like a metallic or patent leather. Something small, that you can carry in one hand. It may or may not have a bit (or a lot) of sparkle on it, depending on your taste. Black is a safe choice for most people, although if you're going to have only one I would suggest you go with silver or gold, depending on what you wear more of, because black can be wrong with a light-colored or warm-weather dress.

I can hear the grumbling, and let's put a stop to it now, shall we?

No, you cannot carry much in this bag. May I remind you: you are going out to dinner, not on a trek through Nepal. You do not NEED much. Your house and maybe car key. (Get another house key cut if you need to, and put it on a separate ring -- just a ring, no big jangling cutesy key fobs! -- with a car key. I personally like the kind that comes apart, so that if I'm valet parking I can hand over my car key without surrendering my house key.) Your lippie of choice, and some blotting papers (if you have to re-apply your eye makeup during the course of a single evening, you're either wearing too much or you need better makeup). A mirror, your ID, a handkerchief, one credit card, your mobile telephonic communication device (which should stay INSIDE your bag for the entirety of the date, barring an emergency) and some cash. (PLEASE do not leave home without some cash, people!! You cannot tip the coat check girl, or the valet, or even the bartender who makes your martini while you wait for a table, with a credit card!! Be civilized, for god's sake!!) If by chance you know your dining companion well enough that it seems likely you will not be returning home that evening (ahem), put a few things into a small tote and leave them in the car. If you do not know your companion well enough to do this without embarrassment and you STILL think it's possible the evening might not end until tomorrow, whyever in the name of all that's holy would you go to HIS place? Are you nuts?? Take him to yours, for crying out loud!!

As for the I-can't-juggle-everything-and-still-hang-onto-a-purse argument, rest assured: most evening bags have a removable or tuck-in-able strap. This is not a new problem.

And don't give me the oh, that's an expense I can't justify BS, either. You can find a perfectly nice, inexpensive evening bag without throwing down for a Judith Leiber minaudiere. (See my choice here.) Here, take a look: (Click, as usual, on the photos for links.)

Satin, with a bit of sparkle.

If you'd like something a bit larger and more neutral.

I love a box clutch.

Black AND sparkly!

A little bit larger, but still nice.

Mesh is fun, and feels nice to the touch.

Every one of the above bags A) is under $30, B) has a shoulder strap, and C) comes in black and at least one other neutral, all-purpose color like gold or silver. And some of them come in a rainbow of wild, fun colors, as well.

If you want to go with more Advanced Fashion (and more advanced price) how about these?

Bigger, sparklier!

Who needs a flapper dress when you can have a flapper bag? Love this.

I have this minaudiere in the matte gold. Je l'adore. There's something so wonderfully 40's glam about carrying a box clutch -- make sure your nails are nice, though.

Cute!

Of course, if you want, you can go entirely crazy:

Serious sparkly action. Nice.

Wonderful, aren't they?

So feminine and flirty.

Speaking of clutches -- this made me clutch at my heart. Click on the link to get a better look at this, it's really stupendous.

Adorable.

::thud::

The devil, as they say, is in the details. You've taken it so far -- your dress, your shoes, your jewelry... Make this one final effort to polish everything off and then sail out of the house knowing you're... well, unassailable.

Bright Candle

2010-02-14T19:31:00.001-05:00

It is a strange thing, to mourn someone you never actually knew.

It feels a bit presumptuous to me, like I'm taking a liberty I don't deserve. I certainly never met Alexander McQueen; he was not a friend or acquaintance or even someone who got his coffee at the same Starbucks I did. I did not "know" him. And yet...

Alexander McQueen is one of my favorite artists. He was epically talented and endlessly creative and he possessed the gift that separates an artist from a mere talent -- the ability to express his inner life in his work in a way that moved & excited others, even those who never "knew" him.

That is what art does and what artists accomplish: they show us some essential part of themselves in their work and through that we make a connection; and they become meaningful to us, as though we knew them.

I am not going to offer opinions on the circumstances surrounding McQueen's death. It is pointless to try to understand why someone takes his own life, and more importantly, it is none of our business. I hope everyone will refrain from speculating on his motives or reasons, including in any comments you may leave here.

I am deeply, deeply saddened by the death of Alexander McQueen. If you've read my blog before you know that he is one of my very favorite designers. I did not review his last few collections, mostly because I was so moved and amazed and excited by them that I could not gather my thoughts into a coherent statement in a timely fashion. So I kept my yap shut. Maybe that's what I should do now...

I am sorry that we will not get to see more of Lee McQueen's art. I am sorry he is no longer here to affect the future of his art, in the way he pushed his own limits and in the way he influenced others. I am deeply sorry for his family and friends -- losing a loved one to suicide is an indescribably and unimaginably painful experience. Most of all, I am heartbroken to imagine the pain he must have been in to make the choice he did.

But like anyone I have ever mourned, I am grateful to have known him, even for only as long as I did.

The Runners-Up

2010-01-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

Okay. First off, I love y'all, thanks for your input, but... NOT! HELPING!!! My two jacket candidates are running just about neck & neck, especially given how many of you are just telling me to keep them both! Enablers!!

Since I lot of people seem to be liking those two, I thought I'd show you some of the runners-up that I found while shopping for them. (The ones I ordered can't be had -- I got the last one of each of them.) So check these out -- clicking on the photo should link you to the product.

This is just what Bill Cunningham was talking about in the NYT photo essay that got me started on the whole idea, but I think it's a bit too shiny for my taste. (Also, if it's cold enough for a jacket, shouldn't you be wearing pants that don't have holes in them?) At this point, too, I was still resisting black.

Well, this is certainly not black. But maybe still a wee bit too shiny. (Also -- shorts??? Really?? Who is styling these photo shoots???)

This is quite nice & classic. Maybe a bit too classic.

This I absolutely adored -- it was on the short list. Click on the link and look at the back , it's absolutely wonderful. Problem is, I need an all-purpose jacket. No matter how bad the color reproduction is on Yoox's photos, this is still not an all-purpose color. It's a color I love, goodness knows, but believe it or not, I already have a coat in this color.

Hot pink velveteen vintage coat. I adore this silly thing, but how many pieces of fuchsia outerwear does a gal -- even a slightly off-kilter one -- need? So I reluctantly crossed the pink jacket above off the list, but I wish one of you would buy it. It was a great price, and so very, very adorable.

I like this, but in the end found it a little too sporty. I need something I can dress up a bit.

This was also a VERY close runner-up. Wonderfully cuddly-looking but still modern and cool. I still wish I could have this jacket, and it was also a great price.

I really like the waist on this one -- if you're going to wear a puffer, the tailoring (if that's the right word) is important. I do, however, have a prejudice against hoods. I find hoods childish-looking. Also, I wear hats -- I don't need a hood.

Oh, this was another one I lovelovetyloveloveloved. REALLY loved. But the ones they have left are too big for me, so I had to cross that one off. That hurt, because I love this a bunch. It's two pieces -- a vest and then a little bolero that goes over it. And it's Aquascutum, so it's super well-made. AND it's a fantastic price. Someone PLEASE buy this jacket!!!

This is very similar to the black one I wound up with. Love that big ol' collar.

Here's another one I didn't go with because I ultimately wanted something less shiny. But. That is a wonderful jacket. This is another one you should click on so you can see the back -- what a great-looking coat. I might should have risked it, given that it's Yoox, and as we've seen their photos cannot be relied upon. J'adore that dramatic collar, don't you?

The neatness and coolness of this appeal to me, but it was just a wee bit too motocross-y. Not that motocross-y is a bad thing, I really like this, but for an all-purpose jacket I thought it might have been a little too specific. It's super-cool, though, ain't it? Borders on downright badass.

Great shape, wrong color (for me). Had this come in another color, I would have snapped it up. If you can wear gray & silver, I really rec this. Super jacket. Love that collar -- it would keep the neck nice & warm.

This, on the other hand, was exactly the right color, but too expensive. Gorgeous coat, though, huh? Oh, it looks so sooooooooft...

Here's another one I really loved the shape of, and I thought it was wonderfully interesting, but eventually I decided against the navy. I know navy is a neutral, but I've never liked the combo of navy & black, and as much as I struggle against it, the reality is that a lot of my wardrobe is black.

Another one that lost because of the hood. Great shape though.

And had this red one been in my size, it would likely have been ordered. I also considered the possibility that the misspelling of "amethyst" was the Shoeniverse telling me to order it, but again -- much as I like purple I think it wouldn't be as useful. I've added a lot of purple to my wardrobe the last couple of years, but it's still not exactly a neutral for me in the way that black or even red would be.

So there you go. If you like my taste in outerwear, here are some pre-shopped options for ya. I do believe that all of these are on sale, and most of them are really, really good prices, so if you could use an extra jacket to get you through the rest of the winter, check out some of these.

Stay warm!

So Much for My Cunning Plan

2010-01-26T09:00:00.002-05:00

Well, crap.

As I mentioned a while ago, I'm looking for a good new jacket -- something to keep me nice & toasty when the temperatures drop, but that looks good enough to wear out for dinner, and is hip-length or shorter. I had originally felt that I didn't want any sort of a puffer jacket, I really wanted a cloth coat, but then I saw this great feature from Bill Cunningham at the New York Times and I got to thinking that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. I have noticed that filled jackets (both poly- and down-) have gotten a lot sleeker and chic-er over the last few years. And after all, if one of the things I like least about cold weather is having to be weighed down by a big, heavy coat, then a nice light puffer might be just the ticket.

So I opened up my brain again and went looking for a filled jacket I'd like. I hit the jackpot on .

Sharp. Fitted, sleek, interesting. It looked like something I could wear with jeans but also with a nicer outfit if I wanted. It was in the sale section, so it was a really good deal. I love the way it nips in at the waist and I really dig the big collar. Black wasn't my first choice, of course, but it is often the most practical. Oh, I really like this jacket. It's by a label called ILARY, which I believe is Italian. I don't know it, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Unfortunately, while I was on YOOX.COM looking at filled jackets I also stumbled across a wool one that I had somehow missed during my previous search:

Oh, boy. How cute is that? This is C'N'C COSTUME NATIONAL. I worry, of course, about that cream color, but hey -- that's what Scotchgard is for, right? It's a classic shape without being boring and it's sharp as hell. Oh, I really like this jacket, too.

(And, not for nothin', there were several others that I also really liked. Those were the two I narrowed it down to after a lot of dithering.)

I cannot decide between these two jackets, I just cannot. So that's when I came up with my cunning plan: I'll order both of them and return the one that doesn't work. One of them is bound not to fit -- I'm ordering online and it's always too much to hope that everything in a multiple-item order from an e-tailer is going to fit -- that never happens. It's also rare that something is as good in real life as it looks on the screen.

Well, so much for my cunning plan. I am hoist, as they say, on my own petard.

Here's the black jacket:

I love this. I love the shape of it. It fits perfectly -- Here I'm wearing a blouse and a cashmere sweater underneath it, and I could definitely get another layer or a heavier sweater on under it and it still look neat and sleek. This is a poly-filled jacket, not down, but it feels like it would be plenty warm for Austin, and best of all -- it weighs nothing. My unlined denim jacket weighs more than this -- I love how easy it is to move in.

The collar cinches up, although I'd probably still need a scarf to keep my neck warm. My neck is my cold place -- if my neck is cold, I cannot get the rest of me warm. I think everyone has a cold place, it varies from person to person. Of course, I nearly always do wear a scarf, for that reason, so it's not going to be an inconvenience.

Another bonus is that the snap closures are neat enough that when the jacket is open it doesn't look sloppy or wrong. The jacket will probably spend more of its life hanging open than completely done up (I think we all do this), and I don't like when the undone fastenings of a jacket or coat are sloppy or ugly or distracting. I wish more designers would take that into account.

And I really love the shape of this -- that waist is fab. The hardware is good & heavy, the pockets are in the right place, and there are some other great small details, like the horizontal padding on the sleeves is only on the top of the sleeves, so that there isn't extra bulk between the arm & my body. All in all, this is a great jacket, and if I had bumped into this bad boy on one of my many fruitless & frustrating jacket-hunting shopping trips, I would have snapped it up and called myself both lucky and thrilled.

Here's where the cunning plan fell apart:

Look. More fabulousness. Omigoodness, this jacket is great. The wool feels soft enough that I'd think there was some cashmere in it (the label just says 100% virgin wool, although the description on the website did say there was cashmere) and, as you can see, the color is actually not cream -- it's more like a milky latte color, in between camel & cream, which is even better. (YOOX.COM photos are SO inaccurate for color -- I love this site because they have great prices on interesting goods and their CS is great, but unless it's black, order with the knowledge that the color of the garment may bear only a passing resemblance to what you saw on your computer screen.)

That great collar does up all the way and then rolls down neatly, making a nice toasty neck funnel. The sleeves are a bit too long, I have them cuffed and I don't think it looks all that bad because of the way they are seamed. And speaking of the seaming -- it's just gorgeous. This is a beautifully-constructed coat -- the lining is really nice and the stitching is neat and smooth and the seams are double-stitched.

This coat also fits really well and still has room for another layer or two underneath. It is of course heavier than the filled jacket, but the armholes are well-cut and don't restrict, and the coat itself is nice & short, so I can scoot in & out of my car without struggling with it. (The other important thing about a short coat is that I have to deal with it when I arrive where I'm going. Here in Austin, we don't usually have coat checks at restaurants and bars, so unless you want to leave it on the whole time, you have to drape it over the back of your chair or fold it up & sit on top of it on your barstool. As anyone who knows how I feel about my clothes can probably imagine, I do not exactly love seeing my coat dragging across a dirty floor or getting stepped on by the busboy as he drops off the bread basket.)

This coat is a wee bit dressier than the black one, of course. Not too dressy, it's still okay for jeans, but might work better with a nice skirt or day dress than would the filled jacket. If I had bumped into this bad boy on one of my many fruitless & frustrating jacket-hunting shopping trips, I would have snapped it up and called myself both lucky and thrilled.

So. Now you see my dilemma. Which of these jackets am I keeping? They were both great prices, but I really only need one jacket. So help a redhead out, wouldja? Vote in the poll in the upper right corner of the blog and tell me which jacket you like. And why, in the comments, if you're so inclined. State your case. Provide me with some clarity. Because it's supposed to get cold again later in the week and I'm going to need a jacket. HELP!!!

