Practical, Shmactical

John Galliano is the Mad Genius of fashion and believe me, I mean that as a compliment. You have to be possessed by a bit of divine madness to put something like this on the runway:


But before you dismiss him as completely impractical and ridiculous, look at what that beautiful madness above from Haute Couture Fall 2006 had morphed into by the time Ready to Wear S/S 2007 came around:


That is a beautiful and wearable suit. Not madness at all.

Galliano's Haute Couture collections for Christian Dior are always some of my favorite fashion events of the year. They sum up everything I want couture to be - delirious visions of the far reaches of fashion possibility. Galliano does not flinch in the face of the impractical. He certainly doesn't compromise his vision, and for that I adore him.


Some people look at photos of clothes like these and say, "But where would I ever wear something like that? You know what the answer is? The answer is: "That's not really the point."


I marveled & swooned & ooh'd & ah'd over this collection, with its Cio-Cio-San meets the New Look riot of color and shape.


I can't stop imagining the sound these clothes must make -- that wonderful rustling noise that for most women from childhood onward has meant "special occasion." With every step, that tulle skirt would whisper, "Beautful! Beautiful!"

Is it shredded tulle? Angels' wings? Who can tell?

Probably some of these are going to show up on the red carpet at the Oscars, but they'll be dumbed-down for Hollywood and robbed of much of their magic, in my opinion.

But, you say. Beautiful those things may be, but I live in the real world. I have to go to work/the grocery store/teachers' meetings at my kids' schools. I understand. So I prowled around a little this weekend to find some things that just might bring a little bit of Galliano's madness within reach. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)






I'm showing you these close-ups so you can marvel at the amazing detail and construction of this dress, but note that the overall effect of it is very kimono-like, with a wrapped top and defined waist, which is an extremely flattering shape to most of us.


Try it in something like this easy little silk dress I found at Envie here in Austin. It's by Single Dress, and goes for $238. There's a tie in the back so you can cinch up the waist or not as you need to. A really great spring into summer dress -- you could put a t-shirt or even a collared white blouse underneath it.


I'm transfixed by this dress, I'm dying to see it in real life.


How did they do that? Is it really origami? How many layers is that?



Here we have the idea of a great, simple shape in a supremely useful neutral. (I, of course, would wear red shoes with this dress. I hope you will, too.) Great A-line skirt (as you come to know me better, you will learn that I am a rabid fan of the A-line, because it looks good on absolutely everyone).


Here's a close-up of the ribbon work detailing at the bottom -- so pretty. I love tone-on-tone texture details. This little beauty was at Fetish. It's Byron Lars for Beauty Mark, is all cotton with a hint of spandex, and retails for $374.


I'm a sucker for embroidery. So I really fell for this:



Modeled by the lovely and sweet Lorna at Adelante, this is a really terrific spring weight cotton coat. Great seaming for a great shape, and the detailing is to die for.


It's Chan Luu, and sells for $304.

So, take heart. You may not yet have the sort of life wherein you can swan about in ball gowns on a daily basis (note that I said "yet"), but there are still lots of easy ways to be beautiful, and maybe even a tiny bit divinely mad.

Photos: Style.com and Style Spy

We Have Our Own Table in the Cafeteria

I'm an utter dork. I admit it. That loud noise you may have heard earlier today was me completely geeking out as I opened my mail. Why the Fashion Geek squee? Because I received my ticket to Balenciaga and the Transformation of 20th Century Fashion, a symposium being held at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in conjunction with Balenciaga and His Legacy, a collection of the coutourier's work that will be shown at the Meadows Museum.

(I would wear this dress, and I would rock this dress.)

Yes. A whole day of sitting in a lecture hall listening to folks give talks about a clothing designer. Lordy, I am squirming in anticipation. I described the event for a male friend, who listened with a polite smile and slightly glassy eyes and then said, "That sounds like fun. For you."

I know I'm a geek. I know that driving 200 miles to listen to a day of fashion lectures is roughly the Fashionista equivalent of building your own Stormtrooper costume so you can march in a platoon at the Rose Parade. I'm no better than any Gandalf-worshipping 15 year-old playing weekend-long games of Dungeons & Dragons.

Just better dressed.

But for pete's sake -- Harold Koda!! And Pamela Golbin, the woman who edited this gorgeous book, which accompanied the exhibit at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris:

(My wonderful friend and fellow Fashion Geek Barbara gave me this book for Christmas. It's my Happy Place. When I'm stressed out, I can retire to its pages and imagine myself a Balenciaga client circa 1968, being led into the Blue Salon for my fitting.)

At any rate, all the lecturing and Q&A-ing culminates in a reception and tour of the exhibit itself. (Again, squee-ing and squirming.) I doubt they'll let me take pictures, but don't worry. I'll tell you aaaaaall about it.

dress photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monsieur Lacroix et Moi

These, as you may recall, are the shoes I've been obsessing over:

(Christian Lacroix Couture, S/S 2007)

And these are the shoes I've created to soothe my obsession:

(Sorry about the crummy photos, but it is remarkably difficult to get shots of your own feet!)

I'm actually rather pleased with them. I wore them out tonight for a birthday dinner with My Girls (Happy Birthweek, Anita!) with a black skirt and my favorite white blouse. I'm going to stay on the lookout for a pale pink or nude shoe that will work in the same way, but I've had these little red satin numbers in my closet for a few years now, and those strappy bits across the toes made them perfect for attaching flowers to. I got the sweet little fabric flowers from Connie Day, my favorite vintage dealer. (If you're in Austin & hankering after vintage, go see her at the Austin Antique Mall. You wouldn't BELIEVE some of the stuff she's got. Plus, she's a love.)

Now, perhaps they aren't quite as fabulous as M. Lacroix's shoes. However, those are probably going to run you a cool 500 - 600 bucks, minimum. The red ones above came from Foley's (before it became Macy's). Pretty sure they were on sale and set me back well under $50.00. The sweet little flowers came to $7.50, and I've got scads left over. I pulled apart the little bunches and wrapped the wired stems around the straps on the shoes. Took me all of about 15 minutes. Strappy sandals are not that hard to come by, and if you don't have access to a fabulous vintage dealer, silk flowers are available at pretty much any fabric or craft store. Buy yourself a neutral-colored pair of sandals (red is a neutral for me) and with the right blooms you can customize them to go with any outfit you own. Why stop with flowers -- how about a few beautiful feathers, or a little silken butterfly?

So, yeah. For $7.50 I got myself a new, personalized, one of a kind pair of shoes. Couture shoes, if you will. It was a good day!

Photos: Style.com & Style Spy

It Might Be Love

Yesterday I tried on this dress:


It's by Christiane Celle, and I tried it on at By George here in Austin, aided by the lovely Laura Lee. The dress is made of a thin, crisp dupioni silk that has a lovely, gentle rustling sound and would be absolutely perfect in the brutal Austin summer heat. The one I tried on is a beautiful pale green, somewhere between spring & celery, which I thought was going to be too light a color for me but actually worked pretty well. Those sash bits that are wrapped around the middle & tied are actually about five feet long, and there are a couple of cleverly installed loops and slits that provide for several different tying variations. Laura Lee wrapped me up like a pretty little present a couple of different ways. I think I could even put a lightweight, long-sleeved tee underneath it & wear it with my chocolate brown boots before it gets terribly warm. I'm really smitten with this garment -- I imagine wearing it weekly during the warm months, and look at it -- it's never going to go out of style. At $235, it's not horrendously expensive, but I don't have any wiggle room in the budget right now and here's the Want Monster chewing on me.

Sigh. Guess I have some re-budgeting to do.

(By the way, for a wonderfully pleasant shopping experience, I heartily recommend By George. The space is beautiful, the clothes are fantastic, and the staff is fabulous -- inspirationally well-dressed, helpful, and terribly sweet. They really know their stuff.)

Poetry for Pucci

A haiku, inspired by Maestro Pucci...

