My first thought was, Oh, how fun! My second thought was, Oh, how tragic! I mean, I know people are going to shriek about emphasizing the danger areas and all that, but my feeling is that the shape of this is so very over the top that no one would ever mistake that for the wearer's actual hips. So I do think the playing with proportion is kind of fun. I loathe the color, of course, and my first instinct was to think it ought to be red (which is my usual go-to color), but I guess that would be a little obvious, wouldn't it? Heaven knows I admire a lot of risky fashion, On the other hand, this lacks the kind of intelligent wit that you find in work by people like Rei Kawakubo.
So I'll put it to you. Do you love it? Or do you hate it? Vote in the poll I've posted up in the right corner and tell me what you think.
I don't usually do this, because it has next to nothing to do with fashion, but this pop culture nugget that has apparently been around for some time just now made its way into my consciousness and it has me by the throat. No waifs here -- these are ass-kickin' ladies and they are sexy as hell. Be warned if you haven't seen this yet: I'm about to give you the Earworm From Hell -- you'll never get it out of your head.
Dayum. I need to work on my glutes. Lots & lots of squats tomorrow...
But, gracious! That is genius choreography, and the music is dangerously infectious. If that doesn't make you want to shake the ol' booty, or at least bob your head to the beat, you might be dead. I've made fun of Beyoncé & her mother's "design" efforts here before, but I gotta give it up for this. And man oh man -- those girls' bodies are positively aspirational. I spend a good deal of my time looking at models in fashion magazines and websites, and those 6-foot 110-pound tentpoles (some of which are very beautiful, I'll grant you) are great for hanging clothes on, but these gals? Fantastic. The most beautiful thing about any woman's body, no matter what her shape or age, is the use & joy she gets out of it -- whether it's dancing or running or embracing the love of your life or just carrying your baby across the room. You have to live in your body for it to be truly beautiful, not just drape fabric on it.
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If that reference is lost on you, I provide you with this to help you out. (If the reference isn't lost on you, it's just a little extra entertainment for the day. You're welcome.)
HAH!
At any rate... I have a cunning plan. (Which I hope is less far-fetched, fraught with complication and destined for doom than Baldrick's.)
I have, and have had for a while, this dress:
It's actually quite pretty, but it is not very me. I've never worn it. I bought it in a fit of bargain fever quite a while back, so not only is it not me, it's also not fitting me anymore. I could put it on eBay or maybe take it to a re-sale shop, but the lace is nice, and we are all about the lace this season. And so? I have a cunning plan...
(So sorry -- my Photoshop skills are extremely rudimentary.)
I figure I can cut down the skirt and the lining to make it a fitted sheath, and use some of that spare fabric to make wider straps. I'll also have to dart the bodice a little to bring it in, but the waist is a pretty good fit and I think it's do-able. The zipper on this dress is on the side, so it's going to be a tiny bit tricky because I can't start bringing in the side seams until below the zip. And I think I'm going to have do do away with a layer -- there's three of them on this thing (lace, underlayer, and lining), and that's too much bulk for a shape this fitted.
Lastly, there's the matter of the Bazooka gum pinkness of the thing. No matter how sharp the silhouette of a dress, if it looks as though it was made of the frosting on a My Little Pony birthday cake, it's not sophisticated. So I plan on dying it. I've bought two boxes of Rit -- one purple & one navy. I'm hoping that the two of them together will result in a dark, dusky purple that I think would be gorgeous. The fabric of the dress is 50% cotton/30% acetate/20% nylon, and the lining is all acetate. I think this will take dye pretty well.
Oh, and by the way? The little ribbon rosette belt is going no matter what. If the purple color works the way I want it to, I'm thinking about a metallic gold belt instead.
My dilemma is -- which thing do I do first? Do I make the alterations and then dye the dress, or try to change the color first and then do the sewing? I worry that if I sew after I dye I'm going to have purple dye coming off all over me while I work with it. But I also don't want to spend all the time it's going to take to do the alterations and then not have the color work. Anyone have any advice here?
Voilà Christine Lagarde, the Finance Minister of France. I'm in awe of her fantastic silver hair.
(Avec une écharpe, naturellement. She is French, after all.)
I have curly red hair and I love it and I spend a not-pittance to keep it that way, but Madame here makes me actually think I might look forward to a time when I'm all silvery. Dang. Way to work it, Christine.
Photos: Eric Feferberg/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images, Andre Penner/The Associated Press
There's a sale at Nordstrom (There's seemingly a sale EVERYWHERE right now, which I guess is the up side of a drowning economy.) and I want this:
Sadly, it is not on sale enough, and so I can't have it, but omigoodness, do I want it. I want to wear it just like that, with colored tights and my big crazy Marni platform sandals.