Photos: Yoox.com, Style Spy

Sternum Is the New Black

2010-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

or, Triumph of the Double-Sided Tape

(I had a lot of other headlines I could have gone with, believe me)

So the big neckline at the Golden Globes (other than black and strapless) was this one:

Very low, very deep, very wide. This is Anna Pacquin in Alexander McQueen and she is pulling it off, although I'm not just crazy about the dress. I was actually pretty surprised by how much of this I saw Sunday night. The usual m.o. for Hollywood breasts for the last 10+ years is Cantaloupes 'R' Us. Goodness knows I harp on Support Garments and how no one wants folks to break into a spontaneous chorus of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" when a woman walks into a room. But by the same token, neither is it normal to worry about whether the poor dear is going to suffocate herself if she has the misfortune to sneeze or yawn. Your breasts should not approach your clavicles. Nor should they look as if they were outlined by one of those protractor thingies that you had in your school supply box in sixth grade that mainly served as an instrument for carving your name into your desk.

This neckline is for the woman with the smallish bust. I don't like to hand down ironclad fashion fiats (okay, yes, I do), but if your bra size is anything over a smallish B-cup, I really don't think you can get away with this without looking vulgar beyond belief. I don't care how beautiful or elegant you otherwise are, how expensive your dress and jewels, how accomplished or intelligent you might be -- if your big ol' boobs are hanging out of a dress slit down to your navel, you look like trash. There is no soft-selling it or getting around it: just trash.

Back to Anna Pacquin's dress. I like this less than I feel I should, for some reason, even though she looks nice. I have a feeling I'd like it much more in person, where I could get a better idea of what's going on -- the fabric looks so detailed and the pictures aren't doing it justice, probably. Also -- Anna, would it KILL you to wear a little lipstick?

Here's Olivia Wilde in Gucci. This is gorgeous. She's gorgeous. This dress teeters perilously close to the edge of tacky, but she's pulling it off and that's because it fits right (not skin-tight) and she has the body for it (small-framed and small-busted). Wilde is not particularly curvy, so the sexiness of this dress doesn't take it into extreme territory. Imagine this dress on oh, say... Beyoncé. It would fit like a scuba suit and they probably would have cut a slit up to the waist in the damn thing and our jaws would drop in horror. But this? This is just about perfect. Also -- bully for her for wearing a fabric that doesn't show A) wrinkles, B) sweat stains, or C) raindrops, which was a big issue at this event this year. (Seriously -- no one at the Golden Globes knew where to track down a tent or a tarp in all of Los Angeles??? Someone should have been fired for that.)

Felicity Huffman in I don't know who. Flicka's a gorgeous woman, and also has the body to carry this off. I almost didn't notice the neckline, distracted as I was by the weird neckpiece that looks like something from the Arms & Armor Wing at the Met. I do love the softness of the fabric, but I hate the color on her. I hate both colors -- neither that pinkish almost-nothing nor the silvery gray of the neckline do her any favors. Also -- too much earring. They're fighting with the dress.

First off, let me say for the record that I ADORE Lisa Edelstein. I think she's gorgeous and talented and I am right now volunteering to be her stylist -- gratis -- for her next red carpet event because the one she has? Is a joke. I don't know how you find a dress with a neckline this low-cut that still manages to be matronly. She looks like a twice-divorced cougar mother of the bride who drinks too much and then comes on to one of the groomsmen at the reception by dancing way too suggestively with him. Gah. Also, she's right at the edge of too much boob for the dress. Back away from the edge, Lisa.

File under Enough, Already:

Okay. Is there ANYONE ON THE PLANET who isn't aware that Halle Berry has a slammin' body? Please oh please, if you know of any, get their addresses to Halle so she can just send them nude photos of herself and we can be done with it. Honestly, this dress (which is by Kaufman Franco)... I know your career is in the toilet, honey (seriously -- look at her IMDB page) but is this really how you want to get work? Good tits ≠ "relevant" in Hollywood -- there are plenty of sweet young things out there with bodies just as good who will only require a fifth of your salary. When you wear stuff like this you might as well just parade around with a sign that says, "My Oscar was a fluke."

And now...

Sweet jesus in a jeep... I don't really have to expound upon this, do I? It pretty much speaks for itself. Actually, her boobs speak for themselves, and they speak in loud, booming, foghorn-like tones. Sweetie, the 16-year old husband that you're carrying around like your latest Gucci handbag is plenty of proof that you've still "got it," now put those things away! I'm all for embracing the body you have, but there is a difference between self-esteem and self-delusion. And what's even crueller is that she does have a great body -- she's certainly curvier than your average Hollywood star, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Unless you pack those curves into something like this (which is Hervé Leger for Max Azria). Well, mostly pack. Some stuff didn't actually make it all the way into the packaging, as we can see. So instead of looking gorgeous and womanly, she looks... well, she's a joke. She's a joke and everyone is laughing and I feel bad for the poor dear. Although it did result in my very favorite moment of red carpet coverage for the Golden Globes -- Jay Manuel on E! keeping a straight face as he extolled the virtues of the "shoulder detail" and how it "balanced her silhouette." God love ya, Jay, you deserve a Golden Globe for that performance, because anyone with eyes can see you'd need a crane to balance that shit.

Goodness. I haven't even gotten around to the really bad stuff yet. Stay tuned!!

Photos: style.com, celebuzz.com, yahoo.com, justjared.com

The Black Strapless Brigade

2010-01-18T09:15:00.000-05:00

My vote for greatest invention of of the last I dunno how many years has got to be the DVR. No other way would I be able to wade through the television coverage that now surrounds any of the major awards shows. There is a lot of inanity and foolishness to fast forward through (Call me crazy, but I honestly don't care how Jane Krakowski's fiancé proposed to her. All good things to you, sweetie, but really -- don't care.), just so you can hear the four most important words anyone has to say that night: "My dress is by..."

There was, as usual, a lot of black on red at the Golden Globes last night, and what's more it seems like nearly all of it was strapless. I do understand the urge toward the black dress -- I have several myself and have to remind myself to skip over them when browsing, because really, how many do you need? (The answer is "More than you'd think," if you're me.) But unless the dress is either spectacular or a spectacular bomb, it's just going to fade into the mists of memory. Of course, that may well be what some of these ladies were aiming for...

I don't know who she is. This dress sure doesn't make me care.

Julie Bowen. Lovely girl, nice dress, she really does look pretty, it fits well -- she looks like she can actually sit down, and her breasts aren't on display like a Pussycat Doll. Just... unmemorable.

Sophia Loren in Armani Privé. Still glam after all these years, but I have a few quibbles. Namely -- her hairdresser apparently hasn't left the salon or even looked out the window since the mid 80's. And those glasses! Seriously, I think she stole my Grandma Merridy's glasses (around the same time as her hairdresser went underground) and has been wearing them ever since. Someone get the woman to an optician! Still, bringing the va-va-voom like that at her age? Hats off to you, Madame. You are an inspiration.

Speaking of bringing it -- Glenn Close in what I'm going to guess is also Armani (she wears a lot of Armani). Nice work, although not particularly inspired, perfect fit. I guess the one up side of reaching a certain age in Hollywood is that the stylists stop insisting that your clothing fit you like Swarovski-encrusted shrink-wrapping, and you can actually enjoy your chicken Kiev and a glass of champagne without worrying about any major wardrobe crises.

Susan Downey and her husband (mysecretboyfriend) Robert Downey, Jr. This is so conservative for him, and he looks great. If we can just get him into a tie, all will be perfect. She looks beautiful, too, but... ya know. Another strapless black dress, this one sparkly.

Well, here's black strapless with a twist. Julianne Moore in Balenciaga with Tom Ford in one of his own impeccable tuxedos. (Say what you will about the guy, despite his everpresent Miami Vice homage, the man cuts a sharp as hell suit.) I love the fabric of this, which looks like some sort of hammered silk, and I like the idea of it, but it's just not going anywhere. Perhaps it's her terrible, droopy posture that's throwing me off. She's going to get crucified by the Fashion Talking Heads for this, but Julianne Moore does really appear to like fashion -- she wears a lot of Balenciaga and other forward labels.

I don't know who she is. Giant black strapless dress, with somewhat interesting detail. Somewhat.

Carey Mulligan, adorable yet forgettable in Nina Ricci.

Penelope Cruz in Armani Privé. It will surely be one of the Great Fashion Mysteries of 2010 -- how the HELL do you make Penelope Cruz look dumpy???? Well, here's how. Also, what's with the cheerleader hair and makeup? Seriously, looking back on my freshman year of college in the early 80's, all of the girls rushing sororities looked just like this.

Courteney Cox in Victoria Beckham. Impeccable but boring. What excited me most about this was seeing her husband David Arquette, a man famous for having a closet that was the sartorial equivalent of a three-ring circus, look normal, in a nice, neat, no frills tuxedo. Not a hint of tartan or embroidery or sparkly embellishment to be found anywhere. Go, David!

No idea who this is. But the dress is winning. That thing is swamping her like a mudslide. Seriously, she's going to need a tranquilizer dart for that dress or she's not going to make it home alive.

Vera Farmiga in Dolce & Gabbana. Oh, dear. Hint: do not make a mermaid-silhouette gown designed to fit like a second-skin out of fabric heavy enough to be your spinster great aunt's winter bedspread. It will not end well. Also, did no one notice that there is a big ol' rosette right on her boob? Is that some sort of joke?? I'm so not laughing.

It wasn't all black. It wasn't all bad. But it sure as hell wasn't all good. Stay tuned & I'll share my thoughts on a few more tomorrow.

Photos: Style.com, Huffingtonpost.com, celebuzz.com, yahoo.com, goldenglobes.org

M.I.A.*

2010-01-17T12:55:00.004-05:00

*Manolos In Action

Here are the new Manolos, out for their maiden run this Saturday:

I've had this jacket for ages & ages. It's a double-breasted tux jacket with satin shawl collar from Ann Taylor, of all places. A bit big on me and I've almost gotten rid of it several times over the years, but sometimes it really does the trick. Pretty classic, and wearing extremely well. This is my second bandage skirt -- found it on sale at Nordstrom and snapped it up. I want one in every color and five in black.

Thanks to Miss A for having a birthday so I had an excuse to wear my shoes. And thanks to the Weather Gods for FINALLY clearing things up so I didn't have a reason not to.

Photo: Style Spy

Do Your Homework, People

2010-01-15T10:25:00.007-05:00

I just saw this ad on a fashion website:

I am not providing a link. They don't deserve to be linked to until they get their merde together.

What's wrong with this picture? Well, as anyone with even a passing interest in fashion and/or pop culture knows, that is a Manolo Blahnik shoe, not a Christian Louboutin shoe. Said shoe was a fairly important plot device in the "Sex and the City" movie and pretty much anyone who pays any attention to this sort of thing knows that. It doesn't really matter much, it's just really sloppy editing or whatever you want to call it and it offends me for that reason. It would be one thing if they'd used a shoe that wasn't so instantly recognizable, but... this is just dumb.

Because every Shoe Whore (yeah, I said it!!) worth her heel taps knows there are vast differences between Blahhniks and Louboutins. Even if you don't wear either of them, you know the difference when you see them. I'm a Manolo gal. I guess that makes me old school. Some of it is that I see Blahnik's shoes as more classically elegant and Louboutin's are more about the sex. Which is a debatable point, of course, and certainly a matter of taste. Mostly it's about the fact that Louboutin shoes never fit me. They seem to be made on an incredibly narrow last, and I have yet to ever squeeze my foot comfortably into a closed-toe shoe from this line. Even the peep-toes -- way too narrow. Actually, everything about them is narrow. Case in point:

This is Mr. Louboutin's Ginevra boot. Now, try to look past the zebra print, which I know a lot of folks will complain about, and just look at the shape of the thing. Which is stunning. I mean, that is a boot that wants to have sex with you. (Or anyone else who comes along with $2500 in his or her pocket. Yeah, seriously.) Last weekend, I tried on one of these bad boys at the sale at Neiman's, only the one I tried on was better -- it was a solid red leather and it? Was heart-stopping. I'm usually a size 39 or 39.5. I put on the 40.5 and it was still too narrow -- no way could I have worn that boot if I needed to actually use the -pedal part of my bipedal classification. Those are sittin'-down boots only, and I'd have to be carried from my closet (where I put them on) to the barstool on which I sat and accepted drinks from besotted men who plied me with Veuve Cliquot in the hopes of getting a piece of that boot-y (on purpose) action. But not only that -- I couldn't get the dang things zipped. Not even close. I will cop to having fairly muscular legs as a result of my running habit, but I can usually get a pair of boots zipped, at least. These boots? Ils ont ri de moi.* In French. Putain!**

At any rate, you need some pretty skinny pins to get into these boots. Way skinnier than mine.

Fear not for my shoe ego, however. Exhibit B:

Mmmmmm...

I went on a No Buy for the last part of 2009. It certainly contributed to the general crappiness that was Style Spy's 2009, but it needed to be done. It's a palate cleanser, for one. It also was a financial necessity, and did all my balances a world of good. And since I stuck to it awfully well (there were a few pairs of underwear here & there, and a couple of CDs), the Shoeniverse, once again, rewarded me. There was a sale, and a coupon, and when the dust settled... Oh, I'm not even going to tell you. It'll just upset you. Suffice to say they were a very, very good deal. Even more so considering they're the kind of shoes I can wear day in & day out, all year long, for the next 20 years. This weekend, they have a date to celebrate Ms. A's birthday by accompanying me to some as-yet-undecided fabulous watering hole to raise a glass of something bubbly. And I will be able to walk. Run, even. (In case anyone wants to chase me!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

* "They laughed at me."
** Really? Do you need a translation for that?

Photos: Shopstyle.com, NeimanMarcus.com, Style Spy

Out In the Cold

2010-01-06T09:02:00.002-05:00

Style Spy needs a coat. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that I need a jacket, a heavy jacket, not a coat. Something that will keep me warm when it gets into the 40s and 30s, but is not too long -- most of my being outside in cold weather involves going to and from my car. I don't want something that's so long I have to wrestle with the bottom of it when I get in and out of the car. I have a great big, wonderful old vintage black leather bomber jacket with a pile collar that I bought years ago at a flea market when I lived in New York, but it's a bit of a production -- it's bulky, and the leather is rather stiff. It's a great coat for walking around in New York, but less than ideal for running to the grocery store or meeting a friend for a quick, casual drink.