Delicious beauties
surely belong on my feet.
The Want Monster roars.

Patent leather Puccis. Oh! I might faint...

KL

Karl Lagerfeld is a little scary. And I don't just mean the omnipresent leather pants, fingerless biker gloves, and surfeit of Chrome Hearts jewelry. Rimbaud Goes to Sturgis is his look, he's been working it for a long time now, and more power to him.

(As we say in the South: Bless his heart!)

No, his Effete Goth thing doesn't scare me. (Amuses & puzzles, but doesn't scare.) What honestly sends chills down my spine occasionally is how consistently uncanny he is at making truly fresh and wonderful clothes that are instantly identifiable as Chanel. He's been designing Chanel for over 20 years now and he still somehow manages to pull this off at the rate of something like four collections a year. And on top of Chanel, he also designs for Fendi and his own Lagerfeld line. (Am I forgetting any? There's probably more.) It's pretty remarkable.

Now, I'm not so naive as to believe that Mr. Lagerfeld is responsible for every sketch of every garment for all three houses. I'm sure he has platoons of minions backing him up (many of whom he very generously and charmingly shared the limelight with by bringing them out to take a bow with him during the finale of his latest Chanel Couture show. Well done, Mr. Lagerfeld, and astonished bravos to les petits mains of the House of Chanel, so brilliantly upholding the traditions of haute couture.) But from what I can gather about Mr. Lagerfeld, safe money says nothing actually gets a label on it until he's given it the (leather-mitted) thumbs up.

This latest Couture collection once again brilliantly illustrates his ability to channel Coco. Fall 2006 Couture was also gorgeous, leaning more toward the gamine Parisienne side of the Chanel spectrum. This week's clothes, however, hang smack down the traditional center of the house like a strand of Coco's trademark pearls, and they took my breath away. Here's a few of my favorites:









I was especially thrilled to see the tulle evening skirts, since not long ago I got my hands on this little baby:



She was just hanging there in the vintage store, waiting patiently for me. I'd seriously been searching for a tulle skirt like this for a few years now. Whaddya know, me & Karl are on the same page!

At any rate, be sure to check out the whole show, it's beyond gorgeous. And don't forget to look at the detail shots, because that's where Couture really makes its bones. In the meantime I'll be sashaying around my place in my tulle skirt. I'm going to pretend that Mr. Lagerfeld made it for me, then told me I looked fabulous, and then we went out for drinks at this cute little wine bar on the Place du Marché St. Honoré. À bientôt!

Photos: Style.com

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

What time of year is that? you might ask.

Not the Christmas season, obviously. Not Valentine's Day (pah!). Not even summer vacation.

It's time for the Spring Couture Shows!!

(Style Spy hops around her home doing Happy Little Fashionista Dance)

On the gray and chilly cobblestones of Paris, fashionable types from all over the world have gathered to view the most fanciful, beautiful, creative, outlandish, opulent, breathtaking, and fiendishly expensive clothes to be found anywhere on Planet Earth.

(And yes, it does kill me that I'm not there.)

Ready to Wear is just that -- clothing that is pretty much geared toward being sold as shown, the season after it's presented. Of course there are some changes that get made between the runway and the sales floor of Saks (a lot of lowering of hemlines this last time around), but for the most part the clothes you see or clothes very much like them will be available for purchasing. But Couture? Ahhhh, Couture is something else. Couture clothes are made to order for a very, very select group of clients and give designers an opportunity to let loose with their wildest fancies. Don't think it will sell? Oh, well. You're probably only going to make one of them anyway. It's the most fun in all of fashion, and often a source for dramatic shifts and influences that eventually trickle down to the racks at Nordstrom's.

Willy Wonka's Fashion Factory. The Oracle. The Garden of Apparel Eden. Fashionista Pig Heaven.

For a rundown on the specifics of Couture, give this a read, or check out this site for a more in-depth discussion.

Here's one of my favorite things so far, just a little morsel from Christian Lacroix's show.




































He seems to have put the same shoe on every model in the show, and just changed out the flowers he tucked into them. The shoe itself is absolutely, gloriously swoony, but those flowers just send me over the edge.

This weekend I'll be dashing in to see my favorite vintage dealer. She happens to have a large collection of old silk flowers from the 40's and 50's, and I'm going to pick up a few sprigs to attach to my shoes.




































Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go rummage through my closet to see which shoes will look best with adorable vintage flowers tucked into them.


Photos: Style.com

LBD-lemma

A reader writes:

"I have a cute black dress that I bought for NY Eve that will suit pretty much any dressy occasion I'll need it for. It's sleeveless, so I'll be wearing it in the summer. It hits me around the shins and has a sort of handkerchief hemline. The fabric is kind of a double-layer with the outer layer being sort-of jersey/gauzey. The lining is a very pretty royal purple satin. I wore it with my stripper platform wedges (patent) and black hose, and it looked cute. But I want to get some black flats so I can actually walk around in it if I need to. Also, would black hose be ok with something like that? Or is that a no-no? And if so, what *should* I wear, if I wear hose?"

(Style Spy breathes deeply and takes a moment to recover from "stripper platform wedges (patent)." The mind reels. But that's a whole other post.)

She very thoughtfully included some photos:

(She's pretty attractive for someone with no head, huh?)

Here's a detail shot of the dress, which gives a better idea of the fabric. You can just see a bit of the purple lining peeking out at the vee. I love the idea of the colored lining, flashing when you walk or dance. Lovely.

So. I have good news & other news. The good news: fab dress!! It's sexy but not trashy, that gathered bit under the bust is so flattering, the bodice is bare but still allows for a Support Mechanism. (I am very big on the Support Mechanisms, you may have noticed.) It's a classic style, it's accessorizable (Yes, it's a word. Well, it is now.) in lots of different ways, you'll be able to wear it for many years, provided you don't get drunk at the festive event you're attending and knock over a candle and spill wax on it. (Oh, wait, sorry, that was someone else...)

The other news: with that hemline, you really must have a bit of a heel. Because of the length and the handkerchiefiness (Another coinage! I'm on a roll!) flats are going to make it look dumpy. No one likes dumpy -- it is my mission in life to prevent dumpiness. But fear not, I can offer some reasonable alternatives. (Click on photos for links.)

What you need is a nice little wedge, like this



or this


Low wedges are nice & stable. Note that they are wedges but not platforms. Platforms, I don't care what anyone tells you, are not as stable as stiletto-phobes trumpet them to be. I have never twisted my ankle in a pair or 4-inch stilettos, but I have gone off the side of my 1-inch platforms just walking down the sidewalk to my car more times than I can count. I'm going to break an ankle one of these days. I think it's something about the sole of the shoe not flexing. I'm not saying platforms are bad (heaven forfend!),I'm just saying if you think you really need stability (say, for dancing, or chasing the cute waiters) at least the front half of your foot needs to be in touch with the ground and the shoe has got to flex when your foot does or you'll roll right off 'em.

There are also nice low heels available:

These have excellent strappage -- if you're one of those people who tends to step out of her shoes, these go around the ankle and across the instep, keeping you nice & secure.

Here's another option: If you'd like to make the dress wearable with flats, alter the hem so that it's all one length, and just at the knee. If you don't sew yourself, any good dry cleaner ought to be able to do this for not a lot of money, or you can look up a tailor in the Yellow Pages. This would increase your shoe options, actually, because at that length you could wear the dress with heels or dressy flats.

The flats the reader wondered about were these:

Your instinct to go sparkly is the right one. The dress is a bit... dressy (for lack of a better word), so if you do go with a flat shoe, it has to be correspondingly festive. Here are some other options, but again, I really think you could only do flats with this dress if you alter the hemline.


I love the idea of something patterned or printed with a black dress.


I love patent leather. Patent leather is good. These are sassy and adorable.


Mmmmmmm, sparkly. Sparkly is also good.


Hot-cha. I firmly believe every woman needs a little animal print in her life.