(Maybe not these tights, but you get the idea.)
I also want to wear it as a tunic over cropped skinny black pants, with my purple velvet YSL pumps.
Quelle parfait...
Alas and alack, no gorgeous, dreamy, perfect, cuddly-yet-chic Missoni sweater dress for me. But a gal can dream...
Yowza! I was just saying today to the fabulous Plumcake that I needed shoes (to which she responded with a delicately raised eyebrow). But I do, actually, I need flat shoes for cold weather -- kickin' around shoes to put on with jeans or khakis that are comfy but still nice. And lo and behold! The Shoeniverse sent me a fabulous sale! (::Style Spy clasps hands together under her chin á la Cindy Lou Who::) Thank you, Shoeniverse!
I just snagged a pair of these:
Because a driving moc is so Audrey Hepburn, isn't it? These come in dark brown or black, but I just looooove this tortoise patent, which is a little of both and will therefore go with everything. Plus? It's awfully cool. And with the extra 30% off and the free shipping, these puppies set me back less than 70 bucks. Which seems a very fair price for a shoe that I predict I will wear to ribbons. So now I just have to sit back and wait to get them, impatiently tapping my (unshod) toe as I wait for that sound I love so well -- the pitter-patter of Fed Ex guy feet on my stairs. Oh, it's better than reindeer hooves on the roof any day!
I have been an absentee blogger this week, I know. I do apologize, but there has been an explosion of activity Chez Style Spy and it has kept me away from these duties. To make up for it, I'm letting you know that there's a big ol' sale on lots of wonderful stuff at NeimanMarcus.com right now -- 40% off lots of designer duds, as well as other things. Furthermore, on select items of Fine Apparel, Shoes, Handbags, and Men's Shoes, you can get an additional 15% discount if you use your NM credit card and the code "NMCARD" when you check out.
Lovely things like the following (click photos for links):
These wonderful little Cole Haan flats are CRAZY on sale, come in several colors, and will make your feets very, very happy.
Perfect cashmere v-neck
All women need cashmere v-necks, and look at the other edibly delicious colors this comes in
There's quite a bit of other cashmere on sale, in regular and women's sizes. I own several of Neiman's store brand cashmere sweaters and I strongly recommend them. Very high quality, and when they go on sale like this they are a screaming bargain.
Just. Love. These. Boots. YSL, of course. I really do think if I were asked to live on a diet of one designer, it would be Mr. Pilati for YSL.
Hubba-hubba:
Strappy sexiness from Michael Kors.
I've been in love with Cole Haan's "Genevieve" wovens since they were introduced.
One of these days I'm going to snag one of these babies.
Use the code "40off" when you check out on just about everything on their site. (There are some exceptions -- DVF, J Brand, and some other brands aren't included.) Stuff that's already on sale does not get an additional discount.
I may have shown these to you before, but I'm semi-obsessed with them.
I think these are a great version of the tough, bondage-inflected shoe that's all the rage right now, but slightly scaled-back for real life. I love the idea of them with colored tights. Fab.
These boots make my heart sing, but they are speeeeeeeendy. With 40% off, they're still not cheap, but they are pretty reasonable for a reptile boot that you will wear for a million years. Skirts, jeans, whatever -- these are going to go with absolutely everything.
What a pretty, grown-up, wearable dress.
It's Philip Lim, who does awfully good dresses. This is silk jersey, so you are going to need the correct underduds, but it's such a great color and easy shape, and I love the detail of the lace on the shoulders (even though the Pink Mascara site does a pretty dreadful job of showing you that detail. I do wish this site would hire a new designer.)
Right now the thing that I'm hunting (when I allow myself to hunt, which is not often) is tops. Specifically, blouses with sleeves that preferably have a pattern to them. This is not as easy as it sounds, especially since I'd really prefer washable fabrics like cotton to silk. This is pretty adorable.
Always like a good polka dot, although it's silk and black & white, which I already have plenty of. See? Hard to find just the right thing.
I also really, really love this
because of the wonderful graphic pattern. It's so art deco, it looks like something from the Chrysler building. Silk jersey.
Jeans!
Great Joe's Jeans in their Honey cut, which is their "curvy" style. They're more fitted at the waist with more room for your... um, curves.
More Joe's, in their Provocateur, which is the Petite cut. It has a shorter inseam and a higher knee break. This is a nice thing in a jean -- I have petite friends who despair of wearing boot cut or trouser jeans because they have to hem up so much of the leg that it ruins the line.
I'm very taken with this leather bracelet.
Very cool in a combo tough girl/equestrienne sort of way. I like to wear big unexpected pieces like this with very tailored clothes, for the contrast.