But it's not easy finding a good coat around here. Given that we don't have that much cold weather, the coat selection is pretty limited and found mostly in large department stores. And what there is, is booooooring. A thousand iterations of the peacoat in some form of another, or the "ladylike" little car coat, often cutesied up with ruffles or a flouncy skirt or some such. Comme ça:

::yawn::

::gag::

I wound up, in a fit of desperation, ordering something very like the second one above last weekend, but I already know I'm going to send it back. First of all, it's not what I want. Second of all, I ordered it online because the Nordstrom website told me they didn't have any at the store here in Austin, but when I went down there later that weekend there was an entire rack of the things sitting there. (Which is going to be a bone I pick at Customer Service when I return it, believe you me -- that's 8 bucks of postage I'm out for no reason.) And once I saw the things close-up I realized: cheap.

And this is the final piece of the problem puzzle for me. Nothing looks as cheap, to my eye, as a cheap coat. So, while a heavy coat is something I don't actually wear very often, I don't want a throwaway garment. Sadly, the current budget doesn't really have room for an investment piece.

I hit the interwebs looking for a little inspiration. (Click on photos or hypertext for links.)

This is gorgeous.

Alas, it is on sale for $3K+. Um, nope.

I could almost be talked into something like this:

but I want a full sleeve and I'm presently ticked off at DVF for making her clothes so dingdong small.

Maybe something faux-furry and fun?

DIESEL WRETT JACKET

Eh. I'm not really a faux-furry sorta gal. I looked at a couple like this at some of my favorite vintage places and they just don't speak to me, cute as they can be on other women.

I said I didn't want something very long (I'm wanting to stay hip-length or above), but I could certainly be talked into this:

Jil Sander, from a collection that made my eyes roll up into my head, I loved it so much. And it is on sale. For $1900. ::sigh::

This is a possibility

although I'd really prefer something that's not black or gray. The thing is -- I really HATE the cold weather. I hate being cold and I hate having to bundle up, so when I do have to pull a heavy jacket out of the closet, I want to really like it and enjoy wearing it.

This would be PERFECT.

HUSSEIN CHALAYAN PADDED JACKET

That is sooooooo cool. Neat as a pin and yet super-stylish. I really, really love that. Alas, I always really, really love the expensive stuff.

I have a feeling I'm probably headed for something along these lines:

Which is fine, I guess. I just don't find it terribly exciting. I might hit an army/navy store and see if I can't come up with an actual navy peacoat. At least it'd be warm & sturdy -- those things are indestructible.

Leather is nice & warm, and I do love the oversized mouton collar and cuffs here

but I think the Perfecto jacket idea is out. The problem with the flight jacket I already have is that it's black leather and frankly not right with a lot of things. This type of jacket is certainly a classic in its own way, but there are times when I want something with less... attitude.

Almost non-existent attitude:

There's something about the neatness and clean lines of this that I find appealing, and it's from Barbour, so I know it's good quality. However, it has an inescapably mumsy, Talbots-esque air about it. I'd bore myself to death wearing this.

In my perfect dream world, Rick Owens designs coats for me.

Only he learns to work in color. But oh, this is a gorgeous thing.

I am totally not down with the puffer coat. Except.

This is adorable. This is a puffer I could live with. What fun. I would love to have this in my wardrobe, but probably it's too... too to be the mainstay of the cold-weather gear.

I don't want a long coat, but I could make an exception for this. Gucci. Lordy, that is sharp.

Once again, I heart Phillip Lim:

This is fun, a great color, and the shape would work with most of the wardrobe. Thing is, the color might be too much fun. Probably not neutral enough. Also, I really don't want anything long enough to be sat upon when I slide into the car. I get so tired of the ensuing tugging & twisting to free up my arms enough so that I can steer.

Argh. I'm such a Goldilocks. The search continues...

Unrequited

2009-12-21T09:49:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've been dipping my toe back into perfumed waters a bit. I realized that I was missing the thrill of discovering new fragrances, and have been nosing about some. The hilarious and incisive Tania Sanchez, in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, the book she co-wrote with her so-smart-it's-a-bit-scary husband Luca Turin, describes six stages in the evolution of a hard-core fragrance lover. Number 5 is Decadence (which I would interpret as the full fury of a serious perfume addiction) followed by the final stage, Enlightenment. Enlightenment, according to Tania, is "satisfaction in things in themselves."

(Before I go on, let me please urge you to read this book.

The Second Edition has recently been released, updated with many new reviews and now in paperback, which makes it more affordable. If you have any interest at all in smelling good, this book should be one of your bibles -- not just for the reviews but for the mini-education on perfume history and why things smell the way they do. Even if you're not particularly interested in perfume, the book is worth reading to witness how two terribly talented people write clearly, evocatively, and entertainingly about a subject that is notoriously difficult to get your hands around. I'm anxiously awaiting my copy.)

I've been through my Decadent phase. I went down the perfume rabbit hole several years ago and wallowed there for some time in resplendent scented gluttony.

This is my readily-apparent perfume collection, the bit that sits on the top of my dresser. Not actually all that impressive. This is because light, as any perfumista worth her decants knows, is perfume's greatest enemy. And so, the real action of my collection takes place IN the dresser:

This is what lurks in the top drawer, hidden away from the perfume-murdering sunlight. I know that for most people this looks like a LOT of fragrance, but I assure you: my collection pales and quails in comparison to many others I know of. Seriously, I'm strictly small potatoes.

Decadence was wonderful, but at some point I did pass into Stage Six, where I have been content -- even happy -- with the fragrances currently in my collection. Lately, however, I've had the itch again. If you are not a Frag Hag like me, it is hard to describe the small, delicious thrill to be had by looking at a few sample vials of new things to smell. It's even harder to describe the big, falling-in-love thrill of discovering something that rocks your olfactory world. I have smelled a fair few perfumes by this point, and while I often run across things that I think are really great and that I would love to wear, it isn't often that I bump into something that has the potential to de-throne one of my Top Three. (Perfumistas are big with the list-making and ranking.) But last week I dug into a pile of samples and pulled out one I've had for a bit: Parfums MDCI Enlèvement au Sérail by Francis Kurkdjian. (Perfumistas also like to credit the creators of a fragrance if they know him or her. It's not just pomposity -- perfumers often have a recognizable signature style, like great musicians, and knowing who made a perfume can tell you a lot about how it's going to smell.)

I went slightly weak in the knees as I sniffed this stuff. Good googly-moogly, what a beautiful thing. Eye-rollingly, jaw-droppingly, dizzyingly beautiful.

Let me just say here that Style Spy likes a Big Perfume. The things I really go for tend to be enormous stonking door-openers, fragrances that pounce on you and won't take no for an answer. I have loved & appreciated many lighter, more transparent fragrances, and even have several in my regular rotation that are very dear to my heart, but when asked to do a Top 3 or Top 5 list, they're all going to be monsters. It's just my thing, and probably surprises no one who knows me. Enlèvement au Sérail is what I would classify as a floral chypre. It is a Grown-Up Lady, perfume-y perfume. It is a fragrance in the grand manner, and makes no apologies. If you are one of those timid souls who says things like, "Oh, I just want to smell clean," this stuff is not for you. Which is great. More for me.

Chypres are misunderstood creatures, and other people can do a better job of explaining them than I do. (Read Vika's article on Bois de Jasmin here, and helg's on Perfume Shrine here.) The Mother of All Chypres is, of course, Mitsouko by Guerlain. (Actually, the real mother of all chypres is Francois Coty's Chypre, the originator of the species in 1917; but since it's extinct now, Mitsouko is our yardstick.) Mitsouko is one of the Olympians of perfume -- it & Chanel No. 5 function in sort of the same way that the Beatles and the Stones do in rock & roll -- the question of which is greater is sort of a litmus test of personal taste, but they are inarguably the most important things going. Suffice to say that I have yet to see a Ten Best, All-Time Greats list from any perfume critic with any claim to legitimacy without both of them on there, and there's better-than-even odds one of them will be in the top slot. Mitsouko is not just a perfume, it's a rite of passage for a perfumista. Appreciating Mitsouko means you've probably reached a certain level of sophistication in your sniffing. Notice I did not say, "liking Mitsouko." Nor do I mean to imply that it doesn't smell good, because it sure as hell does. But not everyone can wear it. It is notoriously difficult.

And here is where I commit a bit of Perfume Heresy: Enlèvement au Sérail is what I always wanted Mitsouko to be but never was. Mitsouko has always been Just Not Quite for me - something too stern in it kept me from loving it thoroughly, though I admired it. But every time I wore Mitsouko it was a hundred repetitions of me catching a whiff of myself and then being ever-so-slightly disappointed. As we all know, there's only so many times one can go through that before she finally gives it up. To quote my darling mother (although in a radically different context), "You do what you do until you can't do it anymore, and then you stop." That pile of tiny disappointments finally stacked up to the point where the scales tipped, and I stopped wearing Mitsouko. I have never stopped admiring it, and I believe - I know - it to be one of the greatest fragrances ever composed (without going into how much of its soul is left after a century of reformulations). It's just not for me. In Perfume World, Mitsouko is often referred to as "she," as though this fragrance were a living thing, and a lot of jokes are made among perfumistas about her persnickety nature and how she either loves you or hates you. But Mitsi never seemed to feel very strongly about me one way or the other. What it felt more like was that each time she met me, she was sort of mildly interested in me, enough to spend a short time getting to know me, but invariably I would say or do something that disappointed or annoyed her and she would drift off to talk to someone else at the party who was more worth her time, someone cleverer or more sophisticated or exciting. I was left standing there all alone, holding my drink, blaming myself more than her.

Enlèvement au Sérail, on the other hand, really, really likes me. Loooooves me. We spent the day in a fascinating conversation that ended in a warm embrace the like of which I have not received from a perfume in a long time. Most perfumes are built to have three more or less distinct phases: top notes (which are the bits you smell immediately after you spritz), heart notes (which are the bits that reveal themselves after the fragrance sits on your skin for a time), and base notes (which is usually the longest phase and the one with the most depth). This is true of the vast majority of fragrances, even skanky cheap ones, but there are exceptions -- see: Bulgari Black. If you're lucky, you will like all three segments of a fragrance and if you are really lucky, you will like them more & more as they progress. The beginning of Enlèvement au Sérail, with its juicy bergamot (one of my favorite notes) is arresting, the jasmine-rose heart of it is swooning, but it was the gorgeous, deep, plush, delirious, better-with-every-passing-moment woody-chypre bottom of the thing that really sealed the deal for me. Love. Utter, utter love. (For a better idea of how the stuff actually smells, read carmencanada's review on Grain de Musc here. Or, of course, Luca's review in The Guide.)

And as it stands now, unrequited love. Because if you click on the photo of the gorgeous bottle above, you will find out that this is going to be a very expensive love affair, one that I cannot continue in any real way for a bit if I want to do things like... ohhhhh, feed myself. (Right this moment I'm really, really bitter about the money I had to spend on new tires this weekend. Yeah, sure tires are important, blah blah automotive deathtrap fishcakes blah, but dear god, you should smell this stuff!!!!) So right now I am mining all my resources to come up with a decant of it to swap for or purchase, and officially Saving Up for a bottle. It has seriously bumped several other hoped-for purchases way down the ladder -- I'm going to be mooning like a Twilight-besotted teenager until I get some more of it.

Photos: Style Spy, Luckyscent.com

Four Eyes

2009-11-28T20:58:00.003-05:00

Yours truly is a near-sighted Style Spy. (I can only spy what's very nearby, unless I'm wearing glasses or contacts.) I've been wearing corrective lenses since I was twelve years old. I came by it honestly -- both my parents were four-eyes, it was only a matter of time for me. I remember the first time I actually put on my glasses -- it was so wonderful to be able to see that I've never felt in the least resentful about them. Given that I've gotten increasingly near-sighted with time, I'm downright enamored of my eyewear these days. Thank god I wasn't born two or three centuries ago, or worse yet, two or three millenia. I would have totally been saber-toothed tiger lunch. I literally cannot see my hand at the end of my arm without my glasses on. (Okay, I can see it. I just can't count the fingers.) And no. I'm never going to have the Lasix thing. Because it's a laser. ON MY EYES. No, thank you. Plus, I'm already storming down the middle-aged hill toward bi-focals (there are readers scattered all over the house these days), so really, what's the point? I'd still need glasses half the time.

So I don't mind needing my glasses & lenses, and I don't even mind wearing them. (All this bitching & moaning about not being able to see the moment your eyes pop open in the morning bewilders me -- what's so great about being able to see before you've had coffee? And gee, does that reach over to the nightstand to pick up your glasses and put them on your head really interfere that much with the beginning of your day? 'Cause if it does, you need to roll back over -- you're obviously not getting enough sleep.) What I do mind? Is PAYING for them. Good googly-moogly, glasses are expensive!! The last pair I bought was at least five years ago and I got them at one of the mall places and I waited until they were having a half-price special and they were STILL about 200 bucks. I don't know anyone lately who's gotten out of an optician's office for less than $400 -- I have a friend who just got progressive bifocals and just his lenses were over $500! It's insane! I have literally thousands of small plastic items in my home that cost pennies to produce -- you cannot make me believe that my eyeglass frames are really worth $250. And contacts -- sheesh, I pay almost $30 a box at my optometrist's for a box of 6 lenses. (And I have a different prescription in each eye, so it adds up quickly, let me tell you.) They are little blobs of mostly water and some sort of polymer and they've been mass producing these things for how many years now? And they still want nearly 5 bucks a piece for them? Ya know -- I may not see so good, but my sniffer works juuuuust fine and that? Smells like a rip-off to me.

So a few weeks ago I was at a party and someone complimented a friend on her nifty eyeglasses and she told us something that got me aaaaaall excited. She got her eyeglasses online, and they were cheap. Not kinda cheap for glasses -- seriously cheap. Way less than I'd pay for dinner on an average Saturday night. And they were so cool! Apparently, a lot of people feel the way I do about spending so much money for their glasses, and there are several many discount eyeglass sites on the ol' Series of Tubes.

Hot damn.

My friend recommended a site called Zenni Optical, and so I hot-footed it (hot-laptopped, really) over there as soon as I could. There was a bit of a delay because when I dug out my prescription I found that it did not have my pupillary distance on it, which you need to order glasses. (I solved this problem by asking the nice lady at the optical desk at Costco -- where, by the way, I'm now buying my contact lenses for about 6 bucks a box less than at my optometrist -- and she held a little thingamajig that looked like a Viewmaster up to my eyes and pushed a button and then wrote it down for me.) No kidding, friends, they have glasses on this website that start at EIGHT DOLLARS A PAIR. And yes, that is WITH lenses. Prescription lenses. I bought two pairs of glasses for just over $24, which included shipping. It took a bit less than three weeks for them to arrive, but arrive they did, in nice little hard-shell cases wrapped with dustcloths.