Finally, the pantyhose question. It being a cocktail-type dress, if you wear black hose they need to be very, very sheer. Another option I love -- fishnets! I love colored fishnets -- they give the illusion of a very sheer wash of color, they're fun, and they don't get runs! Needless to say, if the shoe is very open or strappy, hose are a no-no. Although a lot of designers are showing fishnets with open shoes this season,

(Yves Saint Laurent, S/S 2007)

and I happen to love this look,

it's not for everyone. I wore the above to a party last weekend and while I was perfectly happy, I think I may have raised a few eyebrows. But hey, if it's good enough for Stefano Pilati, it's good enough for me.

But I digress. You may have noticed, she said airily, that none of the shoes I recommended above are actually black. This is because I am endlessly advocating for something other than black shoes. Yes, black shoes are necessary, and sometimes even wonderful. But I so love a colored shoe with black clothing. I think it just kicks everything up a notch or two, makes it more special and more fun. I cannot urge you all enough to Give Not Black a Chance. Metallics and patent are HUGE right now, there are squillions of wonderful pairs of shiny shoes out there. Give it a try. I guarantee it will give your spirits a lift.

Plus $600 or So for the Plane Ticket

If you were looking for a reason to visit London, I may have found it for you.
























This is the Marks & Spencer Magicwear Slimming Dress. Yes, you read that right. This little critter has a special lining made out of support fabric that claims to tuck and hold and support and just generally make you look fabulous without the aid of additional Support Mechanisms. The company offers lots of marketing mumbo-jumbo about how it works, but the basic idea is that of a fashionable scuba suit that smooths all the bumpy bits.

We've seen this idea before in swimsuits, some rather scary-to-behold undergarments, even jeans. M&S seems to be taking it one step further and embarking on a whole line of these goodies, most of which seem to be sold-out on their website. This is frustrating but speaks well to the product. (Or just to the gullibility of women, hard to say.) If you're interested, check back periodically, if the stuff is selling this well you can be sure there will be re-stocks. I'm quite keen (in full-on Anglophile Mode now, somebody stop me!) to get a look at the pencil skirt, a successful version of which this pear-shaped gal has yet to find. The reviews are generally positive and the price is actually pretty reasonable. (Although bear in mind that thanks to the absolutely miserable current exchange rate, £69 is close to $140. I'm dying to get back to London, but I think there's slim hope of that until... well, let's not talk politics, shall we?)

M&S doesn't ship to the States, but if you've got a buddy in the UK who'd accept delivery & then forward it to you, you're golden. The return policy gives you a generous 90 days, which is plenty of time to make it back & forth across the pond.

Oy. I just said "across the pond." I do apologize.

(By the way, do remember that the UK uses a different sizing system than the US. It goes in the same increments, but UK sizes are generally one larger. That means if you wear a US size 10, you're probably a UK size 12.)

If anyone from the UK has tried one of these, I sure would love to get a first-hand report!

Shopportunity -- January 22

Hey! Remember those cute shoes I showed you a couple of weeks ago? Well, I just got an e-mail -- they're even MORE on sale!

Rats. Kind of wish I'd waited now...

(Click for link.)

Style Spy Stakeout, January 22

This is Delaine, whom I met at a party about a week ago. She looked so fab I had to show her to you.

(click to enlarge)

I loved this dress because it was so Pucci-esque, and, as we all know, Style Spy loooooves her some Pucci! It was a great knit, so comfy and easy. I think we're going to be seeing more & more floor-length dresses that aren't formals. It's picking up on that sort of louche 70's vibe that folks like Gucci

(I haven't loved Frida Giannini so far, but I did like the bordering-on-disco vibe of this show.)

and Biba


were showing for S/S 2007.

Delaine went with silver accessories that were great -- the geometric quality of the necklace & hoops really played well against the design of the dress.

(I wish I had a better picture of the necklace, but people you've only met thirty minutes ago might not be comfortable if you stick your camera five inches away from their breasts.)

And simplicity is key with fabric like this, which is why the silver is good -- it functions as a neutral.



Good strappy silver sandals, and a very mod pedicure. (I'll have you know this woman has FIVE children -- all of them gorgeous, I saw the photos.) The whole look was really cool and effortless, I just loved it.

Now. Delaine is tall and willowy. If you are 5 feet nothing, I don't recommend this dress. If you are shaped like me (Pear. And not one of those cute, round rosy pears like in Cezanne's still lifes. No, one of those long, troublesome Bosc pears that have the very round bottoms, but the top part is so skinny the fruit breaks in half when you take a bite of it.) it's also probably not a great idea. But here are some alternatives:


Much fuller through the skirt, and therefore more forgiving:


(This would also be great with a strappy flat, if you're not a high-heel gal.)


Very similar vibe, but covered up enough on top that you could wear a Support Mechanism. (Always a good idea.)




Shorter lengths are easier to wear in a pattern if you are petite:


Plus, I can never resist a twirly, crystal-pleat skirt. Just make sure you are wearing the appropriate underthings if it's breezy. (Seriously, go buy a half-slip.)

A much milder version of the pattern, if the Pucci-ness (Pucciosity?) of it all is a bit too much for you:



Thoughts? Queries? I wanna hear 'em!

The Good Blouse

One thing Carolina Herrera and I have in common

(let us all take a moment to ponder the first and undoubtedly last time I will ever utter that sentence)

is our love of a good white blouse. I'm semi-obsessed with the things. There have got to be a good dozen white woven garments that button up the front in my closet, and it's one of two things I can always be counted on to look at in a store even when I'm there searching for some other specific thing. (The other is a black skirt -- the quest for the perfect black skirt is never-ending.)

Some white blouses are so beautiful as to drive one to madness :

(Balenciaga, S/S 2006)

Fortunately for me and my mental health, I don't have the means to purchase the above and am therefore spared this fashion-induced psychosis for the forseeable future. But I am always on the lookout for a good white blouse that I can afford and wear in my real and much more prosaic life. This is my latest, and I'm completely in love:



It's Robert Rodriguez, I found it on sale at the Neiman Marcus Last Call here in Austin and if they'd had three of the things I would have bought all of them. (Seriously -- if anyone stumbles across any of these in a size 8, please let me know immediately.) It actually came with a tie that was sewn on:


but I busted out the trusty seam ripper and detached it so that I can wear it or not as I choose.

Why is this blouse so good? Well, for starters, it's beautifully fitted. It has great seaming and darts front and back so that it nips in very wonderfully at the waist:


(Check out the darts at the top of the shoulder. Little details like this go a long way to making you look like a million bucks.)

For another thing, it's nice and long. That means I can wear it untucked, perhaps over a vintage skirt whose waistband is in slightly rough shape, or I can tuck it in and not have to be constantly fussing with it. It drives me mad when my shirttails aren't quite long enough to tuck in properly -- I'm constantly shoving my hands in the back of my waistband like a first-time hit man checking to make sure his gun's still there. What else is nice and long are the sleeves -- they actually go past my elbows. I love a short-sleeved blouse, but I have big biceps. Some of this is because I have some extra poundage on me these days and some of it is because of many years of bartending, but the fact is I have pretty substantial upper arms. And may I point out that there is a difference between short sleeves and cap sleeves, which most manufacturers seem not to notice. Ugly truth is, if you don't have a nice upper arm, a little-bitty cap sleeve is going to make it look worse. For short sleeves I need something that comes near my elbow. These sleeves are also nice and full, which is a lifesaver for pear-shaped gals like me. Those nice puffy sleeves help broaden my top half in order to balance out my bottom half. All in all, it's just about perfect. I'm going to have to insist you look into getting yourself something like this, and to that end I've dug up a few alternatives (click for links):

Nearly identical, available in women's and misses sizes, and on sale for under thirty bucks! (Yes, you may kiss me.)

If you are not worried about making your top half look bigger, or if in fact you shouldn't make your top half look bigger with poofy sleeves because there's enough... er, poofiness up there already (translation: if you've got big boobs), try a sleeve that's fuller at the bottom rather than the top:


Love the pintucks on the sleeves, and the way it nips the waist.

Slightly more va-va-voom in a dressier fabric:

(Fetchingly windblown hair not included.)

Dotted swiss! I love dotted swiss!




If you just can't get behind the poofy sleeves but still love the fit:

(She borrowed the blonde's wind machine.)

And not to forget my petite sisters:



I believe with all my heart there is almost no situation a good white blouse can't save. So go getcha one. And if you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

Wherein I Squeal with Fashionista Glee

Today Olivier Theyskens previewed his first collection for Nina Ricci in New York City. It's only a handful of looks, but it's enough to get me very excited.

So beautiful. The softness of it is... kind of heartbreaking, it's so lovely.

And would you look at that suit. That's a suit for a sophisticated, grown-up woman. If I were wearing that I would never, ever be able to be anywhere other than rue Faubourg St. Honoré.

Don't miss this interview with Theyskens on Style.com, and there's also this wonderful article in the New York Times that chronicles the period right after the announcement that Procter & Gamble was closing Rochas. The Nina Ricci collection is mostly in black, gray, and the wonderful yellow of the iconic L'Air du Temps perfume. As usual, Olivier has very well-thought-out reasons why this is so.

I'm a huge fan of Theyskens. I think he's one of the most seriously talented designers to come down the pike in a long time and I'm thrilled that he's barely 30 and we have years of his work to look forward to. There is a purity and a rigor to Theyskens' work that I find truly poetic.



It's romantic in the deepest, truest sense of the word. Not frilly, Valentine's Day romantic, but the romance of a starless sky.

Theyskens' clothes are often deceptively simple, some might consider them almost plain. But there's a deeper elegance to his work, stripped down like a haiku in which every syllable matters. Beginning with his first season at Rochas, he's played with volume and structure in incredibly sophisticated ways.


His clothes are truly French, also, maybe more than any other designer's out there (even though Theyskens is actually from Belgium). "Elegance is refusal," said Coco Chanel. Simplicity is the path to chic.




This is not to say that Olivier does not know how to have fun, or design a dress a gal wants to wear to a party


but even in his most playful mood he seems to float above the fray. His clothes are not for chihuahua-toting party girls or television starlets who know their most valuable commodity is best displayed in a bikini. They're not always easy to "get;" many people have complained that Rochas has been too "editorial," and obviously P&G felt that the line wasn't commercial enough to justify them sinking any more money into it. (Philistines!)



But imagine how graceful you would feel walking in the suit above. Imagine that jacket nipping you in at the waist and how delicate your wrists feel emerging from the sleeves and the rustling taffeta froth kicked up by the skirt with every step you take. Oh, it's just too swoony.

Theyskens has had an admirable ability to work within the historic tradition of the House of Rochas, and seems to be determined to do the same with Ricci. I'll be fascinated to see how that translates into his own, quite unique vision. The last few seasons at Rochas have seen Theyskens pare more and more away until he has reached an almost monastic simplicity that is at the same time so womanly and graceful it it seems like the only logical way to dress.




Scroll back up through those photos and notice how almost none of them features a single piece of jewelry (two exceptions have one small bangle bracelet each) and you don't even miss it. And whyever would you need jewelry, with a small flock of swallows fluttering in your wake?

As I am left fluttering in Olivier Theyskens' wake, waiting anxiously for next season's collections. Mark my words, he's going to be one of the great ones. How thrilling to watch it all unfold.

How to Get Snuggled

It's COLD! Seriously cold, which doesn't happen all that often around here. We've got ice & freezing temps. So in honor of the cold weather, a few words on sweaters. This post is actually one for the fellas...

Guys, do you want people to pet you? Casually stroke your arm as they speak to you, hug you more frequently than is strictly necessary, perhaps rub a cheek against your shoulder as you stand in line to buy movie tickets? Wear cashmere. For those of you uninitiated to the Wonders of Cashmere, let me assure you that it's worth it. Once you go cashmere, you never go back.

My dad used to always buy snuggly clothes for my mom. All my life, Mom would open her presents from Dad to find something soft -- velvet robes, flannel jammies, fluffy sweaters. He'd say, "Oh, your mom likes all that soft stuff." Then one day I noticed Dad hugging Mom while she was wearing one of her snuggly things, running his hands over her back. That's when it dawned on me -- it's not so much that Mom liked the soft things, it's that Dad liked them. The next Christmas I got him a cashmere sweater, which he loved.

Cashmere is warm without being heavy, is not itchy, looks luxurious & rich... and did I mention the petting? And this is the time of year to shop for it, because there are lots of great sales. (The sweater photos are all links, by the way.)

I happen to love argyle. This one is especially un-dorky.

This is a little more Fashion-Boy than some. The cut of this is quite European (which means close to the body), so do take that into consideration. If that v-neck is too deep for you, there's no reason you couldn't throw a t-shirt under it. And the color is fantastic. I love seeing men in color.

Cable knit is another of my favorites. This gives a little extra interest through texture as opposed to pattern or color.

Classic v-neck. Just please don't stand like that.

Hard to tell from this photo, but this is waffle-knit like a thermal shirt, which is youthful and hip. Again, love the texture. Nice & slouchy -- if you have a girlfriend you're going to have to hide this from her.

The classic cardi. I know a lot of you look at cardigans and think "Mr. Rogers," but I love guys in cardis. What you need under this is a patterned shirt in a happenin' color scheme:

Too much? Okay, how about this:

Still too much? All right, I can even go for this:

The point is, if you wear a less-conservative shirt with your cardigan, you won't look like your high school science teacher. Add a loosely-knotted tie, some (clean, not filled with holes) jeans and good shoes (I'm thinking a nice brown lace-up -- NOT sneakers!) and you are good to go.

A couple of things:
1. No. You can't toss it into the washer. And before you moan & groan about what a pain in the ass that is, let me just say one thing: Grow Up. A well-dressed (or even just adequately-dressed) adult male needs to have a couple of things in his wardrobe that are going to require a little care. You can have cashmere dry-cleaned, although I honestly don't recommend it because the chemicals tend to ruin the finish. The best way to clean cashmere (which you won't actually have to do all that often if you wear a shirt or t-shirt under your sweater and let it air out after you wear it) is to fill your sink with warm (not hot) water & a little shampoo, swish it around a bit then let it soak, then take the thing into the shower with you to rinse it out. (Again, water not too hot.) Make sure you dry it flat and don't wring it -- squeeze it to get the water out. Here are some other tips on cashmere care.

2. Yes, cashmere is more expensive than a sweatshirt. Because it's better. And if you take care of it, it will last you for many years. A good cashmere sweater is an investment piece. But if you start trolling the department stores around this time of year, you should be able to find great deals. I've seen nice sweaters going for as little as 40 or 50 bucks during Presidents' Day sales.

So go. Get snuggled. I promise to snuggle you myself if I see you.

As Predicted

Well, pretty yawny stuff tonight at the 2007 Golden Globes. Sure, a lot of people looked really pretty, many lovely & tasteful gowns, blahblahblah. What I want to know is how most of them breathe in those outfits. Seriously -- how do they get those things zipped? I hear these actresses "graciously" acknowledge their crews -- clothing stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists -- and I think, "How about a shout-out for the beefy-bicep'd guy who works out 7 days a week just so he can yank up that zipper??" (Probably lots of lats & delts work, too.) Hell, let's go back a step -- where the hell do they find dresses so small that they're this tight on these itty-bitty women?? Is Elie Saab making clothes for children now? (And if he is, shouldn't they be a little more covered-up?)

Speaking of which, this little one stole my heart:

(Abigail Breslin, from "Little Miss Sunshine")

Now that is age-appropriate. She was so completely smitten with her own little pocketbook that she interrupted Ryan Seacrest (something that should happen more often) to show it off to him. The medallion on the front opened up to reveal a mirror, and it was completely empty. "None of my stuff fit inside it," she informed him, but she was carrying it anyway because she LOVED it. Atta girl. So damn cute. (And a budding Bag Hag, from the looks of things.)