I got a pair of metallic purple wire rims:

and a pair of BRIGHT red plastic frames, just for fun.

See, these are the kind of glasses I'd love to have but never do -- BECAUSE THEY'RE SO DINGDONGED EXPENSIVE.

Now. These are not brilliant, high-quality glasses. Actually, the wire rims are pretty nice -- they feel pretty sturdy and have good springy-ness in the hinges. The red plastic ones have a heft that's roughly equal to a Scotch tape dispenser, but for eight bucks I'm really okay with that. The prescriptions are right -- I have no trouble seeing out of these glasses, they do not give me a headache or any other problems. And they're fun! Here -- see what you think:

The purple ones are better for wearing. The bridge of my nose is extremely narrow, so glasses with an adjustable nose piece are a good idea for me. Plus, these are just a little larger, so they give me better peripheral vision. That lack of peripheral vision is one reason I almost never leave the house in glasses -- I wear my contacts outside the house and my glasses in.

I also tend to like wire frames because they "disappear" more from my field of vision -- I don't notice them as much.

Unlike these bad boys:

(It's not the glasses that are crooked -- it's me.)

which are very present. It takes me a bit after I put them on to stop noticing the frames at the edges of my sightline. I also think I might need to get some of those foam pads to prop them up a little, they tend to slide down my needle-nose.

But they're fun, aren't they? Again -- this particular pair aren't what you'd call sturdy. But ya know -- I'm not eight years old, I'm hardly ever on a trampoline, I put them on once and take them off once and that's it. I don't need titanium-reinforced, gale-force-wind-withstanding, crush-proof, survive-a-nuclear-blast glasses. I just need something to put in front of my eyes so I can see my television. They have more expensive frames on offer on this site and when the novelty of these has worn off I'll probably get some, but for the first run I went with cheap; and it was the best 24 dollars I've spent in a long little while.

I will also offer the caveat that my prescription is pretty straightforward -- single-vision lenses with one correction. (I'm very near-sighted, but I'm only near-sighted. No astigmatism or anything else.) I cannot speak to how well they'd handle anything more complicated than this. But, hey -- for the price it's really worth a try. I know my mom is planning to give them a whirl, and she's got a much more complicated scrip, so we'll see how that goes. It is a bit weird and risky-feeling to order glasses without trying them on, but they have very good photos of the frames, and very thorough measurements. I measured the glasses I already had and then went with frames that had similar numbers, and it worked pretty well, as you can see. I'm sure every optician in America will disagree with me on this, but I really feel okay about them. I need to get the earpieces on the purple ones adjusted a bit because they squeeze my head more than I'd like, but I'm thinking the nice lady at Costco is going to help me out with that the next time I go there to buy 17 pounds of coffee, enough toilet paper to make a bed out of, and sweet bell peppers by the bushel. (Costco cracks me up. I love it, but it cracks me up.)

So has anyone else tried one of these discount sites? If so, how was your experience?

Get Lucky

2009-11-13T09:34:00.004-05:00

It's Friday the 13th, a day that holds no fear for yours truly because she was born on a Friday the 13th. But some folks tremble in their boots. I know how to turn this around and make Friday the 13th a Day of Joy: Shopping! Bargains!! Stuff on sale!!!

Adorable classic sweater from Sonia Rykiel with one little pink stripe to keep things interesting. Love this.

Terrifically useful LBD. Also comes in Petites.

Perfect pink patent peep-toes from Pierre. Hot-cha!

I'm still into my long, slouchy Parisienne thing and I'm really loving these.

No kidding, just yesterday I was grumbling to myself that I need a big black belt to sit low on my hips (see above re: slouchy Parisienne thing) and today, voila! This appears. I just ordered it.

That is some nifty hardware on those shoes. The black ones are in very limited sizes, but they are also available in grey. Great deal on these, too.

Perfect, go-to, omg-I've-just-been-invited-to-a-swanky-holiday-party-and-I-have-no-idea-what-to-wear solution:

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!!! No, just kidding, really!! HAH! (::wipes tears of laughter from corners of eyes::) Oooooh, that's a good one!

How about this one instead? Oh, my goodness, that's pretty. And jersey! Which I love!

Are you a bag person? I'm not usually huge for the bags, but this?

Is super-cool.

There's lots & lots of good sale stuff out there -- go and create some luck of your own!!

This Hurts...

2009-11-07T09:48:00.002-05:00

...my feelings, my head, my soul -- my entire existence is pained by this.

It's made of NFL football jerseys. Used ones. Oooooh, good googly-moogly. I have to go lie down now.

Go here for the story. I can't talk about it anymore.

The Backup

2009-11-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

Reader Sara alerted me to the fact that the link in last week's post for the Free People Ruffled Jacket wasnt working, so I checked it out. Turns out Piperlime was sold out of them. (I hope it was my readers who got 'em all!) So I did a little research and found a couple more places where you can get it, if you fell hard for this jacket like I did. Click on the photos for links.

It's still available in black in a couple of places.

(This is black, it's just a bad photo.)

But, interestingly, I also found it in a lovely deep red color

and, even prettier, winter white:

Oh, I love that.

Then I decided to post a few more jackets, just because there are so many great ones out there. All of these strike me as the sort of thing you might like if you like the ruffled one above. Tell me what you think.

This is Dolce & Gabbana. It's fairly spendy, but it is on sale.

This is Givenchy.

It is not on sale. Still -- very cool denim jacket.

This is wonderful:

LOVE! Twill jacket with taffeta collar!! Also -- great price!!

This is from Love Moschino, which is a line the company has launched that's supposed to be more affordable. And the prices do look a little more in line with what I think of as reasonable. (The name "Cheap & Chic" has always pissed me off a bit.) This jacket is available in black, but I love this fuchsia. Delicious little thing.

Also Love Moschino. Another fantastic jacket -- it's a heavy knit. You should click on this link so you can look at the detailing and the back, it's really wonderful.

No ruffles on this one, but it has that quasi-military quality that I like so much. I think this is a great way to do this military trend and still get a jacket that you're going to be able to wear for several seasons -- it's not so extreme that you won't be able to pull it back out next spring without feeling embarrassed about it.

It's the sleeves here, of course. I adore this -- so soft and feminine and yet still with a great shape. I would live in this jacket.

Perfect with a pencil skirt and pumps.

Miu Miu. Very wonderful.

Jil Sander. This makes me a little dizzy...

YSL. This makes me VERY dizzy.

I could easily have spent another hour looking at jackets online, but I had to get to bed. Here's hoping something in this lineup tickles your fancy. Tell me which ones you like best!

Getcha Some Boots!!!

2009-10-27T08:45:00.004-05:00

Today is Piperlime's 3d birthday, and they're running a special!!

Order today and celebrate Piperlime's 3rd Birthday and get a $25 gift certificate towards your next purchase! Shop now while supplies last! Ends 10/25/09 until 11:59 PM PT.

(And remember -- they do free shipping on orders over $50!)

So you could get some boots! (Click photos for links!)

You could get comfy-but-stylish boots:

(Aerosoles!)

You could get waterproof-yet-sexy boots:

(Sperry! I LOVE these!)

A beautiful-yet-budget-friendly boot with a not-too-high-heel:

If you're thinking you want to play with the over-the-knee trend without spending a fortune:

If you want a classic boot but your calves require a little extra room:

(Naturalizer, with wide shaft. Also available in black.)

So, go!!! Shop!!!!!

It's Never Too Early...

2009-10-26T16:45:00.008-05:00

...to start thinking about your holiday party wardrobe!

Mostly I say this because I found this dress and I think we should ALL have one, because it's so gorgeous:

Isn't that lovely? It's by Yoanna Baraschi and you can find it at chickdowntown.com. (I couldn't find a specific link for the dress, but I promise it's there!)

Seriously, I think this is a nearly perfect party dress.

Look how easy that is -- elastic waistband, so you can eat lots of hors d'oeuvres and drink plenty of festive sparkly beverages. This is an LBD Plus -- a beautiful black dress with a gorgeous floral print that will make it stand out brilliantly in the sea of other dull LBDs at the party. (And you know there will be one -- let's start making book on the percentage of women in black at any given party you go to between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I'll bet it's a good 70%, especially in This Economy.)

This dress is not especially trendy or season-specific -- you could really wear this year-round and for several years to come. And would you just LOOK at this beautiful print!!

::sigh:: I'm so in love with this. And the great thing is how much fun it would be to accessorize. Afraid you'll be chilly in sleeveless? Top it off with a gorgeous jacket, there are lots out there.

(Click on photos for links!)

Ruby velvet from D&G that could do double-duty at the office, or even on the weekend with a pair of sharp jeans and some boots -- you'll wear this to shreds, I promise.

How about satin? So festive.

Oof, that's beautiful. Silk organza. That color is so unusual and pretty and this is oh-so-on-sale.

But it doesn't have to be color, black would work beautifully, too. The look this season is sequins, sequins everywhere. But I think a full-on sequined jacket would be too much with the print, so maybe just a touch on the lapels:

How about classic, wear-for-a-million years black velvet?

(From Banana Republic, so incredibly reasonable.)

This one made me gasp a little:

Ooooooh, my goodness. If you don't love that, you have no heart. (Also, not crazy expensive.)

If you are going to wear a black jacket, at least pleaseI'mbeggingyou wear a brightly-colored shoe.

These are adorable and they are a STEAL.

The shape on these is classic sex-kitten, and the price is great for a good pair of drop-dead party shoes that will never go out of style.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!! Sparkly!!!!!!! Style Spy loves her some sparkly! These are Nine West so they're also super-reasonable (and they come in some other fun colors).

Plan on doing some dancing at your holiday party?

How about these great gold wedges with a t-strap? Nice and stable, and they'll stay on your feet while you do the Charleston. (Or the merengue. Or the Hustle.) Plus -- on sale!

Every woman needs a dress like this in her wardrobe. I don't necessarily mean this dress specifically, but a dress that can be worn different ways in different seasons for a good many years to come. Most of us do have them and mostly they're LBDs. And that's great -- une petite robe noir has gotten all of us all through a sticky fashion situation at one time or another. But isn't it time to branch out a little? My personal challenge for everyone is to try to resist the impulse to buy one more black dress -- next time you're shopping for something special, see if you can't score a color or a pattern that lights you up and makes you smile. It takes a little more work -- the world is filled with black dresses and yes, some of them are truly great -- but it's worth it to not disappear into the crowd. Let's make this as bright and colorful a holiday season as we can this year -- it's been a rough one and we deserve some cheer.

Pretty For Friday -- October 23

2009-10-23T09:32:00.005-04:00

Well, my version of pretty, anyway...

I'm just in love with these pants and have been for ages.

(click on all photos for links, as usual)

Slouchy deliciousness from Ann Demeulemeester's Spring 09 collection. They're on sale at LUISAVIAROMA.COM, although still well out of my range. I've been on the lookout for something in this vein for a while, though, including checking out men's pajamas.

I want to wear them with a superfine wool or cashmere t-shirt, something like this

from Banana Republic, and then top it off with a nice looooooong slouchy cardi,

like this one. (This is Vince . I have really come to love the clothes in this line -- they're mostly basics, well-made and not boring.) I am so feeling this long slouchy thing right now, I'm not quite sure where it comes from except that it feels very French to me and I'm pining for Paris in the worst way.

I'd wear the whole look with my brilliant Donald J. Pliner Haiden brogues, which are in danger of being worn to ribbons this fall -- I keep pulling them out of the closet and they keep being perfect with everything; buying those was an impulsive stroke of genius if I do say so myself. They still have them in Plum at zappos.com and don't think I'm not mighty tempted by that knowledge, but if you think black might be more useful to you, you could do a lot worse than these little lovelies

which are also Pliner and have the same shape, heel, and overall feeling. Dayum. Those are sharp. (And yes, to answer the inescapable question, they are comfortable. Pliner makes excellent shoes -- I wore those brogues and furniture shopped with my mom all day Saturday.)

This weekend is probably going to find me wearing some variation on the outfit above, although I'll have to do some improvising where the pants are concerned. How about you guys? What are you pulling out of the closet this wekeend?

Time To Buy That Bedazzler

2009-10-21T09:09:00.000-04:00

Because, seriously? These jeans?

Are ON SALE for over $5000. ($5437.00, to be precise.) And that price? Is 50% off.

Yes, they are super-cool. Yes, they are Balmain and apparently if you are a big-noise fashionista life is not worth living unless you have a closet full of Balmain these days. (I somehow seem to be soldiering along, but I'm strictly bush-league, I reckon.) And the work really is gorgeous. But come on.

It's starting to piss me off a bit, it really is. Honestly, I find the idea that there are $10K jeans out there, no matter how sparkly and fabulous, a wee bit insulting. (And I think we all know that expensive clothing as a general concept does not trouble me overmuch.) There's really no point in me being cheesed about it, I reckon, because it's not my money being spent and if someone wants to drop that much cash on pants who am I to judge? But it just seems like there's this whole tier of people in the fashion world who have absolutely no idea about what's going on in the rest of the world. Remember when a $500 shoe was absolutely out of this world expensive? I am routinely seeing shoes for twice that nowadays. Who is buying this stuff? All the news reports in the business are about how the stores are having to lower their inventories and put things on sale earlier, and yet what's coming into the stores continues to get more & more expensive. I don't get it.

Someone explain this to me. Please.

Is Greasy The New Black?

2009-10-19T22:05:00.002-04:00

I'm wondering what it is about these ads that is supposed to make me want to buy the products...

I'll grant you -- Eva Mendes is a gorgeous woman with a ferocious body. But... yeccch. I would never call myself a clean freak (and neither would you if you saw my kitchen floor), but this is just gross. I am utterly turned off by the looks of this, and the thing that really, really drives me crazy is that I want to pull that hair off her face! Don't you know this poor girl stood there for god knows how long while a team of photo stylists massaged her head with Crisco and then one by one arranged those locks of hair on her face to give them juuuuuuuust the right air of spontaneous, tousled perfection. And then she had to stand there some more while they took the photos and you KNOW it had to drive her crazy, that she was DYING to just reach up and PUSH THAT HAIR OFF HER FACE!!!! See, that's all I can think about when I look at this ad -- I do not think, "Boy those are cute jeans." I do not think, "Hmmm, I wonder if my ass would look that good in those jeans." (Puh-leez...) I think, "God, someone get that hair off her face!!!!" To me, that is not effective advertising.