Some other looks I liked:

Beautiful Marchesa gown. Had to show you the back. It was really lovely, loose and flowing and a great break from a squillion silk chiffon scuba suits.

This one is Versace, and has some interesting business in the back, but I couldn't find a picture of that. A really great dress, although Ellen Pompeo is so skinny it makes my teeth hurt to look at her. She's like a shinbone with eyes.

Here it is as it appeared on the runway:

(Sadly, Ellen Pompeo didn't wear the shoes that came down the runway:)

(These, in white. Be still my heart.)

Donatella should have dried out years ago, she's been doing her best work ever the last couple of seasons.


Tina Fey looked lovely in a modern vintage kind of thing from Kevan Hall:


The skirt was knee-length and very full. The top was cut very low but not too wide -- a dangerous combination, especially if your boobs are any larger than pretty small:

(I have NO idea who this girl is, but I know waaaaaay too much about her.)

Wow. Lose the husband, get some extensions... sometimes it works:




Not the sort of thing I usually applaud, but she really did look like a million bucks, and it was also exciting to see her working a look completely different from her usual one. Reese Witherspoon typically does the updated vintage thing better than anyone else in Hollywood, but Miss Thing is back on the market and she? Is fresh!! Seriously, she looked fantastic. It's so rare that anyone actually pulls off strapless well. Usually the boobs are either up hoiked up so far they could tuck their noses in their cleavage or they're squashed flatter'n day old rolls at Luby's. And would you LOOK at the shoes?! Ruby shoes with a yellow dress -- I could cry from the perfection. I have a gorgeous yellow party dress, and it is the very devil to try to find shoes that look right with it. Black is too heavy, it's almost impossible to find the right shade of gold, matching yellow is too bridesmaid. This? Is perfect. The dress, I was THRILLED to discover, is Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci. I was positively crushed when I heard that Proctor & Gamble was closing down Rochas. Olivier Theyskens is one of the most exciting and interesting designer of his generation, I'm so glad the PTB at Nina Ricci had the sense to offer him a job. Really looking forward to seeing how he puts his stamp on this house, and if this is any indication I'm going to love him as much there as I did at Rochas.

Rinko Kikuchi in Chanel, getting an Honorable Mention for not boring Style Spy.

Check it out --






Eva Longoria stole Felicity Huffman's dress from last year, cinched it up and dyed it navy. And it's STILL boring!!!

Happily, not everyone got it right. 'Cause let's face it, this is the shit we really love, right?




She's kidding right? Someone tell me she's kidding. No, really, the thing that kills me the most about this poor girl is that it's HER OWN MOTHER designing a lot of her stuff. (The above is actually Elie Saab, a man who has a lot to answer for come Fashion Judgment Day.) Poor Tina Knowles, evidently crushed that her daughter grew up to be a pop superstar and not a pole dancer. Oh, well. A mom can dream, can't she?

Good gaud.

And remember, children, if you aren't very, very good, the Wicked Witch will come and take you away to her evil enchanted castle, where she will make dresses and coats out of your teddy bears.

What did you guys think of the Globes? Let me know!

Perfume Moment -- January 15

What I'm wearing today:

(Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan. Wonderful. One of the sexiest 'fumes known to man. But you don't have to take my word for it.)

What I feel I should be wearing with it:

(Hermés F/W 2006. I wanted just about every single thing that came down the runway in this collection. Stunning. Having the adorable Jean Paul Gaultier design this house is a stroke of genius -- I often like his work for Hermés even better than what he does for his own line. Which I like plenty.)

I love the gorgeous dichotomy of this dress: it's made of leather, which is traditionally a tough-girl signifier, slightly kinky & perverse; but it's obviously such a soft & luxurious leather that it would be impossible to resist the impulse to stroke it. I feel that way about Ambre Sultan, too. Dry and smoky, it's not the least bit girly but entirely feminine in a warm-rumpled-sheets kind of way. It's cold & icy here today -- which hardly ever happens in central Texas. Wearing this perfume is a guaranteed way to make myself feel warmer, although in all honesty I wear it year 'round. (If I didn't wear my perfumes that many consider "cold-weather scents" when it was a little warm, half of my collection would only be available to me about three months of the year. I'm an amber gal who lives in a semi-tropical environment, go figure.) Ambre Sultan is enigmatic, deep, at home in a Paul Bowles novel or a Patricia Barber song. Close to the skin I can smell a tiny hint of vanilla, but the sillage is all smoke and spice. It's an exotic fragrance that somehow smells exactly right on me, the least exotic of creatures. When I wear this I feel I should rim my eyes with kohl and speak in a husky voice. It's my favorite amber (and I've smelled a few), and definitely in my Top Five Fragrances. Happily, it is available in the States, so I won't have to panic or run away with a Bedouin prince when my bottle begins to run low.

What are you wearing today? Is it helping you to stay warm?

A Little Perspective, Please

So I'm in the checkout line at the grocery store yesterday and I am as usual surrounded by magazines dishing the celebrity dirt. One of them is loudly trumpeting its worry (bless them, compassionate creatures that they are) about various starlets' possible eating disorders. They illustrated their "concern" (if by "concern" you understand me to mean "desire to make money no matter whose privacy they invade or how tasteless they may be") with a few photos of young women, some of whom are alarmingly thin. But one photo is a picture of Jessica Alba in a bikini, captioned, "What Happened to Jessica's Curves?" And I'm standing there, a bag of spinach in my hand, thinking, "WHAT?? What curves? When did she have curves?"

Don't get me wrong -- Jessica Alba is a lovely girl. But "curvy" she is not and has never been. To wit:



Pretty, yes. Curvy, no. Seriously, if she's curvy... well, you might as well fill me with helium, hang a basket off my ass, and fly me over the SuperDome flashing LED messages across my chest.

This is a woman with curves:

(Jennifer Hudson, currently blowing everyone out of the water in "Dreamgirls" and looking stunning in, I believe, Donna Karan -- someone tell me if I'm wrong)

And this is a woman with curves:

(Kirstie Alley -- funny, smart, brave and looking gorgeous)

A friend of mine, who is a deliciously curvy girl, told me a story recently that made me deeply happy. She and a gentleman friend of hers who had been an overnight guest were spooning cozily beneath the comforter. Said gentleman at one point sighed deeply, snuggled a little closer, and said, softly & happily, "Mmmmmmmm. No sharp bones."

Yeah, buddy. That's what I'm talkin' about.

I want us all to be happy, I want us all to be healthy, I want us all to be at peace with our bodies. It is hard to do that in the world today. Bear in mind that surrounding the magazine screeching about Jessica being too skinny there were easily eight other titles that had prominent "Lose Weight Now!" or "Easy Dieting Tips!" headlines shouting from their covers. This leads me to conclude that perhaps the safest bet is not to take our life lessons from magazine headlines. Perhaps we should all do something radical like doing what makes us truly happy. Now, that would make for a good headline, huh?

Small Good Thing

Ya know what I love? I love this thing:



I use this little gem on my cashmere sweaters & it works like a charm. Pilling on sweaters is, in my opinion, just as bad as scuffing on shoes (::shudder::) and this guy takes care of it really well. You just turn it on, run the screened head over the pilly spots (like that place where your handbag rubs against the side of your waist) and it really cleans it up. The blue bit on the bottom slides out so you can throw away the fluff, and you can store the little brush for cleaning the head in there, as well. Plus, it's cute!

Let the Yawning Begin

Awards season is upon us. The Golden Globes are this Monday night, and other, less-televised shindigs have already been happening. This is the time of year I live in a constant state of fashion frustration, because the clothes are so boring. Oh, my gosh -- I just cannot get over the fashion opportunities these people just toss away over their bony, bronzed shoulders.