I also wonder, what goes through a young woman's mind when she agrees to do ads like this? Specifically, a young actress's mind. Models model, that's what they do. But, presumably Ms. Mendes is working toward a long career as an actress, presumably she would like to be respected for her work, presumably she would like to play the sorts of roles that are typically considered "Oscar bait." Appearing oiled up like a sardine and splayed more-than-half-naked in every American magazine not specifically marketed to children doesn't seem to me the straightest path to that goal.

But I'm probably wrong -- what do I know from Hollywood? Nudity and public displays of sexuality are so commonplace anymore that they probably don't work against someone in the way that they used to. And maybe Ms. Mendes harbors no such pretensions -- maybe she's just getting hers while she can and who can blame her? If I had that body, I might also be pretty tempted to paste it onto the largest billboard someone offered me, especially if they were tossing out the kind of cabbage I'm guessing you get from a mega-company like Calvin Klein. So who am I to judge?

I know that some people will interpret this photo as Ms Mendes undressing the guy, but I think she's just slipping off him and clutching his underwear in an attempt to stay put. Sorry, but I think it's a lost cause, Eva. Just give up and slide on down.

Images: Stylefrizz.com

Boots I Will Not Be Wearing

2009-10-15T10:28:00.001-04:00

I was online doing some virtual shopping, looking for some boots I'm semi-obsessed with (about which more later.) I didn't find them, but I did find some doozies. I haven't done this for a while, so just for fun...

(You can click on the photos for links. If you do so, I'm assuming it is purely for research purposes!)

If a person ate too much whimsy and threw it up and then made boots out of it? This is what they'd get.

Doc Martens. With lace. How... "clever." Are you tempted by these? Ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you over 23 years old?
2. Do you have a job that is not in a record store?
3. Does anyone ever refer to you as "Mom"?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," it's time to put away the Docs. Re-live your anarchist youth in the privacy of your own home with your Sex Pistols albums if you'd like. But if you're not living in a squat, dump the Docs.

This is what happens when elves read Vogue.

From our old friends at Nascar:

I couldn't decide if the blue ones or the black ones were more eye-scathing, so I posted them both. (You're welcome!)

Sometimes Gwen Stefani surprises me. Sometimes she just upsets me.

These are from a brand called "Helle Comfort." I don't care how comfortable they are -- I don't care if they come boxed with a pair of angels to massage my feet -- yech, those are ugly boots.

Proof that just because it's expensive doesn't make it good. One thousand dollars worth of ugly from Proenza Schouler.

This is ugly mostly in its intention, which is to rip off the YSL cage booties that I've been in love with for a year now. These are certainly more affordable (under 100 bucks), but I can't do it. When I walked, tapping of the heels would say, "Fake! Fake! Fake!" with every step I took.

For those days when you just can't decide between ankle warmers & sandals.

Sometimes Naturalizer makes surprisingly cute shoes. This is not one of those times.

This was just a short survey, friends -- and this was just the ankle boots. If you, like me, are shopping around for more boots this fall -- be careful out there.

Fashionable Chickens, Modish Eggs

2009-10-12T17:40:00.004-04:00

Last week I wrote about what has become the Fashion Disaster That Ate Paris, a.k.a. the Emanuel Ungaro Spring 2010 show. It was Lindsey Lohan's first go-round with the label as its "artistic advisor" and Estrella Archs's first outing as its designer and it has been widely and roundly panned by just about everyone on the planet who buys and wears clothes. (Everyone except Bloomingdales, remarkably, according to WWD.)

I said in my review that I'd checked out Archs's previous work on her website and found her to be promising. And it turns out that Ms. Archs presented her own namesake collection in Paris last week. When I had a look at Archs's most recent collection, some questions were answered, but a few new ones were posed.

The collection is almost entirely black and white, which I found interesting, given how much color there was in the Ungaro show and in Archs's previous collections. There are a few shots of gold and two pieces in navy, but otherwise -- completely black and white. This is interesting, and poses a chicken-or-egg kind of question. As far as I know, Archs was brought in to design Ungaro fairly late in the process (she only had about a month to pull this show together, with Lindsay's -- ahem -- "help"), and common sense tells us that her own show would probably have been well down the pipeline by that point and the color scheme would already have been decided upon. But it seems odd to me that a designer so at home with color would arbitrarily decide to eliminate all of it, and for that to coincidentally happen at the same time she suddenly became responsible for designing a house famous for its unrestrained use of color. Was Archs planning on the black & white looks for her own line from the get-go? Or did she make the decision to go all black and white as an attempt to separate her namesake line from the Ungaro one?

I found the clothes in this collection less promising than in the previous ones I'd seen. They didn't strike me as particularly thoughtful. And again this makes me ask: Was this the direction she was headed anyway, or is it the result of her split focus? We'll probably never know unless Archs herself decides to tell us and my guess is one glance down at the contract she signed with the PTB at Ungaro is going to dissuade her from that.

At least she didn't bother with the sparkly pasties.

although maybe she should have.

I just don't get clothes like this -- I don't understand why you'd show them. If you're John Galliano or Jean Paul Gaultier you can get away with throwing stuff down the runway you've no intention of producing, just as a way of getting across whatever point you're trying to make that season. But if you're a relatively unknown young designer stepping into the shoes of a giant (and those shoes are accompanied by a skinny blonde Hollywood albatross around your neck, to boot), I think it behooves you to not make clothes that are so easily dismissable as gimmickry and foolishness. To be fair, I love the look of that gauzy Fortuny-pleated fabric and the caryatid shape of that top, but come on! What is with that funky triangle? And, hello! See-through!!

But then I saw this dress

and this... outfit

such as it is, and I thought, "Hang on, is this swimwear?" Is that white dress actually a swimsuit and a cover-up? And the black... number is maybe a bikini and a very glam mangotinis-by-the-pool ensemble? Maybe. But I don't know.

See, this strikes me as a serious design flaw: if I cannot tell if your clothing is for the beach or for a cocktail party, you are doing something wrong.

This drives me crazy.

The idea that you would take the time and trouble to cut and construct a dress with all those different pieces of fabric going different directions -- which is a fantastic opportunity to use your construction to create something that's going to flatter almost every shape -- the fact that you do this and it STILL makes this 102-pound model look as boxy and shapeless as a Woodstock lesbian in her firewood-chopping clothes? That's disgraceful. Most of the wannabes on Project Runway could make this out of placemats and licorice whips in 8 hours and it would look better than this.

And this?

This is just sloppy and half-assed.

I like the idea of this although not the execution and AGAIN -- sloppy fit. I hate that sleeve.

This is almost working for me, but I'm having bit of trouble with the proportions.

I find that neckline cut in too far and too low -- it gives her linebacker shoulders and heaven help you if you have an actual bust and want to wear that.

This is not almost working.

That is just a mess. A big, shiny, crinkly mess. Archs needs to go back to year one of design school and re-take the class on sleeves. I have a major problem with her sleeves.

Remember the other day when I commented on the navy number from the Ungaro show and said it looked like it had been dropped in from another collection that had nothing to do with that one? I think I wasn't far from right:

Although, to be fair, I like this. I always love when someone uses navy or another color instead of black, and I am partial to that egg-shaped, cocoon-y jacket. What it has to do with that little swimsuit/negligée/whatever it is at the top, however, is anyone's guess.

Here I am just baffled:

I can't imagine it's easy to find an armless model, but I applaud Ms. Archs on her efforts to show diversity on the runway and... I'm sorry, what's that? She HAS arms? You just can't SEE them? Seriously?

Well, that's just dumb.

Final insult to injury:

Pole dancer shoes! GAHHHHHH, what is with the pole dancer shoes these days? My theory is that a fledgling designer doesn't have the time & money to spend on creating & constructing high-design shoes, so she goes with something she thinks will be neutral and hopefully not distract from the clothing. Maybe the reasoning is that these clear vinyl shoes will sort of disappear and not compete with the clothing design. Well, I'm here to tell all of you people who might be tempted to pull this trick: they DON'T disappear, they DO distract, and what's more, they are hurting my feelings!!! Stop it!!

Sadly, I'm actually less hopeful for Ungaro and for Estrella Archs on her own having seen this collection. I fear she is not a strong enough designer at this point in her career to take on the challenge of re-working a very well-known label without letting it interfere with and hinder her own line. It cannot be easy to try to do both things at once -- it takes a designer with an extremely well-developed point of view or a mammoth talent, like John Galliano or Karl Lagerfeld, to pull it off successfully.

Of course, she may not have to worry about it. The people running Ungaro seem to have no trouble treating their designers like disposable utensils -- good for one fast food meal and then into the bin they go -- so Ms. Archs may soon be able to concentrate fully again. I hate to say it, but I think it would be the best thing that could happen to her.

Images: Elle.com

Wherein Style Spy's Furry Darling Illustrates Her Excellent Taste

2009-10-11T11:46:00.004-04:00

I came home, I dropped my bag on the floor, I walked into the kitchen to grab something. When I walked back into the living room, I found this.

(I apologize for the poor quality of the video, this is as good as I could make it without spending money on editing software.)

Smart cat. Very smart cat.

Shop the Closet

2009-10-09T10:01:00.003-04:00

There's a whole lot of good stuff available on Style Spy's Closet! Newly posted goodies include these black patent Stuart Weitzman pumps.

Also still available:

red Vittadini boots

Marc Jacobs skirt

ivory Pollini sandals

So go!! Shop!!!!!

Hooray!!!

2009-10-09T09:07:00.002-04:00

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk from ALL WALKS BEYOND THE CATWALK on Vimeo.

Find out more about this project at All Walks Beyond the Catwalk

(Thanks to Polka Dot for her heads-up on this project!)

Hubris

2009-10-08T08:00:00.002-04:00

There's a line by Jane Austen, from her novel "Emma." It goes something like, "Vanity working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief."

Also, in some cases, really, really bad clothes.

The guy who is the CEO of Emanuel Ungaro is named Mounir Moufarrige, and not long ago he replaced Esteban Cortazer, who's been designing the line since 2007 (Ungaro himself retired in 2002). Actually, he was forced to replace Cortazar, who stepped down in the face of one of the most controversial hirings in the fashion world in the last long little time. Moufarrige & the PTB at the company he works for hired -- of all people -- Lindsay Lohan as "artistic adviser" for Ungaro. Whatever that might be.

Well, let's be honest -- what that might be is an extremely ill-considered bid for publicity. Ill-considered not least because not only is Ms. Lohan no longer the hot celebrette du jour, but she is not and never has been considered a stylistic force or innovator in the way some young actresses have been -- Sienna Miller, for example, or the Olsen twins. Lohan is chiefly a product of the Rachel Zoe School of Non-Style, with a soupçon of faux lesbian tossed on in an attempt to add spice. (Dude -- I've known a lot of lesbians in my life. One ~~publicity stunt~~ "relationship" with another girl doesn't make you a lesbian. Or even bisexual. Puh-leeze. Ask Anne Heche, she'll tell you.)

Long story short, Sr. Cortazar said, "No, gracias," to the idea of an arranged marriage with a muse (If you have a muse forced upon you, does that make you "be-mused"? Because he certainly wasn't "a-mused." Get it?? HAH! I crack me up!) and took it on the ol' heel & toe. So Moufarrige hired a Spanish designer named Estrella Archs to replace Cortazar and, presumably, aid Ms. Lohan in bringing her artistic vision to life. (::ahem:: For those of you who may not know, so far Ms. Lohan's artistic vision has been applied to a brand of self-tanner, and a line of leggings. Yes.)

Now, Ungaro has never been my thing, strictly speaking, but I appreciate Emanuel Ungaro's work and I thought Cortazar was getting his feet under him and heading in the right direction. (I like him even more now that he's displayed some rarely-seen-in-the-fashion-world huevos, and I hope he finds a design home with people who appreciate him soon.) Cortazar was the house's fourth-count-'em-fourth designer since Ungaro himself retired. (Before him came Peter Dundas, now wreaking havoc at Pucci, someone called Vincent Darré, and Giambatista Valli, who is enjoying quite the hot little career on his own.) So. These guys at Ungaro are either insane, idiots, or in desperate need of some Ritalin, because that is NO WAY to carry forward an established house after its namesake retires. Find someone, give him the job, and then let him sit on the egg for a while, for pete's sake. Sure sometimes a miracle occurs and you get Ghesquiere at Balenciaga (POOF! Instant success!), but mostly you gotta give a guy a minute. Especially when the namesake in question has such a strong identity from the past -- for most of us over the age of 30, when you say, "Emanuel Ungaro," what pops into our head is something like this:

Because even though Ungaro started his career at Balenciaga (with the actual Balenciaga), what most of us remember is his exuberant party-girl 80's stuff, full of color and frills and ruching and the borderline abandonment of good taste. And having looked at Archs' website, I can definitely see why she was considered for the job -- there is a lot in there that makes me think she could pick up the Ungaro baton and run with it. Dresses like this:

Which is pretty and has that same come-sit-at-our-table-and-share-our-champagne flirtiness you look for in Ungaro. She does lose the plot occasionally

but I think there's potential there. And since this was the first dress that came down the Ungaro runway the other day

I thought maybe we were on the right track. This dress here isn't going to turn the fashion world upside down, but it's filled with classic Ungaro elements. This next dress was also fun

Although it would have been better had it fit better, and I'm wondering if it isn't just the dress above with the ruffle-that-ate-Pittsburgh removed. (I don't usually go here too much, but dayum, that model is skinny. She's even skinnier than the usual model-skinny. Someone give that girl a taco!)

So, a decent start, but then everything went to hell:

What on earth?

Ungaro was famous for his use of color -- he adored fuchsia -- and I love color, too, but...

No. Lord, no.

This dress is fine

but this is not

If you can't make something as simple as this shrug fit properly, you are in trouble.

And where the hell did this come from? This looks like it dropped in from someone else's colection entirely.

Gimmickry. Gimmickry is a terrible thing in clothes.

And pasties. There were several looks featuring sequined pasties. ::sigh:: I probably don't need to say this, but if at any point in your life you find yourself seriously considering appearing in public in pasties -- sequined or otherwise -- go pour yourself a good stiff drink and go directly to bed until the urge passes.

I guess they had extra pasties and it seemed a shame to waste them. Or it's an homage to Eddie Munster? I dunno. Just terrible

It's a shame, really. The collection has been pretty universally panned and apparently all the editors and buyers (the ones who bothered to show up, that is) left the show holding their noses. Scuttlebutt has it that you will not see these clothes in either fashion magazines or retail outlets next year. The clothes aren't good enough for me to feel outraged by that, but I can't help wondering if the reaction would have been quite so negative without the Lohan element. A lot of folk in the fashion world seemed to take this appointment almost personally and there was quite a lot of huffy umbrage and expectations of failure expressed. The cool kids are definitely not ready to let Lindsay sit at their table, and I fear Ms. Archs' career is going to suffer from the association. Hopefully she'll pass quickly through the revolving door that Ungaro has become and emerge without too much damage, and given their record over the last few years that seems likely.

And Ms. Lohan can return to artistically expressing herself in spray tan.

Images: style.com, decadesinc.com, estrellarchs.com

Live Girls!!

2009-10-06T09:49:00.005-04:00

Alexander McQueen is streaming his Paris fashion show today at 8:15 Paris time (that's 1:15 pm where I am, in Central time). If you're interested (and I don't see how you couldn't be!), you can check it out on his website. This ought to be pretty cool.

When to Say When

2009-10-05T13:17:00.006-04:00

It's one of the eternal questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is the meaning of life?

How many black cardigans is too many black cardigans?

I would like to be able to tell you that I have accumulated this fairly impressive collection of inky knitwear accidentally -- that I keep forgetting I already have black cardigans at home and in episode after episode of early-onset Fashion Alzheimer's I keep buying them, like my dearly departed Grandma Stella did with boxes of band-aids (we discovered dozens of them in her bathroom cabinet after her death); but I have no such excuse. As a matter of fact, with occasional very rare exceptions I have a pretty accurate wardrobe tracker in my head. No, I've done this on purpose.

They're all different, of course. It's like the white blouses: they come in so handy, you really can't have too many of them, they're a go-to item that you have for ages, and each one has some variation in design or fiber that makes it perfect in a different way. A gal needs options, doesn't she? Like the White Blouse Collection, the Black Cardigan Collection is justified. Each of these items is slightly different from the others and each serves a specific purpose. Let's explore, shall we?

From left to right:
The first one is the newest (tag still attached, as you can see). Superfine super-soft merino wool, very long (to my knees) & slouchy. I'm very into slouchy right now. Next, wool/cashmere blend, made like a grandpa cardigan. Heavyweight and very cozy, good for when it's really chilly. Next, two-ply cashmere, crew-neck. Next, two-ply cashmere, v-neck. This one is quite fitted, I often wear it as a top without a shirt underneath it. Next, short-sleeved cashmere with fox collar. Next, cotton knit with white tipped collar and placket. Lastly, cotton baby cable.

Okay, well, not exactly lastly. After I took that photo & was putting them back in their sweater bags and drawers (because I hasten to reassure you that I do NOT hang my sweaters and I beg you will not, either), I remembered these:

The one of the left is a boiled wool sweater coat with embroidery, and the other sweater coat is big and chunky and soooo soft, it's like a bathrobe.

So.

I have a lot of black cardigans.

I feel no regret about any of my black cardis -- like I said before, I get a lot of wear out of them and it's good to always have just the thing. As a matter of fact, I've misplaced one -- the short-sleeved Banana Republic one that I bought a couple of summers ago that I fell very in love with, and I'm pretty pissed about it. I really miss that thing. But I think I may call a black cardi moratorium for the foreseeable future. I think now is when to say when.

How about you guys? What do you have multiples (or even too many) of?

Wonder Boy

2009-09-30T08:35:00.000-04:00

The Italian label Pollini is a little under the radar here in the States. It's one of those brands whose ads you see if you read French or Italian Vogue, but don't run across often in American department stores. The man who's been designing Pollini since 2004 is Rifat Ozbek, a Turkish designer whose name is probably familiar to those of us d'un certain age, but probably unknown by most of the set buying skinnies at Barney's Co-Op. Under Ozbek, Pollini's design has been heavily influenced by what Ozbek has always been known for, which is rich fabrics and heavy tribal/ethnic/exotic influences, tossed with a healthy salting of 70's boho-etry.

The PTB at Aeffe, Pollini's parent company, could not have sent a louder signal that they wanted to redirect their line than when they chose Jonathan Saunders to become its new artistic director. Saunders -- a designer I like very, very much, mind you -- is Hot Young Thing. I think he is a Hot Young Thing with actual design chops, unlike some other Hot Young Things I might mention; but nonetheless his is a name much more likely to be found on the backs of Downtownistas, It Girls, Voguettes, and the like than Ozbek, a designer in his 50's who made his bones and his devotées in the 80's. Not that Ozbek is exactly a fuddy-duddy. Check out this suit from his last collection for Pollini, in Fall 08:

Caramba, that's fantastic. Why am I not wearing that RIGHT NOW???? Seriously, this whole collection was stellar -- I urge you to go and look at it. The coats will destroy you.

Jonathan Saunders is young, talented, and a whole different ball of wax. Saunders' thing is color and construction -- his work is much more pared-down and quote-unquote modern than Ozbek's. It's good, but it's simpler, in a way, and more user-friendly for a generation of young women for whom the display of the body is a major factor in whether or not clothes are attractive. It seems to me that hard-core fashionistas in their 20's and early 30's these days divide into two camps: those for whom fashion is about showing off their sexy bodies as much as possible, and those for whom fashion is about costuming to a degree that they would look right at home in any number of video games or science fiction movies. I'm basing a lot of this judgment on what I see on the Series of Tubes -- if I look at the fashion blogs, especially the personal style blogs, that garner the most attention and devoted followings, this is the conclusion I'm led to. (Not to mention the general and oft-bemoaned tartiness-tipping-into-sluttiness I see parading around on weekend right here in Austin, which, as I have said before, is not exactly a hotbed of cutting-edge mode.)

What a lot of younger people seem to have lost is the idea of the body inhabiting clothes and being ornamented by them, which is not exactly the same as showing it off. I would venture to say that the blue pantsuit above beautifully ornaments the woman wearing it, with that obi belt like a lover's arm around her waist, but very, very little of her is actually revealed.

I will say that I think Saunders has a lot of potential to explore this kind of design. His interest in fabric and color and the shape and flow of clothing lead me to beleive that there is much more to his aesthetic than showing off the shapely legs of the models & trustafarians wearing his dresses. And maybe Massimo Ferretti (yes, married to Alberta -- the woman is a major mogul besides being a designer: Aeffe = AF) & Co. saw this in Saunders before they offered him the job at Pollini, but that's honestly more credit than I'm willing to give them, given the way big-money fashion works these days. My guess is, they see that Saunders is young and hot (and talented, which is a bonus though not a requirement) and they want to re-align their company's base with the young and hot things that are buying his clothes. Everyone wants the Balmain lightning in a bottle these days. We'll see how it turns out.

That being said (and said, and said, and said... jeebus, I'm a windbag!), I loved this collection. It almost always comes down to color and shape and line for me and Saunders has a gut-level grasp of those things that speak to me time after time.

Obviously, Saunders' demo is younger than the one Pollini has been courting up until recently, and possibly some of it is too young for me, but I really love the off-hand ease of these clothes.

I would happily wear this dress. It's hard, sometimes, to parse out the clothing from the overall look the designers and stylists have tried to create in a photo. When you stick clothing on a girl this young and skinny and arrange her in coy, cutesy, pigeon-toed poses, the effect is that of extreme youthfulness. But I think that dress is simply lovely, fresh and young but not childish, and I could wear that without feeling mutton-y at all.

Checks & plaids are evidently going to be with us in a big way once Spring rolls around next year.

I'm okay with that -- I like graphic prints.

I'm still -- STILL -- on a mission to find printed tops. I completely love this one. Boy, could I have gotten some wear out of this this summer.

And this is also dead useful and lots of fun.

And let's talk for a moment about those adorable shoes. When Aeffe brought Saunders on to be the creative director of Pollini, they also hired white-hot extreme shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood. This is a typical Kirkwood shoe:

This is not, as they say, your father's Oldsmobile. But these shoes

are adorable.

This caught me off-guard a little. Did Jonathan Saunders watch The Fashion Show?

Whatever his inspiration, I love this. I'll bet that's a perfect little flurry of motion when you walk in it, which I always love.

Speaking of perfect...

I could do so much with that little shift -- wear it by itself or as a layer over a top & slacks or another skirt, even open as a vest. What a great piece. I think it's leather, but given that I can't find any detail shots of this collection I can't be sure.

Good, streamlined, great lines on those slacks but what I'm really looking at, again, is THOSE SHOES!!! The all-black version are certainly a little more practical than the plaid ones.

I think this is my favorite look from the show.

I don't know what it is, but I've really been big into the slouchy the last six months or so, and I really love the way this hangs. Not to mention, of course, the play of the colors and fabrics. I'm not big into patchwork, I never have been, but this is a version of it I like. (Even with the asymmetric hem, something I usually disdain.)

Saunders hasn't given up designing his own label now that he's with Pollini, and I'll try to get a review of that up in the next couple of days. I'm quite behind the times, I know, but life goes on beyond my laptop screen and lately I just seem to be constantly in headless chicken mode. Plus, frankly, I can only dredge up so many Deep Thoughts About Fashion per week before I start to smell something burning -- the ol' cogitator just overheats.

Images: Style.com, bravotv.com

Wherein Style Spy Gets All Kinds of Excited

2009-09-29T11:42:00.003-04:00

In case you can't read that, it says, "Opening October 22."

I believe the phrase I am searching for is, "WOO-FREAKING-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Surprisingly Good

2009-09-28T19:11:00.001-04:00

I'm usually pretty skeptical about celebrity-turned-designer efforts. And that's because they're usually not very good. There have been occasional exceptions, and I'm really liking the Maria Sharapova Collection recently rolled out by Cole Haan. Now, I'm generally a great big fan of Cole Haan -- I think they do exceptional quality and design at what is a very reasonable price point; and their acquisition by Nike has been one of the best things to happen to feet in quite a while.

I don't know how much Maria Sharapova truly has to do with these shoes besides posing in lots of pretty advertisements, but whoever is designing them is cranking out some good work. I've already shown you these:

(click photos for links on all shoes)

A pair or possibly two of which I do plan on acquiring later in the fall. But I got an e-mail from Endless telling me that if you order a pair right now you get this free tote bag

which is danged cute. So I went looking around and I have to tell ya, I like all of the shoes in this collection. These booties, or example

are terrific. They're very much what is happening in fashion right now without being so extreme that you'll only get one season of wear out of them. That's going to be a great boot under a pair of jeans, but it's also going to be really, really good-looking with a pair of tights and a skirt. Loving it.

If you're more of a flat boot kinda gal, these are gorgeous. Click on the link to check out the detailing on this -- the back side of these boots are suede and the strap detailing is just edgy enough -- they're not boring old black boots. If you were planning on doing any traveling this fall and were going to do a lot of walking, these are your ticket right here -- they'll go with anything and still look chic.

We all need a good sexy sandal...

These come in black as well, but I maintain (and I'm in good company) that gold is a neutral, and every woman should have a pair of gold sandals in her wardrobe. I love the platforms on these, they're reminiscent of the YSL Tribute sandal without being a carbon copy, and this is another one you should click on to look at the close-up: the buckles on all those straps are the little toothed slider kind, so you can make them exactly as tight or loose as you want them. Great shoe.

There's also a great flat suede over-the-knee boot and a beautiful almond-toed tie-front pump that's extremely elegant. Collect all six!

I hope someone will give some of these shoes a try and let me know how they work out. (Style Spy is on a bit of a shoe diet these days, or I'd give you first-hand testimony.)

Pretty For Friday -- September 25

2009-09-25T10:35:00.004-04:00

Good googly-moogly...

Stuart Weitzman - Scrinchable (Taupe Pizzo Suede) - Footwear

I am a little faint, and my clicking finger is twitching. Stepping away from the computer now...

I Read Magazines

2009-09-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

A lot. Mostly, I read fashion magazines. I love 'em. I have entirely too many subscriptions and the reason I don't have more is that those dingdong furrin ones like British Bazaar and French Vogue cost a fortune to be delivered.

I adore magazines. I know there are a lot of great online ones out there now, but I still prefer good old honest-to-goodness glossy paper. This probably has a lot to do with my age and my teensy laptop screen, but there's nothing I love more than climbing into a nice fluffy bed with a brand-new copy of "W." Bliss.

Sometimes I read great stuff in the magazines. Some of them get surprisingly talented & reputable writers to throw down for them and in between the hypersaturated shots of prettypretty clothes & shoes you can find some really good journalism.

But sometimes I read things that cause me to lift an eyebrow. Like this from the September issue of Allure, from a cover story on young actress Amanda Seyfried (don't ask me who she is, I've already forgotten):

"Her elfin looks, which (despite her long blonde hair and tiny waist) are, she believes, inferior to those of, say, Natalie Portman. "I am surrounded by an industry full of beautiful actresses!" Seyfriend says despairingly. "They're everywhere!"

Hideous troll Amanda Seyfried

Yes, poor girl. Her movie star status is such a testament to Hollywood's tolerance for the ugly and imperfect. (Also, I've read more elegant sentence structure scrawled on the walls of public restrooms.)

Sometimes both eyebrows raise. I snorted out loud when I read this tidbit from an interview with model Erin Wasson in the September issue of UK Bazaar:

"Katie Grand rang me, and asked if I'd model in Giles' A/W 09 London show. I hadn't walked a runway in years. It was awesome -- and a bit surreal, being 27 and surrounded by 16-year-olds."

Ancient crone Erin Wasson in the Giles Fall 09 runway show

Poor old dear. I do hope they let her use her cane to hobble up onto the runway. (Not to mention that Erin Wasson was born & raised in Texas -- nobody rang her for anything. They might have called her up, but it's doubtful they rang her.)

But occasionally I read something that makes me smile. A lot. This next was also in UK Bazaar. There was an article featuring interviews with the men who are the partners of successful women -- people like Taylor Hackford talking about Helen Mirren, and David Hare talking about Nicole Fahri. But far & away my favorite was from Andreas Kronthaler, who is married to the legendary Vivienne Westwood. Kronthaler was 25 when he met Westwood. She was 50. that was almost 20 years ago, and they are still, by all accounts, very happily together.