When I used to live in New York City, I developed a theory about diner food. I surmised, through several years of assiduous research, that there was one giant diner kitchen located beneath the center of Manhattan. Connecting this kitchen to every diner in the city was a giant series of pneumatic tubes -- you know, like the ones they used in banks or department stores in the '20's and '30's. A cadre of sweaty guys made tuna melt after tuna melt and slung them into these tubes and pushed the "send" button, then they raced from beneath Times Square to Chelsea or Park Slope or Washington Heights, and we ate them (I'd also like a side of fries smothered in brown gravy, please) late at night after we'd had too many beers in various dive bars with our friends.

I've developed a similar theory about stylists in Hollywood. I think there's only one of them, and she sits, Miss Havisham-like, in a nimbus of cobwebs and moldy satin and torn tulle on a Mario Buatta-upholstered chair in the center of a faux-Mediterranean mansion high up in the Hollywood hills. Her minions scuttle about Los Angeles, ensembling starlets and producers' wives in outfits that all come from a database of approved looks churned out by their Mistress. The Mistress insists that no one stray from her strict style dictates. If you do so, she will loose upon you her Fashion Harpies (oh, come on, you saw that one coming) to punish you with their piercing shrieks and tearing claws.

I don't know how else to explain the complete lack of creativity or sense of fashion adventure that permeates these events. Sure, most of them look nice. But really -- is "nice" all you want?

Here's a ferinstance:


Eva Longoria. Bee-yooooo-ti-ful girl. (And fellow Texan, I might add.) And the dress, well, it's nice. Red is my favorite color, so points for that. But it's soooooo predictable. It's long, it's slinky, it shows off her body, it fits her to a trice, it's zzzzzzz....

Sorry, I drifted off.

Do you know what I'd wear to the Golden Globes if I were Eva Longoria? If I were absolutely stunning and possessed of a perfect figure, an obscene amount of disposable income, and the drag to get pretty much anyone I wanted to make me a dress? This! I'd wear THIS:

(Alexander McQueen, Spring 2007)

I would probably leave off the floral headdress. Because the folks sitting behind me at the awards would have a tough time seeing around it.

But she won't wear that. She (and the rest of 'em) will wear something tasteful and all one color and cut on the bias and genteelly revealing and that basically functions as an advertisement for her personal trainer. And she'll probably show up on about 30 Best-Bressed Lists.

Yawn.

Shopportunity -- January 12

Look at this skirt!

(J. Jill, click photo for link)

I am completely smitten with this skirt. It is washable (washable!) polyester microsuede, it comes in nutmeg, chocolate, and black, is on sale for 40 bucks (plus S&H), and is available in petites, misses, tall, AND women's sizes!!! This is such a flattering shape on just about every figure -- it's a winter wardrobe staple. You seriously cannot go wrong with a skirt like this -- casual with a button front shirt, sweater, cute corduroy jacket or dress it up with a silk blouse and heeled ankle boots... Fantastic.


Special shout-out to Stephanie, whom I met tonight wearing this beautiful blouse

(This is not Stephanie; I sadly did not have my camera with me.)

and who turned me on to the J. Jill online clearance. If any of you wind up sporting that fabulous skirt after reading this, you have her to thank.

Go! Shop!!!

Perfume Moment -- January 11

What I'm wearing:

(Montale Blue Amber)

What I feel I should be wearing with it:

(Roberto Cavalli, F/W 2006. I don't usually go for Cavalli, but this collection was amazing. Check it out.)

Warm, luxurious, silky, soft, smoldery. Ambers are my favorite and this is a very good one. It has a bit of bergamot to it, I believe, which gives it just a tiny tang that I adore. Not too much vanilla. I can't believe I was in Paris three times (I've been inside the actual Montale boutique in the Place Vendome!!) and never bought this!! I'm an idiot!! For now I'm just going to have to make do with the sample that my friend Meg sent me. Thanks, Meg. Sorta.

Crocalternatives

Well, it seems I may have ruffled a few feathers with my disdain for Crocs.

Don't get your hopes up, folks. I am never, NEVER going to advocate for Crocs. They are a loathsome abomination. Muppets have better-looking feet than that. The people who loosed these on the world belong in the same circle of hell as the ones who came up with those t-shirts that have tuxedos printed on them and the women who made the velour sweatsuits that have "Juicy" printed on the ass.

So. I'll provide you with some alternatives. I won't just throw you to the wolves, dear ones. I'm here to help. (All these photos are links, btw.)





Nice. Not at all embarrassing to wear to the grocery store, or anywhere else.











Fun, sporty, can be tossed into the washer.













So adorable!











These look toasty warm.










Love the little bit of hardware.











Great stitching detail.













And even something for wet weather. Flowered wellies -- how fun is that??








Okay? Now take those horrid holey plastic things off and give them to the labrador retriever to chew on.

Perfume Moment -- January 9

What I'm wearing today:

(Re-named Metalys after a lawsuit with -- you guessed it -- the band. Why Lars Ullrich thinks anyone would confuse him with a bottle of perfume is beyond me, but those guys have a history of being litigious.)

What I feel I should be wearing with it:

(Bill Blass Spring '07)

I just now discovered this stuff. Someone (I don't know who, but bless you) sent me a sample. I dabbed some on this morning and rearranged all my perfume plans for the day. Last time I was in Paris Sian bought a bottle while she & Caro & I were on Le Grand Sniff Part Deux (tm). I smelled it on her and remember thinking it was nice but not falling in love, but perhaps my nose was fatigued. (We'd already snorted half the 'fumes in Paris by that time.)

This is very soft and powdery. (What is with me & the powdery stuff lately?) I would also like to file a Formal Complaint with the PTB at Guerlain about what a bad name Metalys is for this fragrance. This is neither metallic nor lily-like. ("Lys" is the French word for lily.) The official notes include carnation, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, rose, iris, tonka bean, vanilla, amber. Now, my nose is only about a green belt (compared to a lot of the black belts on the MakeUp Alley Fragrance Board) and so mostly what I'm getting is the carnation (a note I always adore, with its anise-y/cinnamon-y spiciness) and that lovely, dirtied-up vanilla that is the base of the famous Guerlainade. I don't like sweet vanillas, I don't want to smell like a cupcake, I am extremely unlikely to ever wear anything with "Sugar" in its name. But this is how you should handle vanilla in a perfume -- it just makes it warm and... desirable. Oh it's pretty, oh it's femme, oh it's wonderful!

Dangit. Guess this means another trip to Paris...

What fragrance are you wearing today? And what outfit goes with it?

Style Spy Stakeout, January 7

From time to time I hope to bring you examples of real life style I encounter while I'm out & about, and to talk about why they work. So here it is -- my first get!



This is Margaret. I met her Saturday night at an Austin restaurant called Bess. Included in the picture is her fella, Frank. Frank also looked nice (love the peacoat), but it's most important that you meet him because he, lovely man, picked out, purchased, and gifted Margaret with her fabulous shoes. (Yes, I asked if he had a brother. They didn't seem to think I was serious. Hah!)

At any rate, many thanks to Margaret for being such a good sport. Actually, she was better than a good sport, she was a stitch. Margaret, if you ever need someone to have a glass of wine or go shoe shopping with, I'm your gal!

Now -- let's talk about her fab outfit & why it works.

I probably don't have to comment on that jacket, but I'm going to anyway. Holy cow, that is gorgeous. Margaret tells me it's Valentino Red, scored at The Shak.



Margaret has a fair amount of bling going on, but the lines of the jacket are simple almost to the point of severity, so it evens things out & keeps it from being too busy. That seaming is killer -- it would make anyone look longer and leaner. I tooled around the web and found a few alternatives, for those of you who can't make it to Dallas -- a nice Calvin Klein (a little more coat than jacket), a gorgeous camel number (that's on sale!), a Kenneth Cole I'm completely in love with, a lighter-weight version in case you don't need something too warm, and a fantastic evening version that made me swoon.