Kronthaler says, "Wherever I go with Vivienne, whoever we're with, I always fancy her the most out of everyone. Always. We were recently at a party in New York -- all these New York women were there -- and Vivienne just smiled and I thought, "Nobody is like her. No one is anywhere near...' I'd rather be with her than with all of them."

Original cougar Vivienne Westwood and husband Andreas Kronthaler

He's certainly got that right. There is no one like her. I want to be Vivienne Westwood when I grow up.

Images: allure.com, style.com,

Tasty Delight

2009-09-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

"Commercial."

It's a tricky word. Depending on tone & expression, it can be the highest of compliments or the meanest of sneers.

In 2007, Phillip Lim won the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America). Also nominated that year were Thakoon Panichgul and Kate & Laura Mulleavy, the designers of Rodarte. All of them are still in business; all of them, as a matter of fact, are thriving. Not all of them are "commercial."

The Sisters Mulleavy seem to have no interest whatsoever in being commercial. Their clothing has developed a nearly-cult following among the cutting-edgiest of fashionistas on our two coasts and abroad. My guess is that there are huge swaths of middle America who've never heard of Rodarte, and my other guess is that the Mulleavys don't care. Rodarte has gotten increasingly "design-y" over time. Their work is what we in the biz call "editorial," which means it looks fantastic in photos in W, but is not likely to be something an actual human would wear. (This does not mean it's bad by a long shot -- I think Laura & Kate Mulleavy are hugely talented, I love looking at their stuff.) Their prices, also, are not commercial. Astronomical, more like. Four-figure skirts are not uncommon. And good luck even finding any of it -- quite a lot of googling reveals only a few online portals that carry it, and the "stockists" section on their website is pretty meager.

Thakoon is perhaps a little better-known, although still not exactly a household name. His designs are a lot more accessible, and his prices are slightly lower, but his dresses will still often set you back close to two grand.

Phillip Lim, on the other hand? Well, by the time he won the above-mentioned award, he was in 300 stores, and I'm guessing it's more now. And his most expensive dresses price out at about where Thakoon's start. Phillip Lim? Is commercial. He and his business partner Wen Zhou are determined to keep their production costs down and by doing so keep their clothing more affordable. You will usually find Phillip Lim's clothes in the "Contemporary" or bridge section of a high-end department store. His price tags would look very out of whack hanging with the Lanvins and the Posens and the Proenza Schoulers.

His clothes would not.

You do not have to reinvent the wheel every four months to be a good designer. You just have to make attractive, flattering clothes that have a point of view.

Phillip Lim knows how to do this. He does it really, really well. I'm crazy for the shape of these pants. They're trouser-y and slouchy without being ridiculous. I have one pair of 3.1 slacks of my own and I absolutely adore them. Kate Hepburn would have loved Phillip Lim's pants.

Red patent trench coat? Sign me up. If you don't love that, your heart is made of stone. (Or PVC.)

Season after season, Phillip Lim comes up with a collection of clothes that are somewhere in between basics and thrillers and even in this economy, he is King of the Sell-Through. ("Selling through" means that all the stuff you send to a store gets bought. By actual customers. With real money. Which is a phenomenon that a lot of designers haven't experienced in quite a while.) As much 3.1 as you see on the floor in a Neiman Marcus or Barney's store, there's surprisingly little of it at those outlets. (Random thought: You know what there's always a lot of at the Austin Last Call? Escada. Really blah, dowdy Escada.)

I'm really feeling like I need to pick up a few leather pieces for this fall/winter. Leather is really big this year. This skirt would be a great start.

As would this very, very perfect tuxedo. Think how much even sexier that would be on a woman who looked older than 12!

There were bags in this collection, I think for the first time. It will be interesting to see what their price points are -- whether Lim will succumb to the allure of the easy money to be found in the It Bag, or whether he stays true to his ethos of making affordable clothes.

If he does keep the prices reasonable, that bag is going to be really hard for me to resist. That's fantastic.

If he's good enough for Christian Louboutin, who's evidently doing his shoes, he's good enough for me.

This is the second show I've reviewed with a big emphasis on the two-tone, spectator-flavored shoe. I love it. And oh, these are so good.

Helloooooo, nurse!! Good googly-moogly, those are FANTASTIC.

There were a couple of missteps, of course. Remember what I said about women not liking their pants to be too funny-shaped?

I guess technically they're leggings? Maybe? Leggings are HUGE right now in the fashion-y world. Every possible permutation you can imagine are showing up -- sequined, zippered, shredded, leather, lycra, lace... you name it, someone's finding a way to incorporate it into a legging. Whatever these are, I'm not thinking I love them.

And this, while plenty interesting, is a little too familiar.

It's way too much like this and other dresses from Rodarte Fall 08:

Although I do really like it from the back. Lim is a big fan of the exposed zipper.

This next is great from the front and back. Easy, fun, slouchy sequined t-shirt dress from the front:

Sexy double-take maker from the back. This one will sell through, and do it fast. Great dress.

I love the combination of the sequined fabric and the easy-to-wear shape.

More good sequins.

Another shape I love:

This boxy jacket is a bit reminiscent of the 80's, but it's not so extreme it's costume-y. (If you're in your mid-40's like me, the 80's are a time in fashion viewed with cautious fondness.) And again, I really love the shape of those trousers.

There was a whole section of dresses that managed to be really cool and yet really pretty.

I like the combination of fabrics and I just love those crystal pleats -- that's one of my favorite textures.

This one was my favorite:

See what I mean about the leather? Tellin' ya -- it's everywhere.

Lim's clothes do skew a little young, as befits his place in the Contemporary section, but there are always plenty of pieces in every collection that a grow-up can easily work into her wardrobe. Like I said, I have a few bits of 3.1 in my closet and I plan on acquiring some more. I predict a long and successful career for Phillip Lim. I think he will continue to be rewarded for trying to keep real women and their budgets in mind when he makes clothes. His stuff is wearable but hip, well-constructed, and his sizing is reasonable and consistent (it shouldn't matter, but we know that it does, don't we?). He's one of my current favorites, and I live in fear of the day I see a headline telling me that he's being bought by LVMH or the Gucci group.

I continue to plow dutifully through all the runway coverage. It's slow going, but keep checking back here for more!

Images: style.com

Fashion Hubbub!

2009-09-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

Oh, my goodness! Controversy on the runway!

Canadian designer Mark Fast has only been showing at London Fashion week for a couple of seasons now, but he's already cemented a reputation. The Central Saint Martins graduate focuses on knitwear -- but we're not talking about twin sets here. Fast makes knitted dresses for the nightclub set -- dresses so tight and so slashed and so revealing that the corollary to Fast's reputation is that when it comes to his clothes, regular-sized gals need not apply. (His first collection was made in only one size.)

This apparently did not make Mr. Fast happy, and for his runway show last week the decision was made to include a few women who were larger than the typical runway models. Specifically, the models, who are represented by "Plus-Size" agencies, were British sizes 12 - 14 (which is translates roughly to an American 8 - 12). According to Mr. Fast's creative director, Amanda May, "We wanted women to know they don't have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress - curvier women can look even better in one."

Okay, great! So far, so good. Except that what resulted from this decision was that Fast's lead stylist and casting director quit in a big, skinny huff backstage when he refused to back down from his decision to use these ENORMOUS women in his fashion show.

Oh, for pete's...

Now. The question isn't whether Fast should have used models in larger sizes. That's a yes. It's a great idea and I think all of us who love fashion can applaud it, regardless of our own personal sizes. Inclusiveness = good! The question is also not whether, if the stylist they were using couldn't come up with better undergarment alternatives than the ones that came down the runway, perhaps Fast should continue his search for a show stylist, because obviously this person is not at the top of her game. Disgraceful.

Neither is the question whether or not it's ridiculous to paint the woman above as "plus-sized." Yes, she is obviously a bit larger than most of the women stalking down the runway in these holey knee socks posing as dresses, but she looks perfectly normal to me. This is not someone who screams "special sizes" to me. As a matter of fact, while the two models above were easy for me to pick out

in comparison to most of the typically-bone-thin girls in the rest of the show, the third "plus-size" model eluded me. I seriously wasn't sure which other of the models was supposed to be so gigantic that she caused a career-ending hissy fit on the part of this stylist. Which tells you a little something about the degree of change we're talking about here -- that degree being not too damn much.

So, bully for Mark Fast for taking a stand for all the real-life women in the world and speaking up for body diversity and all that jazz. He deserves our sincere appreciation. But the real question?

Why would anyone of any size want to wear any of these clothes?

Because my friends, I don't care how heavy or skinny or curvy or bony or whatever you might be -- that is one ugly dress.

Images: Style.com

Red Carpet Extravaganza -- 2009 Emmy Awards

2009-09-21T13:20:00.003-04:00

Here is my review of the fashion at the 2009 Emmy Awards, which happened last night.

They all looked like this.

Jenna Fischer in Reem Acra

Ummmmmmm...

Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got on that. I'm going to go make lunch now.

Image: Style.com

Seven Minutes of Joy

2009-09-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am delighted by Isaac Mizrahi.

Not just for this collection, but ongoingly. Overjoyed and delighted. I really do feel like Isaac is a guy after my own heart and that if we ever met we'd be "crazy besties" (which is gawdawful fashion mag-speak for best friends) and not for nothin' but redhead here would be more than happy to function as muse and walking billboard for a guy I think is one of the most consistently fabulous designers working.

I love Isaac Mizrahi because he loves a lot of the things I love. He likes day wear that is easily turned into evening, or at least cocktail, wear. He loves color -- uses tons of it. He has a sense of humor and it shows in his clothes. He is ironic about himself, but not about his customers, which means that season after season he creates clothing because he wants to please people. Not to astound or puzzle or challenge them -- he wants women to put on his clothes and feel beautiful & happy. "I still believe," Mizrahi said, "that fashion has to be gorgeous and colorful and fun." Good googly-moogly, we could use a few more like him.

This collection was inspired by Fred Astaire, an icon long worshiped for his effortless male chic (would that be chic-ismo?). Astaire famously used ascots and neckties as belts, and this ribbon on the waist of these fantastic loose trousers pays homage to that. The women-are-sexy-in-menswear thing is a bit of an overused trope in fashion, but clichés are clichés because they are true, and the power and confidence a woman gets from a perfectly fitted pair of trousers can't help but translate into sex appeal.

Such a great jacket, with that big flounce detail. I wish I could find some detail shots from this show, but no one seems to have any. (This really grates my cheese. Style.com will show me 9000 obsessive photos of Alexander Wang's dumb tightey-whitey-inspired whatever-they-ares, but they can't be bothered to show me the seaming on this jacket? Ppppflflflflflflffltttttt to them, is what I say.)

(Also, while I'm on the subject of Style.com, a website, mind you, on which I rely very heavily, can I just whinge for a moment about the unrequested video ads that keep popping up? It is the MOST annoying thing to be trying to look at photos and have your screen be unceremoniously hijacked by a video Ralph Lauren ad. If I want to look at the ad, I'll click on it, thankyouverymuch.)

No detail shots means I can't quite make out what kind of fabric this adorable, perfect sheath dress is made from. It has texture, which I love and which keeps it from being too basic to be interesting.

That's a Twenty Year Dress, that is. You could wear that forever.

Just the other day I was saying how difficult it is to do underwear as outerwear and do it well, but here's a great example of it.

What a great bustier. Sexy without being tarty. And I don't have to tell you how much I love that skirt, do I?

Jumpsuits are tricky. This one is wonderful.

This collection seemed very much about paying tribute to different golden eras of Hollywood. Usually when some mind-numbing cable television personality stands in front of a camera on the red carpet and drones on about "old Hollywood glamor," you can expect to see a starlet in a bias-cut charmeuse gown. But there were other moments of great Hollywood fashion besides Jean Harlow, and I adore this 20's-inflected dress. It plays with the "flapper" idea without being too literal. And oh, my goodness, I would rock that dress, ifIdosaysomyself.

This is too desperately short for real life, but I forgive it because of the movement and shimmer and sparkle that is somehow more bouncy and fun than the usual heavy-duty glitz of a sequined dress. Compare this to one of the crystallized suits of armor that have been coming out of Balmain lately:

How could anything so sparkly be so glum? That dress doesn't look fun, that dress looks like a chore.

This, however?

Not a chore. And yet another dress I would rock. Poor Isaac, designing all these clothes for a muse he's never met...

Here's that flapper silhouette again. Note the pink tulle peeking out at the hem. Does that not make you squee a little bit? It does, admit it.

This dress? Floats. It floats, like a flower on the breeze. Stunning. One of my favorite things about Mizrahi is how much he can do with a very simple shape. So flattering -- and would that not be a spectacular wedding dress?

This is less simple, but still a long way from being overdone. The starkness of that chalk-white, perfectly plain bustier against that shreddy tulle skirt is enough to give yours truly the vapors. What a beautiful, beautiful gown.

I've saved my favorite for last.

This was a jaw-dropper for me. I gasped so loud I startled the cat. I haven't seen very many things that I think are more perfectly me than this outfit. As I just said, I am a sucker for the strict tailoring paired with the over-the-top flou, and we all know how much I love tulle. I took one look at that and decided I had to have it. Unortunately, my checkbook does not agree with my racing fashionista heart, so I'm going to DIY it. I've already gotten started -- I bought a knit tube skirt from American Apparel (longer than this one, FYI) to use as a base, and I've found the perfect ballet pink fine-gauge tulle. There will be much draping and pinning (and consternation, probably) before it's all done, but I think I can pull it off. I have a couple of good alternative for the jacket, and I just get all kiiiiinds of happy imagining the various shoe alternatives I could work with this outfit. (Complete Fashionista Accessories Geek-Out, coming up!) I'll keep you posted & let you see it when it's done, don't worry. If I pull it off, you must all promise to invite me to every party and/or formal function you attend for the next six months, so I have somewhere to wear it. Deal?

Cathy Horyn, on her blog, mentions "that sublime quality of feeling that Mr. Mizrahi manages to inject in his fashion shows" and (as usual) I wholeheartedly agree with her. Besides the exuberance and wit in his clothes, there is also a quality of generosity and almost a tenderness about them, as if they were all made as a gift for someone he loved very much.

I'm going to do something unusual and post a video of the whole show here. Watch it. It's about seven minutes long, and it's seven minutes of joy. Not a bad way to start your Monday.