(Note the comfort in front of the camera and the professional stance. Margaret, is there a little modeling in your background?)

Look at her in her skinny jeans!! Lucky for her, she has the pins to pull them off. She also has the sense to wear flats with her skinny jeans, because let's face it -- wearing stilettos with pants like this can look a bit... tarty. I don't know whose wonderful leopard-print flats those are, but they sure look Beverly Feldman to me. Anyone else? I'm sorry that the floor at Bess is so busy, because you can't see the shoes as well as I'd like.

The other thing that really caught my eye here was this beautiful neckpiece. I'm a sucker for pearls, and this is very Queen Alexandra (lovely, wasn't she?).


The other nice thing about a piece like this is that if you, like Nora Ephron & myself, are beginning to have some doubts about some of your bits (my nice long neck, that was swanlike and Audrey Hepburn-esque when I was 20 is now becoming, well... worrisome), a collar or choker can make you feel a little less doubtful.

Okay, then! That's Margaret in her fabulous ensemble, my very first Style Spy Stakeout. I'm off to surf the web for cunning little leopard-print flats now...

Sale Shoes on Sunday

Hey, check these out:



Cute, huh? I just ordered a pair myself. (I'm hoping they will satiate my desire for a pair of Vivier Belle du Jour buckle flats for a while.) (I know, probably not.) Talbots is having their semi-annual sale and they do really good shoes. I have several pairs from there, and I highly rec. The prices are very reasonable to begin with, but the sale prices are unbeatable. (Above shoe is 39 bucks.) High-quality leather, made in Italy, pretty true sizing, and an excellent return policy (no time limit, you can return a mail-order item to a retail outlet & save yourself the return shipping). Another interesting aspect to Talbots shoes is that they are almost always low-to-mid-height heels -- it's a great place to find pretty, feminine shoes that you won't teeter and slide in when you walk to the bathroom in that hip new restaurant that's decorated like a French bistro and therefore has tiled floors. (Yeah, that was me last night. I looked like a character from a sitcom: whoops-skid-recover-check to see if anyone's watching-toss hair nonchalantly. And I'd only had one drink, I swear! The floors were slippy!)

Flats-lovers are in good shape right now -- designers are showing a lot of them to go with the stovepipe pants (don't get me started) and full, structure-y skirts, like this:

(Behnaz Sarafpour Spring 07 -- SO cute!)

Now's the time to stock up. At any rate, if you are a person who appreciates a nice flat, hie thyself over to Talbots and check out the shoeses.

Fashion Statement

In case you're still wondering if your clothes really do say something important about you, please note Ms. Pelosi's suit as she was sworn in as the Speaker of the House -- particularly its color.


Perhaps not the subtlest use of fashion to make a point we've ever seen, but I'll take it. And that color looks smashing on her.



(Please note -- incendiary comments about politics will not be published, so don't even bother sending them. This is a Style blog, people.)

The Want Monster

The Want Monster has me in his spiky clutches. Oh, he's really roughing me up.

Here's what I want:

(They're Manolos. If anyone knows the name of this particular style, please let me know so I can begin a wistful and probably-fruitless search for a pair.)

I saw them a few months ago in a magazine and cut this picture out & put it on my Style Board:

(Note the box of tissues. You know, for the frustrated weeping.)

where I stared wistfully at them almost every day. I never located them anywhere else, I looked on the web but never saw them. And then, two weeks ago while in the Northpark Mall Neiman Marcus store in Dallas -- what to my wondering eyes should appear? Oh, and even more glorious than imagined -- they were patent!!! ::heavenly choir sings::

(I'm beginning to worry that my current rabid fetish for patent leather is a bit unsavory. Is this a known disorder, can anyone tell me?)

There it was. On sale. Just sitting there on the rack -- I didn't even have to involve an SA. I just reached out my shaking hand... and... lifted it up. I wobbled a little, walking to a tuffet on which to perch in order to de-boot myself and slide this little masterpiece on my foot.

Call me Cinderella, baby. I seriously looked around for a prince, or at the very least a crystal carriage. The size 39 fit me like Mr. Blahnik had been caressing my foot moments before he designed this little beauty. You can't really tell from the picture, but that snubbed toe is actually open. It's like a cross between a peep-toe and a toe shoe. A little odd, yes, but I am all down with the odd, and I just found them heart-stoppingly beautiful.

My friend Sian the English Rose says that no one makes your foot look prettier in a shoe than Manolo Blahnik and she is right. (And believe me, friends, she has done the research to back this up.) I was completely in love with my own foot in this shoe. (Potentially another psychiatric disorder, I realize.)

Thing is, even on sale these bad boys were well over 300 smackers and friends, I just can't do it. Can. Not. Do. It. I cannot spend $345 on a pair of shoes, especially immediately post-Christmas and with possible travel plans this spring.

Hence the Want Monster. Awful, hateful, ugly, mean ol' Want Monster. The Want Monster is not the Oh-I-Could-Use-One-of-Those Imp, or the When-I-Get-My-Next-Paycheck Gremlin. Those guys are lightweights and they usually only stick around briefly. No, the Want Monster, once he gets hold of you, is probably not going away for a while. He's beating you to death with that unbelievably perfect item that clutches at your heart and makes you cry tears of pure desire, an item that is probably so massively overpriced/difficult to find/unsuited to your figure/located in another historical period that you are never going to get your sticky fingers on it.

I see the Want Monster a lot more than I'd like. My positive spin on my frequent tussles with this guy is that I have magnificent taste and so of course I'm often going to run up against things I want but cannot afford, the independently wealthy husband having not yet presented himself. My less charitable take on it is that I am a bad, greedy, selfish girl who is trying to fill the holes in her soul with consumer goods. (But that's usually only after several glasses of wine.) Whatever the reason, the bastard knows where I live. And what kind of shoes I like.



Do you have a Want Monster? What's he bludgeoning you with right now?

A Perfume Moment -- January 4

This is what I'm wearing today:


and this is what I feel I should be wearing with it:

(Brioni F/W 06)

Discovered this fragrance just recently and have fallen madly in love. I haven't traditionally been a big aldehyde gal, but this one is perfectly in between classic & modern. Like the dress above, it's simple and elegant, but has just enough oomph to keep it interesting to me. The opening aldehydes are nice & sparkly, and the powdery drydown is warm and almost a skin-scent, not baby-powderish or diapery. My favorite thing lately is to layer it over the Le Labo Aldehyde 44 lotion sample I got at Barney's in Dallas. This stuff is brilliantly champagne-y and crystal-clear. I'm very smitten and am having a lot of trouble not asking any of my Dallas friends to rush off to Barney's & buy me the big bottle. I should be in Dallas again in February -- maybe if I hoard my pennies I can swing it.


So... are you wearing any fragrance? What's the perfect outfit to go with your smell today?

With a Little Mint Sauce

A reader writes:

"I recently bought a pair of gauchos (dark grey tweed) that I am crazy about. They are not swingy or flared. Fairly understated as far as gauchos go. I've worn them with t-strap wedges, light tights, a very feminine top and a kickass velvet jacket. The thing is, I'm worried that as a 41 year-old woman I shouldn't be wearing gauchos. I receive many compliments when I wear them, but really, is it a case of mutton dressed as lamb?"

Well, how wonderful. How wonderful that someone is actually considering age-appropriateness in her clothing! This warms my cockles no end. We've heard plenty in the last few years about how 40 is the new 30, but walking around the mall it seems that 40 is the new 16. (And 13 is evidently the new 25-- my god, what are some of these children wearing? Please! Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be pole-dancers!)

Yes. The Mutton Dressed as Lamb Phenomenon has reached epidemic proportions. I suppose it's the logical extension of our cultural Peter Pan syndrome -- our obsession with youth, our panic at the signs of the natural aging process, our general refusal to grow up. (Did you know there is now diamond-encrusted "Hello, Kitty" jewelry, some pieces costing many thousands of dollars?

($4250 to look like a kindergardner with cleavage. Revolting.)

What's next, life-sized pink plastic convertibles with 8-cylinder engines and daisy-shaped stickers all over them?)

I'm the first to agree that 40 is definitely not what it was thirty or even twenty years ago. (I'm 41, in case you're wondering.) But just because you're a Yummy Mummy doesn't mean you get to throw all sense of propriety out the window. Like it or not, as we grow older (not old, just older) some things are no longer appropriate. Anything with writing across your ass, for example, no matter how Pilates-firm and self-tanned said ass might be. Anything so short you have to put down a towel in order to sit hygienically in public places. Anything that reveals to strangers your preference in undergarments.

(Pop-stardom is no excuse. Poor little dog...)

I don't want us all to become Grandma Moses the moment we turn 18,

(Would someone just buy these two a pony or something?)

and no one needs to carry around a sign saying, "Hi! I'm 41!" I don't want to define anyone merely by the number of years they've been walking the planet, there's much more to any of us than that. But. I also don't want you to make a fool of yourself. Let's just use this rule of thumb: If you're old enough to have a teenager (regardless of whether or not you do), you're too old to dress like one. That means stay out of the juniors department, no matter how fantastic your legs still are and no matter how hard the glittery letters on that t-shirt wink at you.

So. Back to the original impetus for this post: Christy, my guess is you're rocking those cropped pants in a way to make all of us 40-somethings proud, and the 20-somethings envious. That outfit sounds great -- youthful without being childish, hip, and stylish. Just about perfect.

Just don't put on any "Hello, Kitty" jewelry.

Style Spy Picks Your Brains

Blue jeans. You love 'em, you hate 'em, you need 'em... And I'm not sure there's another single item in my closet that gives me more trouble. Quick! Name all the things you'd rather do than shop for jeans! My list includes household tasks involving the litter box, various medical procedures, and blind dates. No one likes to shop for jeans. But we can help each other.

Style Spy would like to compile a style database -- a style-base, if you will -- of jeans. I'd like to gather up information from everyone near & far about what kind of jeans they like. Post a comment listing:
1. the brand/style name
2. approximate cost
3. figure type you think they're good for (pear-shaped, petite,etc.)
4. where you can buy them, to the best of your knowledge
5. any other pertinent stuff you think we should know

Please note: this activity is NOT limited to females! If you're a guy who cares how he looks from behind, get in on this!!

You get extra points if they're available at most suburban malls and cost under 80 bucks. You lose points if they are custom-made by lavender-winged fairies in a New York City workshop and retail for the price of a used Subaru.

I'll compile all this data into... something (I'm still figuring out this blog business, give me some time) and make it available to the whole wide world on the blog. In the meantime, if you do have to undergo the torture that is shopping for jeans, take some comfort in knowing that your pain can benefit others by aiding in our research. A million denim-clad butts will thank you.

Pucci Boots Practicum

So, someone wants to know, what the heck do you wear with the Pucci boots? And that is a valid question, certainly.

The short answer is, something very simple.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a shoe freak. A shoe ho, when it comes down to it. An absolute stone sucker for the Fabulous Footwear. I appreciate shoes as works of art that you can wear; I love them for their adorable, complicated, beautiful selves (the same way we should all be loved, non?). The wonderful little secret about a fab pair of shoes, however, is that they can make anything look good. So when you have something as aggressively fab as the Pucci boots, you can wear something very simple, very basic, very plain -- and you still look like several millions of dollars.

I usually go with black, or black and white. The last time I wore them, it was with this:


Gorgeous wool jersey little Catherine Malandrino number. This is one of those dresses that is a little "meh" on the hanger, but once you get it on your body you never want to take it off. The lovely wide cowl neck is especially flattering to a small-busted gal like me. That gathered bit in the middle hides a multitude of sins. And the skirt is a lovely, full, swingy A-line. It swirls when I walk. Beautiful.

I've also worn those boots with a simple black jersey skirt and a tailored white blouse, or a navy-blue knit dress. I think there's extra kick in wearing something very subdued & even modest with boots that are so out & out sexy. The point is, gorgeous-but-busy shoes call for simple clothing. You can't compete with the Pucci boots, don't even try.

Important Style Clue: When ensemble-ing any ensemble, pick a focal point. One focal point. Then dress around it.

You Gonna Wear That?

We all have them. The Fabulous Item you bought because it was so beautiful/stylish/on sale that you couldn't pass it up. And it's been sitting in your closet for approximately the life span of a sea turtle, neglected, possibly still tagged. Because while it is indeed a Fabulous Item, you don't know what the hell to wear it with.

It's okay. I can help.

Send Style Spy the details (& a pic if you can manage it) of your Fabulous Unwearable and we'll fix it. I'll help you figure out how to rotate that bad boy into your regular wardrobe -- when, how, & with what to wear it. (With the understanding, of course, that I'm probably going to post about it, but you can be as public or anonymous as you'd like -- we're all friends here.)

Bear in mind, I cannot help you with
1. Crocs
2. Velour sweat suits
3. Flip-flops
4. Blue jeans cut so low they require specialized personal grooming procedures
5. Anything with a cartoon character emblazoned upon it.

Some things I just can't get behind. You might as well find this out about me now...

Pulling It Off

These are my Pucci boots:


I adore these boots. I love them beyond reason. They are made of patterned lycra fabric that is stretched over a pair of satin pumps; a sort of ingenious boot/sock hybrid. They are a tiny bit uncomfortable, and not all that easy to walk in (I think it’s something about the shape of the heel – it’s a bit underslung). They are also noisy – there is a thin metal strip that runs vertically down the back of the heel that says “Emilio Pucci” and makes this sort of ringing, clacking noise every time the heel hits the pavement:


All that being said, I don’t care. I love them. They make me happy.

Now, somewhere in the world other people are buying Pucci boots like these, but so far none of those people have crossed my path. Judging from the responses I usually get from others when I wear them, they’re not crossing other peoples’ paths all that often, either. My Pucci boots are greeted with gasps of shocked delight wherever I go. Men have literally dropped to their knees before me, looked up into my face and asked in reverent tones, “Can I touch them?” (This last is an amount of power it is not healthy for a personality like mine to possess, incidentally.)

Of course, not everyone gets the Pucci boots. Some people are downright put off by the Pucci boots. I have one friend who seemed positively affronted by the Pucci boots the first time she saw them. She had the good grace not to say anything, but nothing could disguise the look that flashed across her face. She is a lovely person with many sterling qualities, so I forgive her, but she does not like the Pucci boots.

So. Most people love the Pucci boots. No one else wears them. And here is the comment that they invariably elicit from at least one woman every time I wear them:

“Oh, I love those, but I could never pull them off.”

Variations on this theme include:
"Oh, I just love the way you dress, but I could never get away with it."
"You wear the greatest clothes, but they'd look ridiculous on me."

I'd like for people to stop saying these things to me. For one, while I know full well that I am a bit of a fashion exhibitionist, I'm not exactly running around in this:

(Christian Dior Couture F/W 06, Mr. Galliano you are a genius)

(Although you can bet that if I ever have the means/occasion to do so I'm going to be pretty damned excited.)

No, there is a larger problem here. It baffles me. I mean, why on earth couldn't you pull it off? I'm not magic, I'm not even beyond-average good-looking. I don't have a Fashion Fairy Godmother. (But the post is open if you're interested, Mr. McQueen.) The only thing that seems to separate me from the non-Pucci-booters is my willingness to put the damn things on. So right here in my very first entry of my brand new blog, we're going to crack the code. This is the Big Secret to Pulling It Off, in Three Easy Steps:

1. Put it on. ("it" being fabulous item of clothing or accessory)
2. Look in mirror. Like it.
3. Walk out the door.

Ta-daaaaaaa!!

Smile. Hold your head high. Congratulations. You're Pulling It Off.