Images: Style.com

Designer Spaghetti

2009-09-17T09:49:00.008-04:00

I have been having a heck of a hard time trying to get a review written of the Marc Jacobs show. I don't quite know what to say about it, because I don't quite know what he's trying to say. Reviewers are reporting that Jacobs says he was inspired by the ballet and by musical theater, and also that he's tired of the downtown Goth look of black leather and studs that's been ubiquitous for a couple of seasons now. He wanted to give women more opportunities to express their individuality, he said. He just had fun, he said.

Is all of this designer-code for, "I dunno. I just threw a bunch of stuff out there"?

No, I don't really believe that. Jacobs is too thoughtful a designer for that. I think he's capable of truly great, truly groundbreaking design. I don't think this collection is it.

I couldn't even get a really good handle on how to present it to you. There were some great tailored coats

there were some ruffles,

(LOTS of ruffles)

and there were coats combined with ruffles.

Yeah, the pants... We need to talk about those pants. Because while I've heard my friend Plumcake advocate for the return of the bloomer/pantaloon, I think she's a lone voice in the wilderness here. I just don't see women going for these pants. I can imagine a few second-tier starlets being talked into them by their stylists while their common sense is otherwise engaged by amphetamines of various flavors, but I don't see these flying out of the stores.

These are a slightly less "WTF??" version, but still... I don't see it happening. If there's one thing we've learned in the last few seasons, it's that real-life women (the ones NOT in the fashion industry and over the age of 24) are extremely resistant to funny-shaped pants. You can narrow or widen the leg a certain amount, raise or lower the rise, crop or lengthen a bit, but basically? We want pants that look like pants. Not nappies or bike shorts.

There were several exits that featured the under-as-outerwear thing. Jacobs has played with this before, notably the Spring 08 "Deconstructed" collection, and I thought it was more successful there. Does it need to be explored further? Personally, I don't think so. It's SO hard to do this well. Occasionally someone hits it bang-on and it's marvelous, but most of the time it's just teetering on the edge of tacky and tipping over all too often.

I wanted to like the ruffles, but these

are just not the kind of ruffles I like. This kind of ruffled/pleated trim reminds me too much of tacky polyester little girls' First Communion dresses, or tacky polyester quinceañera dresses. And this dress in particular looks like a fallen tree that's been overgrown with some sort of lichen or moss or something. (Betcha that's the first and last time I ever use the word "lichen" in a fashion review.)

And don't even get me started on the shoes from this show

Yech. Those look absolutely impossible -- proof that just because a shoe is a flat doesn't make it wearable. They do point toward a Japanese influence, however. Often in a runway show you can get a better clue about what the designer is shooting for from the accessories and hair and makeup than from the actual clothes. Jacobs often mentions how influenced he is by Rei Kawakubo and other Japanese modernists.

You can really feel that in the proportion of these jackets, and the piece-y-ness of all the looks.

There were certainly some things I liked. There was a short sequence of looks where I felt like I was beginning to get my bearings a bit.

I liked the long, narrow shape here, the detail without clutter, the really, really gorgeous insets on that skirt. but then he tossed out this thing

and it all went to hell. Oh, lordy, I hate that.

This jacket, however

I do not hate. This jacket I loooooove.

If I were going to pull one thing out of this collection to put into my own closet, it would be that jacket.

I also really liked a section of long, handkerchief-y dresses

Love the suspension neckline on this, and the fabric, and the droplets of pearls around the edge. I think that's lovely. I like them in spite of their asymmetrical hems because the dresses aren't about the hemlines, the hemlines are just part of the dresses, and I like the movement and lightness it gives them. He played even more with the embellishment

I really like this dress, although I think I may like it in theory more than I like the idea of actually wearing it. I can't help but admire the work that's gone into it. Jacobs really went to town with the sequins -- we may be reaching the sequin apotheosis soon, friends, good heavens it must have been good to be a sequin manufacturer the last few seasons.

Again, I think I'm responding more to the cleverness of the way the sequins were used than the actual garment. And even more so here

Wow. That's just... wow. I love open-work, and sequins, and sheerness...

I hate the shape of those pants, and the gimmicky use of underwear. You are going to see a LOT of this in fashion magazines this winter, the editors are going to lose their stiletto-clad shit for this. I do not think you will see it anywhere else.

The editors are right, really, whether or not you want to wear the actual clothes. When the history of fashion for this era is written, Marc Jacobs is going to be an important name, but his influence can take a long time to trickle down into the mainstream. Is he ahead of the curve? Is he just lucky? Or does his influence have more to do with his endless capacity for self-promotion than his design talent? I don't know the answer to that. I do know that I often really love Marc Jacobs' designs. I also often don't like them much at all, and don't understand what he's trying to say with them. You can say, Oh, it's just fashion, why does it have to "say" anything? But if you view fashion design as an art form (and I do), you can't help but look for some sort of cohesion in the artist's vision. The great thing about fashion as an art form is that its artists have a chance to either scrap what they were doing and start off completely fresh every season (Miuccia Prada), spend a lifetime ongoingly refining and elaborating a defining vision (Ralph Rucci) or something in-between. Looked at with a long, looooong lens, Marc Jacobs' trajectory makes sense to me, with a few loops backward and forward as he goes. I think he does have a vision, but I don't think he's necessarily working toward something; I think there's a good deal of spaghetti-against-the-wall stuff going on. That indecisiveness gives me a little aesthetic indigestion sometimes, but that's probably more my issue than his.

This was the last exit in the show. It's a dress I'm not really crazy about as a dress, but I do adore the effect of it.

Like scribbles on tissue paper. Beautiful. As with so many things Jacobs has made, I don't want to wear it, but I do like looking at it.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this review up, and that I haven't gotten more out there about the runway shows happening. It takes me a while to write these silly posts -- longer, I'm sure, than their merit justifies, and I'm having a busy week or two right now. Please bear with me, I'm hoping to get some serious work done over the weekend.

Images: Style.com

Bride of Quietness

2009-09-14T17:52:00.010-04:00

Like the poet said, Beauty is truth

And truth, beauty

That is all ye know on earth,

and all ye need to know.

Ralph Rucci, as I have stated here many times before, is one of my very favorite designers. His line is called Chado, which is the name for the formal Japanese tea ceremony. It's an apt name -- Rucci's clothes have a quiet grace that echoes the stately beauty of classical Japanese art.

Unlike a lot of my favorite designers (Miuccia Prada springs to mind as an example), Rucci doesn't drop a lot of design bombs -- his collections are remarkably consistent from season to season, and always recognizable. The silhouette is nearly always quite simple, almost severe, with very subtle embellishments.

One of his favorite motifs is this sort of sheer insert. Other hallmarks include unusual, complicated, detailed seaming and extremely rich fabrics (lots of double-faced cashmere and gorgeous silks).

This makes his clothes both unbelievably beautiful and ungodly expensive.

These are investment pieces (again, are you listening, Alexander Wang?) of the highest order, which is what you would (and should) expect when you're shelling out four figures for a jacket. Rucci's color palette is primarily neutrals and consistent from season to season. If you have the means to procure them, these are the sorts of clothes that form the spine of a lifetime wardrobe -- the perfect pair of pants, the jacket that finishes every outfit to perfection, the cocktail dress that can be worn for twenty years. You don't see Rucci on trendistas, because he doesn't follow trends. Rucci has his own inner design compass that he follows with remarkable consistency and purity. He's not as well-known as many designers, doesn't get that red carpet press, doesn't show up on the cover of Vogue. He just quietly, beautifully works away making stunning, perfect clothing season after season.

The Spring 2010 collection featured several pieces with all these wonderful feathery bits, which you can imagine pleased Style Spy no end.

Just love all that peeping out from underneath the hem, and love the swing-y bell of that skirt. Note also that sheer inset at the waist -- I couldn't find a picture of the back of this dress, but I'll bet the whole thing is sheer. Lovely.

Rucci often features several pieces in printed fabrics in every collection. According to Nicole Phelps's review on Style.com, the Spring 2010 collection was inspired by Pina Bausch, the choreographer/dancer who passed away this year and I believe that is her actual photograph printed on the dress above.

I'll spare you my usual nattering on -- these clothes don't really need a lot of commentary. There aren't any drastic design shifts or statements to comment on, just really, really beautiful, finely-crafted clothes.

Rucci's clothes are my aspirational garments. Bargainista shopper that I am, I don't run into his stuff all that often, and even discounted it tends to be out of my range.

Oh, that makes me dizzy, it's so beautiful. I understand why starlets don't wear his clothes -- they aren't flashy enough for the red carpet, they don't obviously compete with the skin-tight spangles favored by most folks at awards ceremonies. But imagine being the woman in a room filled with Elie Saab excess and Badgely Mischka foofaraws, wearing the black dress above. Serene, I think, would be a good adjective to describe you. The photographers might not be climbing over themselves to take a photo of you. But I do not think you would care.

And my favorite, saved for last

Perfect. Truth, beauty, and pockets. What more do you need?

Images: Style.com, Elle.com

New York Fashion Week Pt. 1 -- Football and Hippies

2009-09-14T09:56:00.006-04:00

It's Fashion Week! Let's not waste time with clever introductory copy, shall we? Let's get right to it!

Oh, everyone loves Alexander Wang. And by everyone I mean all the so-called "It Girls" whose professional lives seems to consist of posing, smoking, and drinking. And Anna Wintour -- she loves Alexander Wang, too. Me? Not so much. I suppose if I were 5'10" and weighed 117 pounds and didn't mind spending $245 on a t-shirt (I'm not, I don't, and I do) I would be more his target audience. Mostly I just find his clothes a mish-mash of droopy draping and minminminiskirts, with the odd 80's reference thrown in, because that's what you do these days when you are a hip 20-something. I theorize that a large part of his popularity is down to the fact that much of his style is very easy for teenaged fashion bloggers to emulate by purchasing great big t-shirts and sweaters at thrift stores and then strategically slashing and belting them á la Wang. Sloppy, apparently, is the new black. I suppose it's possible this hipster wunderkind will evolve into an interesting designer, but I'm not seeing it so far. In his most recent collection he bangs on about how "his girls" want "investment pieces" that are "timeless and classic." Dude. If you can effectively copy a design with an old sweatshirt and a pair of scissors, it's not an investment piece. This is what you will learn, I hope, when you grow up.

These are the things his clients love -- super-short, skin-tight, and not particularly interesting except for the variety of ways they give the wearer to expose skin. Expect to see this dress many times over in gossip columns and out-&-about-with-the-In-Crowd reportage. There's already one standing in line at the Beatrice Inn.

This collection found Wang to be very inspired by, of all things, football, which is just weird. (It's not nostalgia on his part -- trust me, young mister did not play football.) Is this what he means by classic?

It wasn't all this literal, but it was all this dumb.

Moving on...

DVF is still working the boho/hippie chic thing that her last show did.

Oh. My. God. If I see one more droopy maxi dress I am going to run mad, I swear. I was really, really hoping this was a trend that would have run its course by the fall and crawled back to the rusty late 60's VW bus where it's been living. The flower-child head blossoms are not helping.

Good heavens! Too much stuff!! TOO MUCH STUFF!!!!

Gracious. That's... a lot of tiger.

I've been a bit disappointed with DVF the last few seasons because I feel like she's somewhat betrayed her customer base, which is folks like me. The original ethos behind DVF's work was to create chic, affordable clothes for grown-up women who needed workwear and daywear. But since the It Crowd (I'm really having a problem with the It Crowd today, aren't I? I sound like a 7th-grade girl whining about how she's not popular.) re-discovered her wrap dress a few years ago and business started booming again, she skews younger and younger all the time. And I've complained here before about how small she cuts -- you typically have to go up 2 or 3 sizes in DVF. I talk a good game about size just being a number printed on a tag, but still... Her size chart is disheartening.

It's almost not worth reviewing a DVF runway show, because for as many looks as she shows (43 exits for this one alone), there will be several times more than that making it to the retail floor. The woman must have an ARMY of design assistants working for her, and I do believe they continue releasing a full raft of stuff ongoingly every couple of months. So if you don't like these things, wait fifteen minutes -- there'll be more.

I do not want to like Victoria Beckham's clothes, I truly do not.

But it would be simple churlishness not to point out that this dress is really lovely.

This collection, which is Beckham's third, is small, and tightly edited. So far she's only doing dresses and they are predominantly evening wear. I have skewered, castigated and mocked Victoria Beckham many a time in this blog, but I have to admit -- girlfriend looooooves her some fashion and for that I give her credit. This collection showed a couple of silhouettes that varied from her usual skin-tight column thing and honestly? I really, really liked 'em.

Come on. That's just fun. And pretty -- really, really pretty.

I don't believe I've ever seen Beckham herself in anything this unstructured

but I'd wear that in a heartbeat. I LOVE that.

There has been a lot of noise and speculation about whether or not Roland Mouret is ghost-designing Beckham's clothes. Mouret himself denies it assiduously, although the two of them are friends and he cops to having introduced her to a lot of behind-the-scenes folks like pattern-makers to help her get her business off the ground. I don't know why they'd deny it if it weren't true, but there are a lot of things in this ol' world that escape my comprehension. Victoria Beckham, silly as she may have been at times, does not actually seem so ego-driven that she wouldn't have seen the benefits from having a designer as hot as Mouret attached to her namesake line as it was starting out and trying to gain some traction. I dunno. I don't care, really. I'd hate to see a designer not get credit where it's due, but if he's okay with it, who am I to quibble? All I know is, a good dress is a good dress, and this?

Is a good dress. That's a freaking GREAT dress, is what that is, and if fitted properly could be worn by lots of women whose bodies were not taut and shiny enough to do Armani underwear ads.

I love this one, as well. 'Cause it's red! And also because it's simple and elegant and classic (are you listening, Alexander Wang?) and beautiful and stylish without being gimmicky. There were a couple of missteps in this show and certainly more than one piece with Beckham's usual figure-hugging lines, but on the whole I really liked this, and I liked that she seems to be taking small steps forward.

There's more to come on Fashion Week, so stay tuned!

Pretty For Friday -- September 11

2009-09-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

Good.

Googly.

Moogly.

Jil Sander layered leather boots. Available at Barney's and Brown's.

That is absolutely one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. My heart is grown dark and smoky with boot-lust. Those are the sort of boots that could lead a person like me to commit acts of criminality large and small, without remorse. Do ya reckon I could get at least $1895 (plus shipping) for my soul? Go on, make me an offer...

Images: BrownsFashion.com